Rowan Blanchard has ‘only ever liked boys’ but still self-identifies as ‘queer’
William Harris Rowan Blanchard is only 14 years old and she’s already pleasantly surprising people. I covered Blanchard back in December, when she gave one of the most articulate answers ever to a question about feminism, female friendship and squad goals. Blanchard seemed to be taking a swipe at Taylor Swift, but it was a well-executed and flawless swipe and I cheered for her. Now the 14-year-old – who stars in the Disney Channel’s Girl Meets World – is coming out as “queer.” That’s how she says she self-identifies.
Rowan Blanchard is proving once again that she is wise beyond her years. The 14-year-old Girl Meets World actress has never been one to shy away from mature, important conversations. As it turns out, this weekend was no different when the Disney Channel star opened up about her sexuality. In a Twitter post shared early Saturday, Rowan called herself “queer,” but also expressed the importance of not labeling others.
“In my life—only ever liked boys,” she shared online. “However I personally don’t wanna label myself as straight, gay or whateva so I am not gonna give myself labels to stick with—just existing… Yes, [I’m] open to liking any gender in future is why I identify as queer.”
The dialogue comes after the actress penned a lengthy blog post titled “Sorry, Not Sorry.”
In the article, Rowan explained how she “quit apologizing for existing.” She also shares three things that have helped the young star “trust myself enough to know that I don’t always have to say sorry for myself.”
I actually had to look this up in the LGBTQ resources guidebooks because I had a moment of “I’m not sure that’s how it works?” I mean, if I was putting a label on Rowan, she would be a cisgendered heterosexual-open-to-bisexuality woman, so that’s why I had to look it up. According to PFLAG’s resource guide:
“Think of queer as an umbrella term. It includes anyone who a) wants to identify as queer and b) who feels somehow outside of the societal norms in regards to gender or sexuality. This, therefore, could include the person who highly values queer theory concepts and would rather not identify with any particular label, the gender fluid bisexual, the gender fluid heterosexual, the questioning LGBT person, and the person who just doesn’t feel like they quite fit in to societal norms and wants to bond with a community over that.”
I get it. I understand it now. I’m glad I looked it up. I feel like this is increasingly a generational thing too – the under-25 kids are looking for the right way to define their gender, sexuality and identity, or not identify it at all. Back in my day… self-identifying as queer was not a thing at all. But that’s why we grow and learn as a society.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
