For a disproportionate amount of my trans friends, it’s Imogen Binnie’s Nevada. For me, it was James Baldwin’s explanation of the significance of eye contact between queer men in Giovanni’s Room and Jonathan Groff attempting to prepare for gay sex in an episode of Looking (I know, leave me alone).
It can be both deeply unnerving and extremely affirming, a recognition of being included in a community bound by shared experience beyond rainbow flags. Most queer people remember the moment, or moments, they first experienced a piece of art that accurately, and honestly, reflected their own life back at them.
