Kit Connor shouldn’t have been forced to out himself – the queerbaiting discourse has to stop

On Twitter last night Kit Connor opened up about his sexuality, he shared the fact he was bi and congratulated everyone who had forced him to out himself.

Regardless if you’re queer or not, if you’re a decent person you will see the problem with this and how unforgivable it is to corner someone into coming out. It’s so upsetting to see Kit being forced to out himself at 18 because of constant internet speculation and accusations of queerbaiting. How can people watch a show like Heartstopper and not take away from it the fact this shouldn’t be a celebration.

Ever since Heartstopper dropped, it’s had a toxic fanbase who watched the show and implied Kit Connor was queerbaiting purely because his sexuality couldn’t be found online or in his bio. Now given what has happened and the fact he’s been forced to come out in the worst way possible, it just shows how fucked the “queerbaiting” discourse is and why it is inherently biphobic. You reaaaally shouldn’t be losing sleep at night because Kit Connor hadn’t specified his sexuality publicly yet, it’s weird.

All of this just goes to show how people cannot consider bisexual people “gay enough” unless they are dating the same sex. This entire situation with Kit Connor labelling his sexuality on Twitter proves we were right in our theory all along.

Heartstopper author and show creator Alice Oseman replied saying: “I truly don’t understand how people can watch Heartstopper and then gleefully spend their time speculating about sexualities and judging based on stereotypes. I hope all those people are embarrassed as fuck. Kit you are amazing.”

His co-stars have also been showing their love for him. Kizzy Edgell, who plays Darcy in the show, tweeted: “I love you Kit, I’m sorry this has been so disgustingly rough on you. You have been treated so unfairly.” Then Sebastian Croft, who plays Ben Hope, said how the world doesn’t deserve Kit Connor and he’s right.

Coming out should be an empowering experience and a chance to claim your identity. But instead the hounding queerbaiting accusations have pushed Kit Connor into a corner and he’s now had to admit his sexuality before he was ready. All this queerbaiting discourse might be coming from a good place but at this point it’s so much damage. Kit Connor didn’t owe us anything and it is ridiculous people thought they had the right to his personal life. Here’s to hoping this is the final death to the awful queerbaiting discourse.

Heartstopper is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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