some men were girls. some women were boys. that’s how they feel and it’s important to me that they’re respected for it and not scolded for telling the stories of their lives wrong just because other people can’t (or don’t want to) relate. there are so many different ways to grow up trans and to be trans, that someone’s life is always going to be totally alien to someone else, a total contradiction to their own experiences. 

When I first saw the music video for Montero (Call Me By Your Name), I just kept thinking about how I had never seen a music video like it, ESPECIALLY from such a well-known artist. I’ve seen plenty of videos where a man is being sexy, but never in the way that Lil Nas X does it in that video. He sings about riding dick while giving a lap dance. I’m sure there are so many music videos where a male singer does this, but I’ve never seen them because gay men who express their sexuality in that way are usually prevented from becoming household names.

And he is getting a lot of pushback for it. People are saying that he’s trying to indoctrinate children, that he’s pushing an agenda, that he’s part of the ruination of society. Gay men are seen as sex-crazy predators, and so are androgynous men. For him to make this video expressing himself and his sexuality in the way HE wanted to, knowing how people would take it, especially as a black man, and then attaching his real name to it?

It’s trending at #1 on youtube and there’s been a huge positive response to it, but he’s risking a lot by releasing this video. The whole theme of the video is religious persecution, and we’re seeing that exact thing happen to him in real time. He’s being called a sinner, he’s being told he’s going to hell, he’s being told that god doesn’t love him. 

This song and video are resonating with SO MANY people. People who grew up with a religion that teaches that people like them are wrong, with parents who seek to destroy what they do not understand,  who have had a closeted partner who only told them they loved them in private, who told themselves that they would never come out to anyone, with people who have struggled with internalized homophobia. 

Since the world already has their eyes on Lil Nas X, he’s decided to represent himself the way he wants to and tell the stories he wants to tell. From this video to wearing a bright pink leather harness on the red carpet to doing drag on halloween, he is showing everyone that he is not ashamed of who he is and he’s willing to put himself and his career at risk to be that person. By doing this, he’s showing others that people like him exist and it’s ok and it’s good.

While I am absolutely in love with Call Me By Your Name, I was baffled by the lyric, “Call me by your name.”

I originally thought it was a kink, so I looked it up, but NO.

“According to Greek mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.”

—Plato, The Symposium

This message is featured here in the video:

Translation:

After the division the two parts of man, each desiring his other half.

When Lil Nas X sings “Call me by your name,” he’s not asking to be kinky, he’s asking his lover to be his other half, his soulmate.

And tying in with the rest of the song, he’s asking his lover to be with, sin with, love, and cherish him.

BUT

In the final lines of the song, he sings, “Call me by your name / I do not care if you lyin'.”

He’s asking his lover to pretend to be his soulmate because he loves his lover, but he knows his lover doesn’t love him the same way/doesn’t see their relationship as worth the exposure.

Like. Wanda is the main protagonist (who is MORE POWERFUL THAN THE SORCERER SUPREME!!! BUT GO OFF I GUESS). Agatha is the main villain. Monica is the main protagonist outside of Westview.

It's the men who are in the secondary roles! Secondary protagonist? Vision! Secondary antagonist? Hayward! Secondary outside Westview protagonist? Jimmy (bless him! He defers to Monica with zero problems!)