The drama romance movie “Love, Simon” is based off of the novel “Simon vs. Homo Sapiens Agenda” by Becky Albertalli and features a gay protagonist.

Directed by Greg Berlanti, this movie is about a 16 year old boy named Simon Spier whose life is mostly normal, other than the fact that he’s hiding a secret: He’s gay.

Like any teenager his age, he is trying to find his identity. This is how he feels until he comes across an anonymous post on social media from someone in his school who is also gay. When Simon sees this, he freaks out and emails the student who posted, who is signed off as Blue. The two continue to email each other, and Simon is curious as to who this mysterious boy is because he feels like he fell in love with him.

What is it that makes this movie so different? For one, it includes media representation of a gay character, which isn’t very common in movies and television shows. GLAAD, or the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, reports that in 2016, only 18.4 percent of the industry’s top 125 films include an LGBTQ character. The world needs more LGBTQ representation. It helps the LGBTQ community feel more accepted and helps homophobic people become more accepting of the LGBTQ community. The movie also doesn’t portray Simon as a stereotypical homosexual male, unlike what the media tends to do. He is just an average boy who happens to be gay. He doesn’t act feminine, and he isn’t very interested in fashion, like a lot of people stereotype gay men to be.

GLAAD, or the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, reports that in 2016, only 18.4 percent of the industry’s top 125 films include an LGBTQ character. Movies need more LGBTQ representation. It helps the community feel more accepted and helps homophobic people become more accepting of the LGBTQ community.

It is important in creating equality and acceptance for the people who are treated differently because they aren’t what society deems as “normal.” Movies like “Love, Simon” normalize gay people.
Overall, “Love, Simon” is an incredible movie; it will open your mind and make you laugh and cry with the characters as the storyline progresses.