So the stereotype holds true – for me, anyway. She replied, quite sincerely, “I think you will be.” That hasn’t happened (though I do have a blue tick on Twitter), but at a time when it felt like every authority figure in my life was writing me off as a drug-addled loser, it meant a lot to have someone willing to indulge my teenage megalomania, rather than muttering darkly about how I was destined for a “rude awakening”.ĭuring the times when I was a mess – not eating, turning up to school drunk or still hungover – she seemed to be the only person that saw this as a cause for concern, rather than an opportunity to catch me out. On another occasion, we were having a class discussion about what we wanted to do after we left school and I said, with a flourish that was only partially ironic, “Me? I’m going to be famous!”. What more could you ask for from a teacher? It was a moment that set me on a path to being less of a dickhead than I might otherwise have become. Afterwards, I felt wretched – and I deserved to feel wretched. But she fixed me with a sorrowful look and said, “That’s a disgusting thing to say.” And it was. This was a really snide and classist viewpoint and I don’t think I even believed it in any meaningful way – I was just trying to sound witty.
![you re so gay meme you re so gay meme](https://pics.me.me/nside-ane-555-38112-youre-so-long-gay-bowser-il-he-24758622.png)
I repeated this quip in her class, no doubt with a smug grin plastered across my face. I once read an Irvine Welsh novel in which a character described Edinburgh’s Napier University as a “basket-weaving college”. She could be laughing along with a joke one moment, then a second later, fix you with a glare, announcing that she was “bored now.” Ouch.Īs someone terminally inclined towards taking things too far, I needed someone to occasionally slap me down like that. In fact, she was the only teacher at my school who scared me and the only one I truly respected on that basis. My English teacher wasn’t quite the cuddly Miss Honey-type of the gay imagination, though. But, as much as I enjoy distancing myself from gay stereotypes, this one has skewered me with ruthless precision. Some of us had behavioural problems, undiagnosed ADHD and spent our lunchtimes inhaling Lynx through a jumper – we deserve representation, too. Queer people imagined as conscientious nerds in secondary school should be rejected. The meme can veer uncomfortably close to “gifted child” territory, an “if your English teacher described you as ‘a pleasure to teach’ then you’re gay now” type of thing. As for what it says about gay people? Well, it plays into some old stereotypes about us being bookish, sensitive and deeply interested in culture. The English teacher, as imagined in these memes, is an oasis of inclusivity in an otherwise homophobic school environment – the Miss Honey to the Miss Trunchbull, if you will. Not quite an official scientific study, but it’s a start, eh?
![you re so gay meme you re so gay meme](https://pics.me.me/we-all-have-that-one-friend-who-swears-theyre-not-16362811.png)
![you re so gay meme you re so gay meme](https://pics.me.me/im-not-saying-youre-gay-but-youre-gay-history-com-2008249.png)
#YOU RE SO GAY MEME ARCHIVE#
Last year, someone even set up an online archive to document the phenomenon, which, at the time of writing, has brought together as many as six different recollections. Another, in a slight variation, said, “Yeah, yeah, gay kids and their female english teacher, what about lesbians and their male science teachers, huh?” Fair game. “English teachers are the first gay allies you meet in ur life,” tweeted one user. The theory has been floating around social media for a fair few years. This idea that the queer pupil shares a unique bond with their English teacher isn’t new. It felt true and thousands agreed with it, chiming in with their own cherished memories of English teachers as a queer kid at school. "When I was a kid, my friends’ Mums would often let me call them by their first names," another follower replied.Last month, a CNN article titled “4 in 5 queer people have been emotionally attached to an english teacher, study finds” went wildly viral on Twitter. "This is me after I first saw The Little Mermaid at a cinema," one user replied, sharing a photo of himself dressed up as a mermaid.ĭrag star Trixie Mattel even got in on the thread, sharing a photo of her well-documented vintage Barbie collection.
![you re so gay meme you re so gay meme](https://img.memecdn.com/you-amp-039-re-so-slow_o_2150047.jpg)
It didn't take long for Pasek's gay followers to bring in the childhood gold. That statement was: 'Tell me you're gay without telling me you're gay.'
#YOU RE SO GAY MEME FULL#
The 2021 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras live Saturday 6 March 6pm AEDT on SBS On Demand or catch the full parade at 7:30pm on SBS and NITV.Īs the end of a particularly trying year approaches, social media users are embracing nostalgic, lighthearted distraction with gusto, so much so that when songwriter and Twitter user Ben Pasek put something of a personal statement to his 50,000 followers, everyone jumped on board. Follow the conversation on SBS Australia socials #WeRiseFor #MardiGras2021 and via /mardigras