Winner That Is Not Winning Rn

On a more serious note, it always irks me when people are hypercritical of SU, especially about the queer representation.

Like, yes. Media can and should be critiqued. We can acknowledge flaws and show growth. But sometimes the tone feels less like thoughtful critique and more like people trying to prove how morally superior and woke they are in 2026 by dissecting a show that aired years ago.

And while that’s happening, all I can think about is my younger self. My very closeted younger self. In a tiny religious town. I grew up being told that queer people, people just like me, were disgusting. That we were sinful. That we were going to hell. That we deserved to get k!lled liked dogs in the street.

Then, when I found that show online, it was the first time I saw characters who loved the way I loved and that weren’t framed as a cautionary tale. Their queerness wasn’t a joke. It wasn’t tragic punishment. It wasn’t something to be cured. It just… existed. And it was soft. And it was beautiful.

That didn’t fix everything in my life. It didn’t make my town safer. It didn’t make the possibility of being outed any less terrifying. But it made the world feel a little less suffocating. A little bit softer. It made being a queer kid a little less lonely.

So when people reduce that show to a list of everything it didn’t do perfectly, I can’t detach that from what it meant to kids like me, who were starving for even a glimpse of themselves in something kind.

And now, years later, when I see so many shows with openly queer characters with stories where we’re heroes, lovers, complicated, messy, alive, I feel grateful. Because shows like SU helped crack the door open, even if it wasn’t perfect and even if it had to work within limits that people now conveniently forget existed.

It wasn’t perfect. But for some of us, it was the first proof that we weren’t alone.