Below Deck star Izzy Wouters comes out as a lesbian and gives her haters an important lesson on representation
Below Deck’s Izzy Wouters has come out as a lesbian. (Bravo)
Below Deck star Izzy Wouters came out as a lesbian and gave a powerful lesson on the importance of LGBT+ visibility.
The reality TV star came out in a tongue-in-cheek Instagram post that had a simple message for her male suitors.
Wouters shared on Instagram photos of herself on a boat in New Zealand Tuesday (15 December) writing: “The face of the straight men who slide into my dm’s when I say – HELLO MY NAME IS IZZY AND I AM OUT AND PROUD.”
She capped off the caption with the hashtags: “#LankyLezzy, #P***yPlease [and] #OutAndProud.”
The post provoked some of her 10,000 followers to question why she came out publicly.
Wouters refused to be stung by the criticism, and wrote a story aimed at “the small percentage of people who don’t understand why it’s important to have visible [LGBT+] representation”.
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Izzy Wouters: ‘Coming out helps others know they are not alone.’
“Throughout history, the [LGBT+] community has been a marginalised community,” she explained.
“A lot of our gay friends are not comfortable coming out and that shouldn’t be a problem that we face in society today.
“Coming out helps others know they are not alone and that it is OK to live your life true to yourself.
“And if me sharing my sexuality helps just one person to feel comfortable in themselves and live their best goddamn life then that’s all that matters.”
She also thanked everyone for the support, saying she is “so bloody overwhelmed” by it all and joked: “Disclaimer: Will still accept money from a platonic sugar daddy or mummy.
“I don’t discriminate when money is involved.”
Wouters joined Below Deck in the reality show’s eighth season, which premiered in November.
Research published in May confirmed what many LGBT+ folk have long known: that queer representation in the media helps foster acceptance.
