Over the course of the last few decades, the longstanding taboo against homosexuality is beginning to be dismantled. Specifically, the increase in the acceptance of homosexuality has led to a surge in its prominence in popular culture. For example, movies such as Brokeback Mountain and I Love You Phillip Morris helped to thrust homosexual characters into mainstream Hollywood. More recently, popular television series such as Glee and Orange is the New Black introduced viewers to well-rounded homosexual characters and story arcs that weren’t thrown in just to promote diversity. Even celebrities, such as Lady Gaga and Ellen DeGeneres, have spoken publicly to urge for LGBTQ rights and acceptance. As a result, it is unsurprising that the topic of
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the Homo Sapiens Agenda is the concept of coming out. The protagonist, Simon Spier, is blackmailed by a classmate named Martin, who discovered Simon’s sexuality through his secret correspondence with a pen-pal named Blue. Throughout the novel, Simon tries to prepare to come out to the world on his own, all the while struggling to protect his sexuality from being exposed by Martin. However, the very first time Simon outs himself to another character is when he initiates his pen-pal relationship with Blue. Upon discovering an anonymous post by Blue regarding his own sexuality on the school’s community Tumblr page, Simon’s interest is peaked. He states, “It just kind of spoke to me. And I don’t even think it was just the gay thing.” (Albertalli 18), showing that he is drawn to Blue, and not only because they are both gay. Working up the courage, Simon creates an alternative e-mail account to use solely to correspond with Blue, and responds to Blue’s post with his contact information. After having to endure an agonizing wait for a response, Simon’s anonymous correspondence with Blue begins. Although it is not explicitly stated, Simon comes out to Blue by both responding to his post about his sexuality and initiating a correspondence with him. Simon’s revealing of his sexuality to Blue is further implied when Simon states, “He wanted to know about me” (Albertalli 19), leading readers to discern that admitting his sexuality was a part of introducing himself to
the Homo Sapiens Agenda is the concept of coming out. The protagonist, Simon Spier, is blackmailed by a classmate named Martin, who discovered Simon’s sexuality through his secret correspondence with a pen-pal named Blue. Throughout the novel, Simon tries to prepare to come out to the world on his own, all the while struggling to protect his sexuality from being exposed by Martin. However, the very first time Simon outs himself to another character is when he initiates his pen-pal relationship with Blue. Upon discovering an anonymous post by Blue regarding his own sexuality on the school’s community Tumblr page, Simon’s interest is peaked. He states, “It just kind of spoke to me. And I don’t even think it was just the gay thing.” (Albertalli 18), showing that he is drawn to Blue, and not only because they are both gay. Working up the courage, Simon creates an alternative e-mail account to use solely to correspond with Blue, and responds to Blue’s post with his contact information. After having to endure an agonizing wait for a response, Simon’s anonymous correspondence with Blue begins. Although it is not explicitly stated, Simon comes out to Blue by both responding to his post about his sexuality and initiating a correspondence with him. Simon’s revealing of his sexuality to Blue is further implied when Simon states, “He wanted to know about me” (Albertalli 19), leading readers to discern that admitting his sexuality was a part of introducing himself to