A year and a half ish ago I joined a discord server where I really, for the first time, felt like I was part of a queer community. And it quickly became normalized there to say “love you!” as people were leaving calls or greeting people with “how are you, love?” and similar things.
Just…casually telling friends we loved each other.
Things like “I love you” were still reserved for between partners, and more than once I figured out people were crushing or in the early stages of dating because the lack of “love you” told me they were saving it for the one with the third word. Hell, I even met my partner there, and was very careful using that term specifically with her when I realized I was catching feelings.
It was such a wonderful thing, just the casual normalization of using love in a platonic sense. It really made me feel loved, regularly, and honestly did wonders for how I viewed myself and opened me up to the possibility that I deserved love.
So when I say this, I mean it genuinely: love y’all!
