Lil Nas X has officially succeeded in releasing my favorite music video to exist, ever.

I spent three minutes, 10 seconds staring intently at my phone screen, my mouth probably slightly ajar out of genuine shock. 

I was seeing somebody like me in a mainstream form of media. This music video featured a black and queer person who was behaving in a way which was openly queer, something that’s almost unheard of. 

I can honestly say that I’ve never connected with a music video on such a personal level. In just over three minutes, Lil Nas X was able to take all of the internalized homophobia I’ve ever felt, as well as my deeply ingrained fear of going to hell as a punishment for being gay, and put it all together to form an incredible music video, 

All while serving look after look. What an icon.

The homophobic side of Twitter, however, didn’t seem so excited about his blue beehive and impressively pigmented blue eye shadow. I didn’t expect them to. I knew from the moment that I watched that video that none of them would get it.

To put it simply, if you’re not a queer person, this video was not intended for you. It’s to be expected that some straight people would watch it, but you are not the target audience here. You’re going to have to get used to that.

“I spent my entire teenage years hating myself because of the (things) y’all preached would happen to me because I was gay. So I hope you are mad, stay mad, feel the same anger you teach us to have towards ourselves,” Lil Nas X wrote in a tweet.

Lil Nas X is truly a revolutionary in the sense that he’s constantly working to normalize queer people and queer relationships existing. 

He writes lyrics that he described as “out of pocket” in his Genius lyric interview for the sole purpose of normalizing the concept of men being attracted to other men in the way some men are attracted to women. 

His music is a reminder that queer attraction is the same as heterosexual attraction. He doesn’t try to make it all wholesome and squeaky-clean to appease those opposed to queer relationships, and I love that.

He’s creating room in the world for queer people to just exist and be accepted. What about that makes you mad? 

I hate to be the one who has to break it to you, but gay people are going to keep existing. They’re going to keep existing and being in relationships and even getting married, and there isn’t a single thing you can do about it. 

Lil Nas X is literally just existing, being unapologetically himself and people are mad about it.

Maybe instead of demonizing queer people, you should take a step back and ask yourself what you’re really mad about here. Because something tells me that it isn’t him giving the devil a lap dance.