Why JoJo Siwa comes out is such a big deal

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There’s no precedent for what JoJo did – no star of her caliber, at her age, whose audience is mostly primary school students, has come out so publicly. And JoJo, with her unflappable joy, is an example no other LGBTQ youth have had.

“JoJo’s pride in her identity and her confidence to shake off negative reactions indicate that her social media presence will foster a sense of community support for LGBTQ youth,” said Traci Gillig, an assistant professor of communications at the University of Twente. Washington State University examining the effects of LGBTQ + representation in young people. “She’s one more voice – and a big one – communicating to young LGBTQ people that they are loved.”

Now LGBTQ kids have one of the world’s biggest child stars in their corner.

JoJo says she’s the happiest she’s ever been

To the uninitiated, Joelle Joanie Siwa is a ray of unrelenting, occasionally abrasive sunshine. She is rarely seen without her gravity-defying ponytail, tied neatly with an oversized bow. She radiates innocent, inexhaustible positivity. She provides affirmations to her young viewers with enthusiastic cries.

In 2021, JoJo will be at the peak of her strength. She is a pop star, published author and alumnus of the Abby Lee Dance Company. Her name is used to sell enchanting unicorn clothes, pink small furniture, face masks, and of course, bows. She has made millions from her merchandise, tours and very popular social channels. She lives in a mansion decorated with images of her face and drives a BMW convertible with her smiling face on the hood.

Since JoJo’s persona has made money (and because most of her audience is made up of young children), she keeps fans at bay. She invites cameras into her home, and while she’s reliably giddy and entertaining, she also plays a part.

Her coming out, however, was devoid of all appearance.

CNN reached out to JoJo’s publicists for comment and has heard nothing. But JoJo made a statement about her coming out on Instagram Live.
She was wearing a black Time 100 hoodie (a subtle flex; she was on the magazine’s list of the world’s most influential people last year) and an understated bow, and her voice was lowered to a register she rarely uses online. She seemed genuinely moved by the support she received.

Someone on Instagram Live asked her how she identified. She answered candidly – she doesn’t know.

“I want to share everything with the world, I really do,” she told her delighted audience. “But I also want to keep things private in my life until they’re ready to be made public.”

Yet she has “never been happier,” she said beaming.

Jojo Siwa is one of the most influential children's artists in the world. She is also one of the first famous people to come out as a teenager at the height of her powers.

“I think coming out has this stigma, it’s really scary,” she said. ‘It isn’t anymore. There are so many accepting and loving people. Of course people will say it is not normal, but it is your normal. ‘

Coming out is still real, real really scary for many LGBTQ kids. A human rights campaign survey found – just over half of 10,000 teen respondents said they went to their families. The teens who had come to their immediate family reported feeling happier than those who had not.

Of course, JoJo also has the advantage of being rich and popular online. She could lose a lot by coming out – sponsorships, fans, some income – but the non-famous kids who watch her videos will lose a lot more.

But it still makes sense to see someone like JoJo, who has already conquered worlds at the age of 17, come out in a very public way, says Jill Gutowitz, a culture writer whose upcoming book “Canon” explores the impact of queer women. in pop culture.

“Strange adults have only seen themselves represented by highly visible celebrities in recent years, but teens and kids – the Siwa audience – still don’t have many strange, highly visible pop culture figures to look at,” Gutowitz told CNN in an email.

Now they have one of the most visible children in the world as an example.

“I’ve heard many people say that coming out with such a massive platform is ‘brave’, and in a way that’s true given our culture’s history of burying or blotting out queerness,” she said . “But I don’t think JoJo Siwa came out because she did something ‘brave’ – I think she came out because this is who she is, and it’s important for her to share herself with her fans.”

That way, JoJo lives the same values ​​that she praises in her messages to fans: she is her most sincere self.

It sets a new precedent

Gillig, an assistant professor of communications at Washington State University, said JoJo’s coming out is unlike any other celebrity’s.

“JoJo is a rare example of a young person who was in the media for years before coming out as LGBTQ when he was a teenager,” Gilig said.

