Today’s post has nothing at all to do with me or what I usually use this blog for. If you don’t like it, you can leave. But if hearing important messages is your thing, stick around. Now that I’ve said that, let me jump right in.

Here’s what you’ll need before you begin: the lyrics to the song Strong (included as a special bonus down below!), about 4 hours to get lost on YouTube analyzing videos, and possibly a box of tissues, according the 100+ messages I have received so far thanking me for tears. Sorry. He come the feels.

A few days ago, after the infamous Harry Styles interview in which he said being female wasn’t an important factor to be in a relationship with him, I learned something I never knew. For the past four years, there has been a mountain of speculation over whether or not Harry and group-mate Louis Tomlinson are involved in a romantic relationship. I know what you’re thinking. Where have I been? Well, I’m a little too old to fangirl for 1D (but my 11 year-old daughter is pretty good at it), so apart from a new music video hitting Vevo or a new album being released, I’m out of the loop. Aside from the generic tabloid claims of who Harry is dating, I didn’t know any information about the people behind the piles of hair, snappy song lyrics and well-coordinated outfits. Last week, the only things I could tell you about One Direction are that Liam is my daughter’s favorite, Niall is from Ireland, and Harry has a couple extra body parts.

So I did what any curious person on earth would do. I Googled it.

At first I was a little surprised at what I learned. Having never seen any video interviews of One Direction, ever, and relying solely on my pathetic tabloid knowledge of Harry’s dating life, I was going into it assuming the moniker ‘Larry Stylinson’ was something silly that the millions of rabid teenage girls had imagined, but what I found was something quite different.

It didn’t take me long to come across a playlist of over fifty videos on YouTube that consist of carefully organized evidentiary verification that there really is something behind the name mash up. The videos in question are judiciously pieced together, complete with captions, audio enhancements, and zoomed and cropped images that feature arrows and circles leading the eyes directly to the necessary data. Lesson: don’t mess with teenage girls. (Note: this video may contain items that some people may find inappropriate.)

The clips, which dated as far back as the “fetus” days of One Direction, show something I wasn’t expecting to see: love. Not so secret glances, flirty touches, sexual innuendos, altered song lyrics, bold tweets, and repetitive non-denials filled video after video. Anyone who has ever been in love or watched two people in love could easily spot the truth. (See for yourself in this collection of 46 gifs that apparently tell us why Harry & Louis belong together. Warning: extra feels included.)

As a thirty-six year old woman, I can say for certain that I recognize love when I see it. Love is beautiful. It is delicate, yet strong; blissful, yet heartbreaking. It brings people together and makes wonderful things happen. Love is pure, and if you’re lucky enough to find it when you’re a teenager, it comes completely unblemished, full of hope, promise, and a healthy dose of trust. And I’m sure that’s exactly how things were for Harry & Louis, as evidenced by the vast amount of public communication regarding their feelings early on in their reign.

But things soon changed when the people in charge stepped in. Their relationship was forced to transform from something innocent, genuine, and unabashed into something hidden and shameful. They stopped sitting next to each other during events & interviews (you can actually hear them being told that they cannot sit next to each other in several “proof” videos) and acted like showing any affection toward each other would cost them every penny they have.

This decision from above obviously came from a place of fear—a fear of losing money. The people in charge clearly believe that the only way One Direction can continue to be the powerhouse that it is, is if all of the members are perceived as straight. But this logic is flawed. If this reasoning were accurate, then by the same right, all the members should constantly remain single so that the fandom can continue to imagine themselves in relationships with them.

Over 900,000 likes between the two images above prove that One Direction fans are loyal no matter the relationship status of its members.

Love finds itself in the most unlikely of places, at the most unlikely of times. Love even finds itself within the One Direction fandom. Almost all of the fans who have been around since the beginning are familiar with the relationship that Harry & Louis have. They’ve read their tweets, seen them flirt on stage, heard them change song lyrics, and even gave them a celebrity couple nickname. And in spite of their strong belief that Harry & Louis, or ‘Larry’ as the fandom calls them, are desperately in love, they haven’t bailed. They’re still buying CDs and $100 concert tickets, watching Vevo religiously and tweeting until their fingers go numb. Oh, and they made this pretty little rainbow heart for everyone who supports LGBTQ rights to add to their profile image on social media.

And you know what happened? Thousands of them have already done it.

