Full disclosure: I haven’t yet read Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. But, I did see the movie, and that’s what I’ll be talking about. Because apparently, it’s pretty difficult to find movies with queer protagonists. I’m sure there are, but maybe I just haven’t found them yet.

Love, Simon follows Simon Spier, a high school student who is a closeted gay man. One day, Simon (along with everyone else in his high school) see a social media post by Blue, a man who confesses that he is gay but can’t tell anyone about it. Seeing the parallel between their situations, Simon emails him to share in their burden, and the two stay anonymous while revealing everything else about themselves. Simon’s peaceful lives suddenly stops when someone accidentally sees the emails and threatens to expose Simon unless he helps them.

Despite the very awkward and cringy scenes (because what else would you get in a high school romcom?) the movie is very sweet, and I think deals with homosexuality really well.

Simon, for example, is pretty sure if he came out to his family and friends they wouldn’t really care, but there’s a piece of him that’s scared of what could happen. Of what could change. He says he isn’t ashamed of being gay, but coming to terms with your identity, regardless of what it is, can be hard for anyone.

And you never really know who Blue is. Throughout, Simon speaks to boys in his school he believes could be Blue, and seeing him trying to find this boy that understands him so completely is very heartwarming.

I definitely have to read the book now. I mean, I loved the movie, so I hope the book can keep up.