The real must see TV: The Colton Underwood interview with Robin Roberts

If you haven’t already heard the news, The Bachelor Colton Underwood came out as gay in an interview on Good Morning America with Robin Roberts. Take the time to watch the interview because you’ll get so much more out of it than just reading the articles and headlines. Listen as he talks about his self-hatred, his wish that he was dead because he couldn’t come to terms with who he is and be open about his sexual orientation.

For those of you who think that coming out is easy, that it’s 2021 and we’ve come so far in terms of acceptance, this interview shows that it’s not easy for everyone to come out. His words about wanting to be dead echo what we hear from lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) youth, who think about suicide almost three times as often as straight youth. And while he apologizes for “dragging people into his mess” as he figured out who he was, don’t we all do that a little bit? Haven’t we all dated people we’re not sure about, while we figure out who we are and what we want in life?

His struggle as a man raised in the Catholic faith is one that many LGB folks go through, a struggle that often makes them choose between what they were taught was right, and leaving the community they have always been part of. He talks about how powerful language can be at making people stay hidden. How the “that’s so gay” comments that are still thrown around in sports, and so many other venues, aren’t just words, they’re weapons used to keep people in line and act a certain…