#Lgbt rep

[roseredsnow]

This is your week till Acolyte reminder that Vernestra Rwoh

Is canonically aroace and she was been confirmed aroace since 2021 by her main writer Justina Ireland, the tweet doesn't work for me but the article and a link

Please do not ship her, you can have any other characters in Acolyte and any of the at least 13 confirmed sapphic characters in the High Republic, let us have our rep for once.

Edit: Forgot to include the word aromantic was also used in the character encyclopedia.

[she-who-is-two-sizes-too-big]

This might be a bit of a hot take and is gonna sound weird out of context, but I don't really like how modern writers treat all LGBT+ identities as interchangeably representative of each other, like we're Lego pieces that can be swapped out.

Like, for an example of what I mean, i went to a comic book subreddit asking for superhero stories that were explicitly led by lesbians specifically, and more than half of them failed to live up to that standard at all. Practically every comment had a reply correcting them that one of the characters they recommended were bisexual. Which normally would be great, i like canonically queer characters of any identity, but as a lesbian I was looking for characters that I could see my specific identity represented within.

Just because a story has good bi representation does not necessarily mean it is going to have good lesbian representation. Just because it has good lesbian trans representation doesn't mean it will have good trans representation. Having good trans representation doesn't mean it will have good bisexual representation.

The L Word was a massive win for representation of cis lesbian women, but up until Gen Q it was horrifically transphobic in its handling of trans men and it still doesn't have an explicitly trans woman main character.

The romanceable cast of games like Dragon Age: Veilguard, Baldurs Gate 3, or Stardew Valley are all explicitly canonically bi/pan by default (since all potential romantic options are romanceable by the player character regardless of gender, barring the very rare exception), but if you want to see yourself in the game as a gay person you're limited entirely to just headcanoning your specific incarnation of the player character, unable to have your character ever explicitly voice their identity in any meaningful capacity. Same thing with Assassin's Creeds both Valhalla and Odyssey.

RWBY has a relationship between a bi woman (Blake) and a woman who is broadly generally known to be Sapphic but who's explicit canon sexuality is up for debate (Yang), and when you look at the explicitly undeniably canon lesbians we get...Ilia? A woman that only gets to be an actual character for a volume before getting written out entirely alongside Sun and Neptune. Maybe Jaune's moms, but they're more plot device than characters. Gay men get the Bury Your Gays in Clover and offensive stereotyping in Scarlett. Trans women get May Marigold the glorified background extra (who's VA was on the receiving end of horrific transmisogynistic abuse from fans and staff alike).

Side note: I hate the "Unlabeled Broadly Sapphic" type of rep for precisely this reason. Well, that, and the fact that any attempt at interpreting the supposedly unlabeled characters as anything other than bi/pan is loudly shouted down as Bi/Pan Erasure (which BTW, calling this out as Bi/Pan Erasure detracts from actual instances of Bi/Pan Erasure). I mean, we all saw the collective shit fit Comic Twitter threw when G. Willow Wilson called Poison Ivy a lesbian, right?

[apolline-lucy]

It’s almost been a month since my book THE SILVER BIRDS came out!!! Can’t thank you enough for the support♡ if you wanna get to know my little enemies, click HERE

It’s also available on Kindle Unlimited!

[poppletonink]

Best Quotes From 'Fangirl'

"I'm not really a book person." "That may be the most idiotic thing you've ever said to me."

'To really be a nerd, she'd decided, you had to prefer fictional worlds to the real one.'

"Read to me sweetheart."

"I'm scared of everything. And I'm crazy. Like maybe you think I'm a little crazy but I only let people see the tip of my crazy iceberg. Underneath this veneer of slightly crazy and socially inept, I'm a complete disaster."

"I choose you over everyone."

"Real life was something happening in her peripheral vision."

"There is nothing more profound than creating something out of nothing."

"Why do we write fiction? [...] to disappear."

"Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow."

"I'm the kind of girl who fantasizes about being trapped in a library overnight."

“I miss you." "That's stupid," she said. "I saw you this morning." "It's not the time," Levi said, and she could hear that he was smiling. "It's the distance.”

"I'm such an idiot. I can't even go nine hours without seeing you."

"How do you not like the Internet? That’s like saying, 'I don’t like things that are convenient. And easy. I don’t like having access to all of mankind’s recorded discoveries at my fingertips. I don’t like light. And knowledge'."

[crimebunny]

My Friend: Stop pointing out every gay character in this game!

Me, Watching him play FNV: There are like four of them and you went out of your way to talk to all of them! It's not my fault you attract queer people!

[beedok]

Why must the books I become obsessed with have almost no fandom?

[justlookatthosesausages]

We live in a society where Disney strictly refuses to have a gay main character explicitly being gay in any of their hit movies because it's a company led by old white conservatives but when one (1) writer within their creative teams manages to make a character explicitly say they are attracted to people of the same sex, a whole entire group of people online gets infuriated that Disney is trying to shove its gay agenda down their throats

[venice-1987]

Also, another thing thing about the "we need more healthy male friendships in media" argument (aside from the fact that if the heterosexual men in charge of the media forever actually wanted their friendships to be healthy on screen, they would have done so already) is the acting like, somehow, healthy male friendships are a rarer breed than healthy, non-stereotypical, and respectably portrayed MLM relationships?