There are some fictional examples – two characters on the Freeform show “The Fosters” came out – and the inevitable comparisons to Ellen DeGeneres, who appeared on a 1997 cover of Time magazine and an episode of her sitcom, Gillig said. JoJo has an advantage that the comedian who became a talk show host did not.
Two years after Ellen came out, only half of Americans thought a gay relationship between two consenting adults should be legal, Gallup polls said. That number now stands at 72%. Homophobia and efforts to limit legal protections for gay Americans are still widespread in the US, although general support for gay relationships has increased.

However, there is less consensus about children coming out. Children who know they are LGBTQ when they are young aren’t always believed by the adults in their lives, and their experiences are often disregarded, said Lori Duron, an advocate for LGBTQ youth and the mother of a gay man. -binary child.

People ask Duron’s son how, at age 13, he knows he’s gay and nonbinary. They say he’s too young to know for sure how he identifies, said Duron, a member of PFLAG, an organization for parents and their LGBTQ kids.

When asked how long she’s known to be LGBTQ, JoJo said she’s probably known her whole life.

“I always thought that my person would be my person,” she said on Instagram Live. “If that person was a boy, great! If that person was a girl, great!”

Duron said she thinks JoJo’s role model can force parents to take their children seriously if they come out at a young age.

JoJo, twinning with a doll.

“For her coming out, keep it super positive – I think it can change some people and change some hearts,” she said. Because she’s still exactly who she was two days ago or two weeks ago, and they see it. It is that visibility that softens people’s minds and hearts over time. ‘

It’s also impressive, Duron said, for parents to see the support that JoJo’s parents have shown her publicly.

In her follow-up video, JoJo ends with something her dad told her before: “‘Hey man, love is universal!’ ‘

Jessalyn Siwa, JoJo’s mother who appeared on ‘Dance Moms’ for two seasons with her daughter, backed JoJo on Instagram:’ The best you can be is yourself and the best gift you can give someone is to love him like he’s forever. ”

“That’s so important to see that adults can be safe, loving and supportive,” said Duron. “I think it’s also very important for her audience to see that she is loved and accepted at home.”

She has no time for haters

Whether JoJo makes her identity a bigger part of her empire remains to be seen, but her announcement itself was already an important step for kids’ entertainment. It wasn’t until 2018 that a major studio released a movie centered on the love story of gay teens: ‘Love, Simon’, whose high school protagonist was in the closet for much of the movie. Tropics of queer protagonists have been flipped in shows like “Sex Education,” “Riverdale,” and “Schitt’s Creek,” but those series are aimed at teens and adults.
JoJo came out in her own way, on her own terms – and fans are largely behind her, as is Nickelodeon, who signed JoJo to a talent deal in 2017. When CNN was approached for comment, a representative referred to Nickelodeon’s Instagram post – a photo of JoJo captioned “Never been so proud.”
Her confession was still courted, as JoJo calls them, ‘haters’. Some followers – many of them parents – claimed their kids would never watch any of her videos again.
For one user, she responded with typical pep – “Okay!”
JoJo Siwa performed with Nicole Scherzinger on "The masked singer."
However, the hatred became dangerous at some point. JoJo said her house was “beaten,” meaning someone called a SWAT team to her house with a fake call. The incident scared her, she said on her videographer’s Instagram live stream.

Still, Gillig said, “The long-term impact of her coming out will no doubt be positive for LGBTQ people.”

It’s been for Duron’s son for the past week. He dizzy sends her TikToks from JoJo and runs into her bedroom to show her new videos of the bow-clad star.

“It just makes him so happy,” she said. “He still sometimes doesn’t feel completely safe and doesn’t see that visibility in the world, so to see that and to see someone’s picture – he sees her picture when we’re shopping – it’s just meant to be that way. . “

JoJo’s joy bubbled over on Instagram Live. She giggled, she grinned, she used “great” in every other sentence. She joked that her face was starting to cramp from so many smiles.

Not even the haters could dim her glow.

“With the platform and strength she has, why would she want to hide much of herself in order to put some hateful people at ease, when her whole message has to be loud and proud?” Gutowitz said. “It doesn’t make any sense to her, and she doesn’t have to. And that is a powerful message. ‘

Shortly after her vibrant Instagram Live address, JoJo left for Canada, where she will stay for months to film a secret project. When and when she’s ready, she will tell more of her story to her largely adoring audience. But for now she has said enough.

Her happiness speaks for itself.

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