When asked about advice she’d give to queer kids today, Ilana Glazer has a lot to say. First, she wants to validate the fact that being part of the LGBTQ+ community in America at the moment is not easy.
“If things feel f*cked up, it’s because they very much are,” she tells POPSUGAR. Our interview comes amid a time of immense tension for the queer community as anti-trans bills gain traction in states across the country and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment spikes in political dialogues.
“Your queerness, your fluidity . . . that is your beautiful, special spirit. The reason that monsters are trying to squash that specialness is because they’re afraid of their own.”
Glazer blames adults for this — though not only the blatantly homophobic ones or the legislators trying to ban gender-affirming care. Instead, she has some thoughts for adults who claim to care about the LGBTQ+ community but are simply watching anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments gain traction.
“It is an adult’s job to make children and teenagers feel safe. I’m not talking about the evil monster adults. I’m talking about normal, sane, healthy, self-loving adults,” she says. “We are struggling because we cannot really tell you, honestly, that things are OK, and kids know this. Young people are smarter, sharper, and more conscious than they’ve ever been. It is not OK, what’s happening.”
Still, she says the number of people who support equality for all far outnumber those who do not. “The well adults are, I do believe, in the majority,” she says. “I can say that I genuinely believe that, and I can say that to young people.”
Indeed, a 2022 Gallup poll found that the percentage of Americans who support same-sex marriage has swelled to 70 percent from 40 percent in 2009, and while this support often stops short at trans rights, the statistics show that LGBTQ+ acceptance is rapidly gaining traction overall. In late March, artists including Maren Morris, Hayley Williams, and Hozier held a massive benefit concert in Nashville in…
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