How about, instead of shitting on people looking for what little healthy LGBTQ+ representation they can find, you put that same pressure on studios to shift that toxic masculinity friendship towards one that allows for healthy vulnerability. If you're so desperate to not make it gay, give them girlfriends, or even boyfriends and let them still be friends. Or even make them aroace, and analyze friendships through that lens.

But I don't think you would do that, cause its always been about making sure LGBTQ+ people don't have rep, and not about making sure hetreos do.

[keeeywiii]

Why are people so toxic and negative on Instagram??? I made a post there that has over 200k views at the moment but there's soo many hate comments about cassunzel and lgbt rep in media in general. Help I'm scared. I miss my peaceful home tumblr.

[qbdatabase]

Let’s celebrate Disability Awareness Month this March with these picture books that showcase the different types of bodies a person can have! Some books talk about how bodies change as we grow up, others cover the lives of iconic figures from history, and they all have illustrations of different body types, skin tones, hairstyles, shapes, sizes, and more~

Five picture book titles and info beneath the cut!

I Am Not A Label by Cerrie Burnell

biographies of 34 disabled, mentally ill, and neurodiverse contemporary activists and iconic figures from history

The Every Body Book by Rachel E. Simon

guide for kids that covers sex, gender, relationships, puberty, hormones, consent, pregnancy, and safety; inclusive of gay couples, transgender, non-binary, and intersex people, with illustrated characters of color

Bodies Are Cool by Tyler Feder

illustrations of bodies with different skin tones, sizes, hair types, and disabilities; includes older, wheelchair user, mobility aids, vitiligo, prosthetics, hijabi, fat, little people, scars, gnc, same sex couples, and transgender rep

You-ology: A Puberty Guide for Every Body by Trish Hutchinson

a book on puberty changes that is inclusive of transgender and non-binary children and does not separate education based on gender;

Just Like Me by Louise Gooding

biographies of historical figures who were / are disabled, mentally ill, and/or neurodiverse; includes LGBT+ and people of color

[girl-with-bones]

The point (or one of the points) of representation is to normalise these things.

I'm so fucking tired of purity culture when it comes to this stuff. Flawed representation is so much better than no representation at all.

And I will die on this hill. We cannot demand perfection.

Hell, I am a non-binary trans woman, I'm literally one of the queerest people I know, and I also know if I were to write a story about MY OWN FUCKING LIFE there would be things that don't align with all the theory and the expectations.

And you know what else? Maybe that's good. Maybe we need more imperfect stories. Especially when the alternative is no story at all.

I need to say something and I need y'all to be calm

if it isn't actively bad or harmful, no representation should be called "too simple" or "too surface level"

I have a whole argument for this about the barbie movie but today I wanna talk about a show called "the babysitters club" on Netflix

(obligatory disclaimer that I watched only two episodes of this show so if it's super problematic I'm sorry) (yes. I know it's based on a book, this is about the show)

this is a silly 8+ show that my 9 year old sister is watching and it manages to tackle so many complex topics in such an easy way. basic premise is these 13 year old girls have a babysitting agency.

in one episode, a girl babysits this transfem kid. the approach is super simple, with the kid saying stuff like "oh no, those are my old boy clothes, these are my girl clothes". they have to go to the doctor and everyone is calling the kid by her dead name and using he/him and this 13 year old snaps at like a group of doctors and they all listen to her. it's pure fantasy and any person versed in trans theory would point out a bunch of mistakes.

but after watching this episode, my little sister started switching to my name instead of my dead name and intercalating he/him pronouns when talking about me.

one of the 13 years old is a diabetic and sometimes her whole personality is taken over by that. but she has this episode where she pushes herself to her limit and passes out and talks about being in a coma for a while because of not recognizing the limits of her disability.

and this allowed my 9 year old sister to understand me better when I say "I really want to play with you but right now my body physically can't do that" (I'm disabled). she has even asked me why I'm pushing myself, why I'm not using my crutches when I complain about pain.

my mom is 50 years old and watching this show with my sister. she said the episode about the diabetic girl helped her understand me and my disability better. she grew up disabled as well, but she was taught to shut up and power through.

yes, silly simple representation can annoy you if you've read thousands of pages about queer liberation or disability radical thought, but sometimes things are not for you.

[she-who-is-two-sizes-too-big]

Changing the genders/pronouns in Good Luck Babe to make it straight is horrendous as is, but hot take: changing the genders/pronouns of Good Luck Babe is inherently doomed to fundamentally break the song. Yes, even if you're making it about gay men instead.

Good Luck Babe is a song about comphet, yes, but it's a song about comphet specifically experienced by lesbian women. It doesn't work if you try to paste a different community over it. And nothing communicates this more clearly than it's most famous line:

"With your head in your hands you're nothing more than his wife"

This line explicitly lays out everything the song is about. It's not just about comphet it's about the patriarchal and misogynistic power structures that create comphet in the first place.

