So hands up if you know who this is?
If you don’t know, this is JoJo Siwa. She started out as a dancer on the American show; Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition and moved onto become a fan favourite on the reality show Dance Moms.
Now she is 17 and is a singer, dancer, actress, writer, entrepreneur and children’s tv presenter.
She also happened to come out as LGBT+ last week on social media.
JoJo has said that although she identifies as part of the community, she hasn’t labelled what her sexuality is yet as she is still figuring it out herself.
But she also said that she had never been happier, after coming out. And if you have any idea about how naturally positive that kid is then you’ll know, that is pretty freakin’ happy.
But of course, although her followers and fellow celebrities flocked to her with messages of support and celebration, the utter gutter slime of the internet decided to make their presence known.
I’d been thinking about writing about this general topic for a while, so for research purposes, I dived into the comment section under one post about JoJo’s tiktok coming out.
Yikes.
Some mother*ckers out here be reeeaaallly angry.
One thing I noticed, apart from the ones just flat out denying that such a role model to children would ever come out (despite the literal photo evidence), most of the negative comments were things such as
“These children need Jesus.”
“A life without God has led them to sin.”
And various other generic references to the bible and religion in general.
Now.
Let me tell you a thing.
I do not hate religion or anyone who follows the bible or any other religious text.
And the sad thing is, is that I have to say that, not just because it is true, but also because any type of disagreement or dissent against people’s beliefs or views is seen as an attack.
Even if that view or belief is unsupported or potentially harmful, God forbid you disagree with evidence because how dare you? And it just ain’t fair.
So no, I do not hate religion. I pray. I’ve been to church. But like most people, I struggle with faith. And a lot of that came after I began to realise that a lot of the hate for the community I love, comes from people wielding religion as a weapon.
Newsflash for you people -You can’t pray away the gay.
But let’s look at the Bible for a second.
Leviticus 18:22 – Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is an abomination.
That is the favourite of the preaching haters.
So let me address this to them;
Dear homophobes;
Are you considering selling your daughter into slavery? Don’t worry it’s sanctioned by the Bible. Exodus 21:7.
Exodus 35:2 – Hate Queer people all you want but that Bible you cling to as you call us abominations, also says that you should be put to death for working on the sabbath. So I hope you booked the day off.
Don’t plant your crops side by side.
Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material. Leviticus 19:19.
You can’t tear you clothes, so say goodbye to ripped jeans.
No more cheeseburgers because you shouldn’t mix meat and dairy.
Bye Bye bacon.
Here endeth the TedTalk
Now, the keener eyed among you will know that some of those points come up in The West Wing, but I did my research and all those are true.
The point is that the Bible says a whole lot of things.
We don’t listen to a lot of them.
So, you don’t get to cherry pick the others.
I could honestly go on and on about this topic and all the relating aspects.
How marriage equality does not mean complete equality.
How conversion therapy is STILL legal in some places.
How some LGBT+ kids are literally thrown out of their homes for who they are.
I could go on for DAAAAAAAAAYS.
But I’ll leave it with a link back to the girl who pushed me to do this post.
JoJo Siwa has over 12.1 million followers and more then 3 billion views overall. I know little girls to whom, she is their literal hero.
None of that changes because of who she does or does not love.
And her being out, and as young and influential as she is, may help a kid out there somewhere.
I know if I had had more Queer idols and inspiration growing up it wouldn’t have taken me till I was 16 to know that being Bisexual was a thing, and I wouldn’t have spent nights of my life crying my eyes out because I was afraid of being gay.
I would have killed for someone like JoJo to be around when I was a kid.
And finally, regardless of your religious or political beliefs, JoJo Siwa is a child. She is a kid and she is living her best life and she is happy.
Don’t hide behind your screen and say she needs Jesus, when to be honest, maybe you should look at that bible one more time;
“Thou shalt love they neighbour as thy love thyself”
- Matthew 22:35-40
- Mark 12:28-31
- Luke 10:25-28
- John 13:31-35
- Leviticus 19:9-18
It’s in there five times.
Might be something to take notice of.
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