I’m a 19-year-old, gay male and I am sick and tired of our culture’s sick obsession with heteronormativity.

If you don't know what heteronormativity is, here's an example, if you see a cute little boy, say 4 or 5 years old and you say, "he's going to be such a lady killer some day..." That's heteronormativity. According to the Oxford dictionary, the term "heteronormative" refers to anything; "denoting or relating to a world view that promotes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation." The mere fact that I had to come out of the damn closet quite plainly suggests that heterosexuality is considered the "norm." In a perfect world, people shouldn't have to come out of the closet - they would just be able to love whomever they want without being considered different.

Don't try to justify homophobic ideologies by saying that homosexuality is some sort of new fad that has just recently started to pop up. Homosexuality has been around as long as history as we know it. It's a part of African culture (as shown here) even though they try to deny it. Homosexuality is also frequently referenced in ancient Egyptian artifacts ( as seen here) However, the Egyptians seemed to look down upon homosexuality, further promoting the possibility that homosexuality (and, sadly, heteronormativity) aren’t exactly brand new. Even the Greeks and Romans are notable in how they treated homosexuality. In fact, historians tend to reference these two significant and distinct cultures when discussing how homosexuality is a part of history. It’s clear that there is a great deal of historical homosexuality, even if it is dominated by male examples - and that’s only because women were often thought of as property. This clearly suggests that society didn't just spontaneously create homosexuality, and in some civilizations, it existed as an entirely normal aspect of societal culture.

You might resort to arguing that anything besides heterosexuality is "unnatural”, and, again, you’d be wrong. Non-heterosexual behavior has been observed throughout the animal kingdom. Bisexual behavior is often practiced by such noble creatures as the Bonobo or the Laysan albatross, which mostly just perform homosexual acts because they can. Domestic sheep are particularly notable - some males prefer to engage in sexual behavior with other males even in the presence of fertile females. Clearly, homosexuality isn't just something unnatural. It's something that we should embrace rather than attack or act as if it's something away from the norm.

Okay, I'll admit, today's culture is as LGBT-friendly as it's been in recent history, and that's amazing! It’s just not enough, and that's because heterosexuality is still forced down our throats throughout society. In the 2016-2017 television season, there will be 43 recurring LGBT characters. That’s more than there’s ever been, but on the other hand, 25 queer female characters were killed off last year to preserve straight characters’ story lines. The mainstream media needs to stop portraying the LGBT community as a placeholder for expandability and start acting like we matter - because we do. This doesn't even compare with how grossly inaccurate and infrequent LGBT characters are on the big screen. Only 17.6 percent of 126 major movies released in 2015 contained characters that identified as LGBT. Then the 22 major studio films that included an LGBT character were evaluated using GLAAD's Vito Russo Test, which only 8 of them passed. Even then, inclusiveness was still uneven. Gay male characters appeared in 77% of the films, while 23% featured lesbian characters and only 9% included openly bisexual characters. Even with such infrequent representation, some complain that immoral ways of life are being forced upon the viewing. It's like LGBT people don't have to deal with the struggles of a heteronormative society their entire lives.

Did you know that youth that identify as part of the LGBT community have a much higher likeliness of suicide than those who don't? This is linked to how isolated, alone, and different they have learned to feel in a world where all they hear and see are straight couples - they can't quite relate. In an HR poll, 42% of LGBT youth admitted to living in a community which doesn't accept LGBT people. Toxic environments can be extremely detrimental to the mental health of children of all ages, from diapers to diploma. They feel alienated from the rest of mainstream society; they feel as if they can't be themselves, so they feel like the only solution is to just end their lives.

Heteronormativity can cause extreme harm to the LGBT community, and the idea of it needs to be replaced with an ideology that supports tolerance of all types of people. Just let people live their lives, and don't force your ideas of what is "normal" upon them. Go ahead, let your son wear a dress and wear makeup. Let your daughter act like a boy. If your son says that he has a crush on another boy at school, don't scold him for it - you’re supposed to be there to support him, not reject him for his differences. If you can’t accept others for who they are, then maybe you’re the one who needs to change.