The song isn't portraying the other woman as a one note villain Chappell is Epically Owning Through Song, it's a tragedy. The other girl is as much a victim as Chappell is.

The enforcement of heterosexuality as a regime that must be adhered to dehumanizes women into being reduced to objects for men to 'own'. The other woman breaks under the social pressure and sacrifices a genuinely happy and loving relationship where she has actual autonomy in favor of 'fitting in' with what society wants her to be: a tool for a man's happiness.

There is no gay man equivalent to that, because of the fact gay men are still men. They are not the victims of systemic misogyny and patriarchy the way women - especially gay women- are.

[poppletonink]

Review: Crooked Kingdom

★★★★★ - 5 stars

"I would come for you. And if I couldn't walk, I'd crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we'd fight our way out together - knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting."

On the front of Crooked Kingdom, there should be a warning that reads, "You will experience a withdrawal stage once finished reading and will feel like you are no longer whole". That is the effect of this enticing, page-turner of a book. It tells the story of Kaz Brekker and his crew following the Ice Court Heist that occurs within Six Of Crows, as they seek out revenge upon a swindling mercher, in hopes of gaining their well-earned reward. It's dramatic, dark and full to the brim with tales of crime, but it's simultaneously funny and astoundingly adorable.

There are three relationships that have you completely hooked and often screaming at words on paper and that is because... the romance within this story is nothing but wonderful. At times it is overt and between the lines but nevertheless remains an amazing aspect of the story. Overall, the love between the characters, both romantic and platonic, is immaculately written.

Through this book there is a beautiful discussion of disability (both physical and mental) and ableism within society. It's raw and honest about disability, and can be quite emotional to read, yet it is also extremely empowering and uplifting. It discusses dyslexia and the realities of being a cane user but it never takes away from the fantasy plot. In fact, it aids it, because it makes the characters wonderfully imperfect and more real.

Leigh Bardugo is an incredible writer - she will draw you into the world of the Grishaverse and take you down a path before tearing your heart to pieces. She creates characters who you come to love, characters who go through so much and yet stay standing and she will make you cry through what happens to them. It's a painful read, and yet a rewarding one because it is so well-written. A tale of love, crime, trauma and revenge: Crooked Kingdom is an outstanding addition to the ranks of the fantasy genre.

[thefandomentals]

In today's Pride Month throwback, we look at the LGBT representation of Parks & Recreation.

[chronically-chaotic-cryptid]

I came out when I was eleven, and the again as non-binary when I was twelve. In my country, this is the age where people are still in primary school, and I was. I remember scouring the interenet for HOURS trying to find anything, literally anything, with even the tiniest bit of queerness in it that wasn't a TV show only available in the states made for adults. All I remember finding were a few books, most of them for teens. And the ones for my age group I had to buy or spend weeks waiting to get from the library and I DEVOURED them. I read books I probably should have waited a year or two to read over and over again, I became obsessed with books even when they had fairly problematic representation because that was ALL I had. I got into Voltron because I read that Pidge was non-binary, I clung to the five seconds of queerness afforded on-screen to Shiro. And to me, it seemed like a luxurious amount of representation because everything I was consuming had only come out extremely recently.

It makes me so, so, so happy to see just how must positive (and age-approriate) representation kids get to have these days. Because young queer kids have always existed, and we have always needed our stories to be told. And now finally, we're getting that.

One thing that's likely not visible to all younger queers is that little kids shows have gotten radically queerer in the last 10 years.

I'm not just talking about Owl House, Kippo etc, much as I love them.

I mean like stuff for kindergardners.

Characters in Strawberry Shortcake and Superhero Girls and more have gay parents just unremarkably in the background. That was unthinkable 15 years ago.

But the thing that shocks me utterly is the casual inclusion of nonbinary characters.

Dee and Friends in Oz, Polly Pocket, Craig of the Creek...it seems like half the shows my daughter watches have nonbinary characters just seamlessly included. Not even a Very Special Episode. Just...here's the scarecrow in charge of scarecrow village who uses they/them pronouns that everyone just uses without comment.

I was almost 30 before I found the word nonbinary. For my kid to just grow up with this is astonishing.

Conservatives are so mad because it's INCREDIBLY hard to just put this kind of inclusion back away. Once something is normal, and clearly not causing anything bad to happen, it's hard to convince people to be scared of it.

[quaelgeist333]

Heyyy guys

A friend and another player in my home dnd campaign where i'm a player is an author and has started a kickstarter! If you could spare a bit of coin, she'd be very grateful!

"Wilbur" is a novella (100-120 pages) about a Minotaur who learned to cook instead of how to fight.

It is for everyone who likes meviedal and historical settings with a hint of fantasy, a bit of romance, humour and some cosy storytelling with delicious recipes and characters that will make you laugh and cry. And in the end, you won't have a chance but to love them.