Thread by @SimonCopland

Some, not entirely complete, thoughts over the suicide of Wilson Gavin after the drag protest earlier this week.

First, as I said yesterday, this whole this is absolutely awful. Their protest was awful, and his suicide is awful too. The whole thing is awful. 1/10

Similar to the thread I retweeted from @maevemarsden, I am extraordinarily uncomfortable with people trying to diagnose why Gavin committed suicide.

We don't know why he did it, and attempts to describe why based off the little information we have is unhelpful. 2/10

I think this is particularly true for those who are assuming that he must somehow have been 'conflicted' about his same-sex attraction and conservative politics.

It is possible that is the case, but it is also entirely possible it wasn't. Again, we just don't know. 3/10

To me though, much of that narrative buys into an identity politics narrative that assumes that all gay people must be inherently progressive, or if not, they are inherently conflicted.

In this approach identity = politics. 4/10

This is not true. There are many gay conservatives, and many of them clearly lead a happy life in their gay conservatism.

Assuming that identities lead to particular political formations both denies the reality of the world, and removes people's agency. It gets us nowhere. 5/10

On the flip side, I'm also annoyed at those blaming social media reactions for what happened. Yes, social media can be harsh. But Wilson did something very controversial and very public. He, surely, would have known that, and people have the right to criticise him for it. 6/10

It is possible that we can live in a world where both what Wilson did was awful, and where his suicide is awful too.

These two things exist at the same time and one does not cancel out the other. 7/10

Finally, I also feel there is a strong urge from many to find someone or something to blame for a suicide. It was his bad friends, or his internalised homophobia, or the social media reaction.

I've also seen many argue for simple solutions - in particular Safe Schools. 8/10

Likely it is far more complex. Mental health problems and suicide are complex. They have complex causes and require complex solutions.

Finding the one answer, the one thing to blame, or the one solution, is comforting, but is unlikely to stop this happening again. 9/10

One last thought is that I am thinking about the drag queens who got stuck in the middle of this. They were just reading stories to kids. I cannot imagine what this week has been like for them. 10/10