My First Day at Gay High School

Submission 7,953

Part of a series on Gacha (Lunime). [View Related Entries]

About

My First Day at Gay High School is a Gacha Life viral video and image of a character in a green shirt named Charlie saying, "It's my first day at gay high school, I hope they don't realize I'm straight." The earliest available upload of the video was posted to YouTube in 2020 and gained viral spread over the following years. In 2022, the meme became increasingly associated with YouTuber Slimecicle, who some fans compared to the Gacha character in the image.

Origin

On February 22nd, 2020, YouTuber^[1] ballslord43 (@centipedegrrrl on Twitter) posted a video titled, "straight in a gay school lunch club glmm." The video, a Gacha Life animation, shows a character named Charlie attending his first day of "gay high school" and hoping nobody finds out he's straight. Two other characters then walk into the frame and make fun of him, calling him a "stupid breeder" and a "bitch boy." The video gained around 6,400 views in three years (shown below).

On April 15th, 2021, a screenshot of Charlie from the video was posted to /r/GachaLifeCringe,^[2] garnering over 860 upvotes in two years (shown below). It was posted by Tumblr^[3] user campyvillain on May 26th, garnering over 6,000 notes in the same span of time.

Spread

The image continued to spread over the following years. On May 28th, 2021, Twitter^[4] user @reactjpg posted it, garnering around 390 likes in two years. That day, Twitter^[5] user @agitoutprising posted the image and YouTuber Slimecicle replied, "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS." The interaction was posted by Tumblr^[6] user parking-lot-enthusiast that day, garnering over 1,800 notes in two years (shown below).

The meme became increasingly associated with Slimecicle, whose name is also Charlie. On February 11th, 2022, a Redditor posted a meme to /r/Slimecicle^[7] photoshopping Slimecicle outside a gay high school, garnering over 450 upvotes in a year. On March 19th, TikToker^[8] @parrotlert posted an animation inspired by the meme, garnering over 2.9 million views in a year (shown below). A screenshot from the video gained viral spread on sites like Facebook and Instagram that year.^[14]

On September 8th, Slimecicle made a post to Twitter,^[9] writing, "I did NOT go to gay high school, but if I did it was not my intention. I also firmly believe the students would not realize im straight either way. Thank you all," garnering over 80,000 likes in nine months, sharing the meme in a comment and continuing, "it looks pretty photoshopped to me and I have yet to see proof of my face in the gay yearbook" (shown below, left). That day, Twitter^[10]^[11] users @Holographicros3 and @NELS0NSPRlNG posted fan art of Slimecicle at gay high school, garnering over 2,300 and 10,000 likes respectively in the same span of time (shown below, center, right).

The meme also inspired numerous redraws referencing it (see 'Various Examples') and continued to spread throughout 2023. On March 25th, 2023, Tumblr^[12] user spoofi posted a piece of art that gained over 400 notes in three months (shown below). On May 2nd, Twitter^[13] user @centipedegrrrl posted a version of the meme, writing, "I've never seen the rest of the images but now 'hey dude wanna get men' has entered my lexicon already," garnering over 28,000 likes in a month.