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Why Us “Old” Queers Should Be On TikTok
As a published author, I have had to engage in most social media platforms to establish and grow my platform. It became even more critical over that last few years as I lost much of my platform (in evangelical Christian circles) for coming out as LGBTQ+ affirming, not to mention as a proud bisexual/pansexual man. Despite the challenges, I’ve managed to maintain a decent following.
Of course, we all know that social media changes like the weather. And as a middle-aged man, the growing influence of TikTok could not be ignored. Conventional wisdom was this was the medium of young people, like my kids, not to invaded by such oldies as Millennials, let alone an ancient Gem Xer like myself. Yet, undeterred I recently took the dive into the platform, and while it is still early days, I wanted to share why I think it is important for middle-aged queer folks like myself to be on TikTok.
Multi-Generational Community
The vibrancy of queer TikTok is astonishing. While by no means free from all the toxic dynamics we see on other social media platforms (or in life in general), you will find a remarkably diverse mix LGBTQ+ folks, including ages. This latter piece is critical, given that queer identity is not hereditary, thus making passing on important lived experience and wisdom less of a given.