Melissa and Scott

We, as a society, tend to focus heavily on the negative repercussions of coming out—rejection, judgement, even cruelty. Especially in our class, where we lean into challenging conversations about. But there are so many reasons to celebrate coming out, and I felt as though Alex Gino did a wonderful job at conveying this message in Melissa.

I wanted to specifically talk about Scott, Melissa’s brother, and perhaps the most stereotypically teenage boy character I have ever read about. In the first half of the book, it is clear that Melissa and Scott have a somewhat strained sibling relationship. Melissa almost seems intimidated by her older brother, a reaction that may be inspired by the similarities between Scott’s character and that of Melissa’s school bullies. After coming out to her brother, however, Melissa is grateful for Scott’s nonchalant, yet supportive response. “Scott snuck glances her way too, but where Mom’s eyes with filled with concern and confusion, Scott looked at George as if his sibling made sense to him for the first time” (Gino 142). For Melissa and Scott, Melissa’s coming out strengthened their relationship. His reaction to Melissa’s news was far from perfect (he is a stereotypical teenage boy, after all), but sometimes that is okay! It was not Scott’s words, so much as the care and acceptance he poured into Melissa upon hearing her news.

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