With anti-LGBTQ+ laws sweeping the nation, it can be easy to lose hope that things will ever get better, but a new viral video is proving that Gen Alpha may be our ticket to a more inclusive future.
A brand new video featuring mom Emmaline Carroll Southwell talking to her kids about what “coming out” means is currently going viral on TikTok, and it’s giving us all the feels.
Southwell — who hosts the Australian reality TV show The Yes Experiment where kids runs the household for 24 hours — has not only made a name for herself on TV and as the author of The Family Pledge, but also for running the popular TikTok account @emmalinecs that currently has over 600,000 followers.
In her viral video — which has only been live for 8 hours at the time of publication and it already has close to 500,000 views and more than 100,000 likes on TikTok — Southwell films herself in the front seat of her car while we hear her kids talking in the back seat. The video is part of a series called #asklevi where the mom of three films herself talking to her child Levi while they’re riding in the car together.
“In some cultures, in some religions, you’re not allowed to be gay,” she says at the start of the video captioned “Trying to explain the concept of ‘coming out’ to Gen Alpha.”
The kids quickly ask, “What?! Why?”
“The term coming out applies to people that need to come out to their families and let them know I’m gay,” she continues.
Then one of the kids asks, “But why do they have to tell them?”
“That’s a really great question, and hopefully, we get to a point where people don’t have to do that, but sadly, a lot of people still have to do that, and it still causes a lot of people pain,” Southwell answers while passing on some hard truths. Some families disown the kids. Did you know that? And won’t speak to them again.”
“That’s so mean. Because they’re gay?” one kid says, proving that even children understand what conservative adult parents frequently fail to.
When she answers “Yes,” the kids erupt, shouting, “What the heck?! Why does that happen?”
“It doesn’t have to make sense to you two, but that’s just how it is for a lot of people and so, but some families, they go, ‘Well, I don’t want to lose my child so I might rethink my beliefs,’” she calmly explains before the kids respond by saying, “That’s a lot better.”
Then Southwell uses the moment to impart even more wisdom, “That is a lot better, to rethink your beliefs on something and realize how silly it is. So, will anybody be coming out in my house?”
Both kids answer with a resounding “No” before she asks, “Why won’t people be coming out in our house?”
“Because you’re good parents and because you can love whoever you want,” one kid answers before Southwell says she doesn’t need a “formal announcement” because you just “love who you want to love.”
To which a kid says, “Yeah, boys, girls, girls, boys, any other genders. Anything. Anything at all.”
We’re not crying, you’re crying!
It’s been hard to watch the conservative side of the country push to take away more and more LGBTQ+ rights, but with kids like Levi around, we think Gen Alpha we're headed in the right direction.
