(1/5) i know everyone has their reasons for why they fell in love this show and how important it is to them but i wanted to share the impact it had on my life and how exactly BBC’s ‘only time an audience is exposed to gay content is on tv’ proved to be absolutely true. In my country, homosexuality is criminalized and i literally don’t know any queer people IRL apart from the fictional characters i encounter & heteronormativity has been ingrained into my blood.

the-virus-in-the-data:

pearlrebs-deactivated20170202:

Watching Sherlock, being introduced to tjlc and identifying strongly with both john and sherlock did two things in my life: 1) even tho i’ve seen gay characters before, it was the first relationship that slapped my face and made me understand that the LOVE John and Sherlock share is just the gradual progression of profound friendship. I realized in retrospect that my best friend and I behaved exactly like johnlock and fell out with too much unsaid between us and a terrible heartbreak

that made no sense to me because i didn’t even entertain the possibility that i could have loved her, I didn’t think such a thing could happen until i had this realization and it was too late, which is why i relate to sherlock in tsot and the continuing angst SO much. It made my life make sense. And 2) for the first time i found characters in ‘mainstream media’ (cuz sherlock is popular here) who really taught me love has no gender or any boundaries whatsoever.

And i’ve realized since then i like girls and identify as queer. Bonus : Ultimately, they’re telling such a hopeful story. It not only validated my entire existence, which up to this point has been me being confused & unsatisfied, constantly questioning what the fuck was wrong with me for not being into guys the way I was into girls, even tho it’s the ‘default’, normal choice, but it also made me truly BELIEVE it doesn’t mean i won’t find happiness in life just because I’m queer

And i promised myself the day johnlock becomes canon, i’m going to come out to my family. Johnlock, Moffat & Gatiss and BBC are literally my heroes and this show has done so much for me. I know I’m not alone but I just wanted to say, this is probably what they intended to happen and it is happening. Things are changing and I’m so proud to be a part of this fandom. I can feel just how important this has come to be. ~~sorry if that was intense!

This is such an incredible story, and this is exactly the kind of thing I think of when people say “It’s just a TV show it doesn’t matter” like of COURSE it matters. It has helped people like you and like me realize who we are and it’s given people hope that the world can be a better place where gay and bi and trans characters and people can be happy and safe and fulfilled. Thank you so much for sharing this with me, I hope things get better in your country and that if you do come out your family and friends will give you the acceptance and love you deserve.

so I have a similar, if less beautiful and a bit trashier, story, 

but anyway,

Johnlock helped me realize, in a roundabout way, that I was trans. Like, I was unemployed for a bit and had time on my hands so I got back into BBC Sherlock stuff, and one day I was looking at Johnlock fanart on Pinterest, which led to me looking at other gay art and photos (not lesbian gay, just dude gay, which in retrospect should have been a clue that I was a gay MAN, but I digress) and having the gay feels. Looking through the “gay” tags on Pinterest led me to an article or something about being genderqueer/non-binary, which led to me looking into it more, and I was suddenly like, Oh my god that’s me!! Now, that only lasted about two weeks before I was like, nope, I’m straight up binary transgender. But, for me personally (not everyone – non-binary identities are real and valid), I think discovering the “genderqueer” identity allowed me to ease myself into the idea of being trans, which I had always been of course but like, never really considered an option for me? Cuz there’s almost no information or representation for trans guys out there, and I had just never considered it…

So anyway, through the power of Johnlock and internet train-of-thought, I realized I was trans (and also very very gay). If not for this particular situation, god knows when I would have figured it out. It may well have been years. 

So anyone who thinks LGBT (or any kind of) representation in media isn’t important is dead wrong. 

God bless TJLC