The Quarantined Queer Experience – Part 2

The year of 2020 has been a roller coaster ride so far. We have witnessed some terrible things in the first three months of this year, and there is no guarantee that things will get better. Amidst all of this, we are being forced to spend time with our families as well. 

For some of us, getting out of the house was the only escape from our (most likely) toxic families. Having that little distance between us and our blood family is what makes some of our relationships barely functional. That, and if we’re lucky, our friends we made in the place we study / work. Now, with the COVID-19 situation, that has been taken away from us, and merely being in the vicinity of our blood family could trigger us.

Fortunately for me, I have been able to cut off ties with my blood family. While I count myself lucky for having the privilege to do that, I keep wondering how things would be if we were forced to spend time together through this adversity. To give you some context, I have extremely queerphobic, extremely controlling, and mildly narcissistic parents. Living with them made me feel miserable constantly. Not that I am not miserable now, but I’m definitely less miserable than I used to be while I was living with them.

Without turning this into a sob story about myself, I want to tell my fellow queers to please hold on. Yes, this situation is sucky, but together, we’ll pull each other up out of this mess. We will stick together, do what we are able to, and build a society that is better equipped to welcome future baby queers.

Signing off,

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Queer