hearing "I knew it/I know" when coming out

[videocassette]

Anyone else feel annoyed when celebrities come out and there's people who react by saying along the lines "I knew it!"? Like I get it, but it just seems like they only wanted that person to come out just to be proven right. That type of reaction doesn't come off as support to me.

[Alice O]

Totally get that! Also I feel like claiming you "knew" someone's sexual orientation before they shared it is not ideal...obviously more appropriate with a celeb than with someone in your personal life, but still applies. Especially because it's usually based in assumptions about gender and sexuality, like if a man (celeb or not) acts like X or does Y he must be gay.

[witchesrus]

Same, alice and videocassette.

I also feel like when people say "i knew it/I know" when folks come out, it ignores how real fluidity is. Some folks come out who have known their identity for a long time, or since they were really young, and that is not everyone's story. It strengthens this idea that if you didn't know "since forever" that it's less valid. Not supportive on many levels!

[Mo]

It's a response that treats someone else's sexual orientation as a puzzle to solve and then lets someone pat themself on the back for "figuring it out" before other people did, like they're making it all about them instead of the person who's coming out.