Our Future: How Important is the Closet Anymore?

About a month ago, Aaron Carter came out as bisexual. Aaron Carter isn't someone I particularly care about, and I don't really care what genders he takes a liking to either, but as a writer for EDGE I inevitably saw the news on my timeline. What did surprise me, a lot more so than him coming out in the first place, were the comments on the article regarding his statement. The amount of cattiness, scorn, and suspicion towards his motives kind of shocked me. Paying attention to it more in the following weeks, it seemed to be a common thread whenever any celebrity seemed to come out. The idea that they're only hopping on the gay bandwagon as a trendy statement, as some sort of shock appeal to generate media sensation. It didn't seem to particularly matter why the individual was famous in the first place, either, and the statements often seemed to extend out towards younger generations of gay people as a whole.

Let me back up for a moment -- there's a lot to be said about just how far the gay community has come in the last few decades. The Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality, rescinding "don't ask don't tell," and a handful of other legislative success certainly serve as clear benchmarks for how much progress we've made, but to me what's more important is the cultural shifts that have ushered in those successes. Being gay is no longer seen as the perverse, unspoken taboo that it was for decades.

But for a lot of gay people, especially of older generations, it was absolutely vital for a very base level of safety to assume that the rest of the world viewed homosexuality as perverse and unacceptable. It's difficult to imagine not forming such a worldview while discovering one's sexuality in an era where being out could get you beaten or murdered. The idea of accepting your own experiences in the face of looming anxiety, violence, and hatred is radical in a way that most heterosexuals won't ever be able to understand. Likewise, I understand why so many people feel a deep sense of pride for being part of the LGBT community during an era where being openly gay meant living your life on the edge of a wire.

It's because of this that it's not hard for me to follow the logic behind the resentment I'm addressing; but regardless, I think it's something we could all stop and reflect on for a moment. So much of queer culture is founded upon that lingering anxiety, and the progress it's allowed us to make as a community is something that should never be understated. But for a lot of young people, being openly gay doesn't have to be a paralyzing experience anymore. For many, coming out can be a painless experience for the most part. Exploring and experimenting with sexuality no longer has to be a dire matter. That fact alone is worthy of celebration.

In all honesty, no one particularly cares if Aaron Carter is bisexual. The only other news sources that I even saw reporting on it were other LGBT publications, and for most of them it seemed closer to a footnote on the news cycle than anything. For most of the country, a B-rate celebrity coming out of the closet isn't really seen as newsworthy anymore. Personally, I think that's a great thing.

We're probably never going to get to the point where the concept of coming out of the closet is going to be irrelevant in America. However, I do think it's possible for us to get to a point where it's seen as just another point in someone's life, where it doesn't have to be regarded as a monumental and transformative moment. For a lot of young people, I think that's already close to being the case -- where it doesn't particularly matter how one identifies, just that they're able to present themselves in a way they feel comfortable with and allows them to form the sorts of relationships that make them feel happy.

I get the resentment towards this sort of attitude, and I don't really blame people for it. It can understandably seem like a slap in the face to someone who mentally labored over being openly gay for years when a college student decides to come out as bisexual because they experimented with guys a couple of times. With that said, I think there's a way for us to acknowledge that being openly gay can feel scary, yet absolutely vital, and at times it can feel as casual and natural as one would hope it should be. I think there's room for both those experiences within our community.

Kyle Mangione-Smith is a filmmaker and student living in Boston.