There’s even several fan run pages on Twitter, Facebook & tumblr (just a few are pictured below) that fully support their relationship and as of this post, have well over 500,000 followers between them.

So why exactly is it that we can’t let them be who they are?

Many celebrities have been forced to live a falsified heterosexual lifestyle in public over the years to play into the fantasies of their fans. But why, in 2014, are we still doing this to our fellow human beings? Why are we telling young girls that it’s not okay to be you are? Why do some of us straight people seem to believe that we are somehow superior to those who are not like us? Love is love! It doesn’t matter what gender, age, color, size, or shape love finds itself in. The important thing is that it exists. Without love, what do we have?

As a parent, I teach my daughter to treat everyone the way she wants to be treated. Everyone is equal. There is no best, there is no inferior. There is only different. And different is what makes us exquisite. If we were all exactly the same, our world would be a completely and utterly banal place to live.

It makes my heart hurt to think of all of my fellow human beings out there who cannot freely love the person their soul connects with. Love shouldn’t be restrained or hidden. Love should not bring you shame. Don’t let it. You are in charge of your happiness. Make your life the life you want to live. Love the person you want to love and love them out loud. Love them like you’ve waited your entire life to find them. Love them like every breath you take depends on their very existence. Love them for all of the people who never find someone to truly love. And more importantly, let them love you back.

Many of the savvy Directioners have been interpreting hidden messages for years, desperately wanting the truth. Like this…

Or this…

Or this…

And most recently, they have been deciphering the black & white images Harry is posting to his Instagram feed. (These ladies are next level.)

They’re theorizing that Harry is posting the colors of the rainbow, a symbol of gay pride, hidden in black and white images as his way of telling the world who he really is without having to actually say anything. Or possibly telling a hidden story using the colors of a traffic light to symbolize how close he is to actually being able to live freely as himself. This theory arose after a tweet Harry shared in October. (Did I mention not to mess with these girls?) And they’re probably right.

It’s not just Harry desperate to break out of the media bubble they live in. Just days after Apple CEO Tim Cook came out, Louis wore this shirt…

This is not a coincidence.

In September, Harry wore the jersey of Michael Sam, the first openly gay football player to be drafted by the NFL. The concert was in St. Louis.

More recently, in yet another interview where he was clearly tired of keeping himself closeted, Harry made another bold statement about sexuality. The interviewer and band-mates were playfully teasing Niall about a fictional sexual relationship with a man, to which he quickly objected. Harry gave him a tap on the knee, and said, “hey, don’t knock it til you try it.” The video quickly cut to a clip of the “Steal My Girl” video. (You can watch the interview by clicking on the photo below. The conversation starts just a few seconds in.)

Constantly being told that you cannot be yourself because who you are is wrong is no way to live. It chips away at your spirit. It breaks you down, brick by brick until you have no choice but to either crumble or explode from the rubble into who you are. So why are we sending the very strong message to teenage girls that love between two men is wrong and shameful? Love is never wrong. Love is never shameful. Love should never be kept a secret. Love shouldn’t be hidden behind lies to maintain an appearance of “normalcy”. Love is normal. Hiding it, being afraid and ashamed of it is not.

Just for a moment, imagine how different our world would be if all of us operated on love instead of anger, hate, or jealousy. You wouldn’t have to watch someone wear the heavy weight of denying who they are, like the world is currently watching with Louis. His appearance has drastically changed over the past year.

It’s almost painful to look at him and see how much of a toll the situation has taken on him.

We need to fix the way the world views people who are perceived as different. We are ALL different. It’s supposed to be that way. It doesn’t matter who you fall in love with, just fall in love. The world needs more of it.

I sincerely hope that Harry & Louis love each more than anyone else in the world has ever loved anyone, in spite of the act that they are clearly being forced to put on for all of us. I look forward to the day when they can be the best example of loving fearlessly and shamelessly for the younger generation and can speak openly about who they truly are. I so desperately hope they get their happily ever after with legal marriage, a Duggar sized brood of adopted children from around the world and a big, fluffy dog who leaves hair everywhere he goes.

(I mean, really—look how cute they are. How can you look in their eyes and tell them what they feel for each other is wrong?)

To all of you operating on a level of love and acceptance, thank you for making the world a better place to live. To those of you who haven’t caught on to the secret of happiness yet, what are you waiting for?

Here’s one more, just because you haven’t had enough already….



louis & harry | 18 from jenny on Vimeo.

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