You don’t get it, do you?
If you say that Izzy’s death was a beautiful conclusion to his arc, that it was kind. You just. You don’t fucking get it.
You don’t get to say shit like that if you’re able-bodied, and then ignore those of us who are disabled, and who liked Izzy, and are now angry and saddened by his death.
Do you think it was, I don’t know… A humane way of ending things?
Well. If that’s the case then, first of all, I don’t want you anywhere near me. Second of all, I want you to sit with yourself and think, but like really think, about why you think it’s more humane to kill off a physically disabled queer character rather than, I don’t know, let him live out the rest of his life happily, getting more and more accustomed to his disability, overcoming his trauma and enjoying his life to the fullest.
Queerness and disability rarely intersect in media, unlike real life. For a few episodes, Izzy’s arc gave so many of us hope. It was a beautiful, dazzling story of a man who’s been through unimaginable horrors, who was only just starting to overcome his trauma, finding love, acceptance and community.
Do you know how rare it is to witness a story like that? To see yourself in a character, in a way that you’ve never felt seen by media before?
Now, can you imagine how much of a slap in the face it was when he died? And a death that, I might add, wasn’t necessary for anyone’s development, was anticlimactic, cruel, and, perhaps the most importantly, came way too early?
So, you don’t get to tell us that we’re overreacting after Izzy was killed off. You don’t get to do that, because you just don’t get it. We’re hurting, and for a good reason. Because it’s vile, and because if we don’t speak up against it, nobody else will do it for us. You can sit in your own little corner, telling yourself that the season finale was good and satisfying, and that you’re happy with the way it ended if it’s indeed the series finale.
Meanwhile I’ll stay here, thinking about how a beloved, queer, disabled character on a beloved queer show was put down with a gun like a horse with a broken leg.
But that was the kind thing to do, wasn’t it?