Light spoilers of Christy ahead.Sydney Sweeney's many public faults shouldn't be the reason audiences skip Christy, a biopic based on the rise and fall (then rise again) of the celebrated female boxing champion, Christy Martin. After the movie premiered in theaters Friday, the opening weekend box-office numbers suggest that may be the case. According to Box Office Mojo, the film ranks 12th for the worst opening weekend among movies released to over 2,000 screens, sitting just above two films released in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It paints a worrying picture for the future of queer storytelling, and the bulk of the problem lies with the movie's star.The public's issues with Sweeney date back to 2023, when, at the height of her Euphoria fame, her family members uploaded photos to social media of her mom's birthday party, in which some guests wore Make America Great Again hats. She scolded the media for turning an innocent celebration into an absurd political statement. But now, she refused to denounce accusations of being a white supremacist after her American Eagle jeans ad, which received praise from President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, was said to have promoted eugenics. Christy starts with the titular character's tense relationship with her parents, after her mother learns about the rumors that she's a lesbian. She enters a local boxing tournament, where she meets a promoter who sends her to train with a coach named James Martin (Ben Foster), who doesn't initially believe in her. But once she stands her ground, the trainer goes all in to help make her a star. As As Christy rises through the ranks and racks up win after win, the two engage in a secret relationship before getting married. James becomes increasingly controlling, which later turns into abuse in some truly hard-to-watch scenes. Her mother, played by Merritt Weaver, is infuriating to watch, excusing James's misogyny and gaslighting Christy when her daughter confides in her about the abuse. But she'd rather see her daughter as a "normal" woman than happy as an out queer woman. Sydney Sweeney as Christy Martin in "Christy"Eddy Chen/Courtesy of Black Bear ProductionsI, as I imagine most people watching this movie who don't follow sports (and, more specifically, boxing), went into it completely blind to who Martin is and her story, which made for a much more emotional watch than I had anticipated. Christy's story is one of resilience, and the movie's climax proves it in one of the most stomach-churning and anxiety-inducing scenes I've seen in awhile. She returns home to James after reconnecting with her high school sweetheart, Rosie (Jess Gabor), and, upset with Christy's retaliation, he stabbed her multiple times and shot her in her torso. She lay motionless for a few seconds before opening her eyes and using whatever energy she had left to get herself to safety.It was difficult not to watch the movie through my fingers with my hand over my mouth in shock as she hobbled to the front door and grabbed her keys to make a run for it. It was astonishing to think about a woman who was shot and stabbed several times still having the strength to have a conversation with the doctors, but she did, and the first person she told them to call was Rosie, who sprang into action to be by her side. Once her family arrived, however, her mom asked Rosie to leave, and that drew a loud groan from the audience at my screening. Even though throughout her career, Christy pushed every other female boxer out of her corner after collecting accolade after accolade, the only person who stuck by her was Lisa Holewyne (Katy O'Brien), who came to visit her in the hospital, and (spoiler alert) ended up marrying Christy in 2017.This is one aspect of her life I wish we had gotten more of because O'Brien is a scene-stealer, and it would've been impactful to see the pair's love story blossom. Even so, it's awe-inspiring to watch Sweeney as Martin speak directly to her assailant and tell him that even though he tried to kill her, he failed because he couldn't even do that right. A wave of chills washed over me as she said those words this is the attitude the LGBTQ+ community is adopting in the times of political uncertainty. There was hope mixed with anger in her voice in this courtroom scene. She had so many opportunities to just give up, lie there, and bleed out as the sense of hopelessness washed over her, but something in her told her to keep fighting and gave her strength.Less than a month after getting out of the hospital, she went back to the gym she and James started and said she wanted to get back in the ring. She tried to fight again. That is what the queer community should take away from this movie, and that sort of inspiration is what we'd lose if these stories don't get told. We can hold two things to be true at once Sweeney can be a problematic celebrity, and Christy's story deserves to be heard. It's impossible to separate the art from the artist, but that doesn't mean we should let a queer story get caught in the crossfire.Moises Mendez II is a staff writer at Out magazine. Follow him on Instagram @moisesfenty.Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. 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