 Many of you guys from my generation and up will remember that Amazing glorious opening to one of the best cartoons in the early 90s on Sunday mornings like I would get up Sunday morning just to watch that show I That was one of my favorite shows of the early 90s The X-Men are my favorite superheroes of any superhero canon There was something about this band of misfits who were ostracized from society by their peers and their loved ones and Who were just trying to figure out what their role was in society and how it how they were going to navigate so many moral dilemmas and perception of society and of their people and of Valuing human life and what it means to be different what it means to be normal and how you're going to react to that basically Put you into either two boxes You were either with Professor Xavier and you had a hope that humanity would grow and learn and learn to accept and and evolve as as a whole or you were with Magneto and it was basically that Darwinism at its best and that the human race the normal humans that weren't mutants were meant to die off and that they were a threat to the new order, which was the Mutants and I just thought it was so fascinating and of course in retrospect It's so apparent to me growing up as someone who felt like an outsider who felt like I didn't belong Who felt like there were things that were innately a part of who I I am as a human being that I don't have control over that made me feel ostracized and Cut off from other people and I think it's that parallel to the LGBT community that was so Profoundly impactful for me. I just it just resonated with me in a way so powerfully when I wasn't even aware of why and I wanted so badly to One day discover that I had some amazing superhuman power and this was gonna be my defining thing that like even though I was an outsider and I didn't fit in and people made fun of me and bullied me and looked down on me I was still gonna be great because I had this power and I was gonna use it for good my favorite X-Men character at least when I was a kid. I was good. I would say it was gambit He just had this like swagger. He was cool. He had that like creole accent He just did not give a fuck And he was like I'm gonna do me and I'm charming and debonair and everything and he always knew He always had the quickest wit he always knew what to say As a comeback and that was something that I struggled with in school getting bullied a lot of times I didn't know how and I would always like I would practice like things to say back to My bully or to the person that was picking on me that day and he was just so good at it He was just this well-developed anti-hero that I just admired so much So there's definitely very clear parallels between being gay and being ostracized by a community and by your family and your friends and your loved ones and X-Men they made it very readily apparent in X2 when one of the characters comes out as being a Mutant and he has to tell this to his parents and the way and the dynamic with his parents and how they handle it and It occurred to me very early on that being gay is a Superpower because having our sexuality not be normal is our superpower Why because it gives us access to Understanding what it means to be different what it means to be a minority what it means to be ostracized what it means to be picked on Simply for who you are on a genetic level on in a way that you you can't change When you go through something like that and you face something like that You tap into a kind of compassion that you wouldn't even be able to begin to understand had you not Had to experience that for yourself our ability to empathize to have compassion To understand and to use that for good. That's the option that we have is to use that to spread acceptance and tolerance and Understanding and love that is the superpower That's the gift that we've been given and then so yeah, so one day it just clicked like I am a mutant I'm literally genetically different outside of the norm of people's understanding of human sexuality and People don't get it and they're afraid of it personally when I came out. I was Involved in church and that led to me being kicked out of church and losing Most if not all my Christian friends and I was rejected from the Christian University that I wanted to go to I You know, I obviously been picked on all growing up and bullied and made to feel less than for being gay So I I've related So well to the characters in X-Men and still do to this day I get that but the beauty of it is that Those who really allow themselves to grow from it and become stronger as individuals Can do amazing Wonderful beautiful things. It's it's a beautiful amazing thing to be gay the freedom alone that you can give yourself psychologically to to experience Life in a different way. That's not binary as masculine or feminine like when I realized I was gay I was like I can experience life. However. I want and I don't have the pressure of you need to be a man You need to be masculine. You need to be this way. I'm like, I'm gay. I don't have to follow that I can do whatever I want so I can be masculine if I want or I can be feminine if I want and That's a gift. That was like I've been freed and that's amazing at that point when you've been bullied and pushed to the to the fringes of society What do you have to lose? So then it's like you're just free You're free to be yourself and to explore your passions and your and your loves and you express yourself Physically and and and however you want. That's why I see being gay is a superpower. It's a gift Anyway, that's just a thought I've had all growing up And I've never really articulated it specifically the way I am now But I wanted to share that and get that out and and share that hopefully with a lot of a lot of the young generation that That's the way I looked at it being gay You're a fucking superhero, man. Like own it own that shit You have a perspective and a view on the world that most people don't and won't And that's a beautiful thing and you can contribute so much to society and to others and the people around you and Humanity as a whole through art through music through through any kind of profession really Because you're gonna help people see things in just a slightly different way than they would otherwise because you have experienced What it is to grow up and to have to come to terms with being different From most everybody else and and different from the societal norm and what is expected of you as a young male Coming into his own and what your role is in society and having to redefine that and come into your own and Discover your own strength and your own power from that place so that you can Rejoin society and contribute And I think that's a beautiful thing Guys, I hope you like this video if you did please like it if you're new here and you haven't subscribed Go ahead and subscribe hit that bell if you want to stay notified on all new videos I have a lot more great content coming for you. Okay. Peace and much love Let's get started on this