Accepted–but not quite: LGBT youth speak

Accepted–but not quite: LGBT youth speak

There is a scene in the movie Pretty Woman which had a strong impact in my life and which really influenced me to just be who I am. I was 19 years old when the movie came out in 1990.

In that scene, Richard Gere's character asks Julia Roberts who plays a prostitute in the movie, to dress up like a 'normal' rich girl so that he can bring her to a polo game. However, during the game, Gere decides to reveal Roberts' true job to his lawyer played by that guy from Seinfeld - who thought Roberts was some sort of corporate spy - since in that scene, Roberts was talking to the son of the man Gere's character wanted to deal with. Gere wanted to to buy that man's company and chop it up. The Seinfeld guy did not trust Roberts' character but when he learned that she was just a hooker, he made a pass at her.

In the next scene, Roberts' chastises Gere and tells him that if you just tell other people that I'm a hooker, just let me dress up like a hooker. She says, by doing so, I can defend myself easier, instead of being humiliated by showing an unreal facade.

That scene had such a strong influence in my life because I realized, if I just tell people what I really am, even if they insult me with slurs, at least I can defend myself much better, instead of pretending to be who I'm not.