Producer Midland took to his Twitter account this morning to offer important and personal criticisms of comments from other people regarding his sexuality. ‘Can people stop saying “I had NO idea you were gay” as if it’s some sort of compliment,” the producer began. “It leaves a bad taste.”

Later, he recounted how he spent his teen years trying to hide his sexuality and how he has spent the past 15 years trying to undo the effects of those actions on himself.

In the series of tweets, the producer also referenced a passage from writer and poet Maggie Nelson’s 2015 book The Argonauts, calling it “frankly astonishing.”