#all this applies to other shades of queer too

[millieindeed]

I know the bigots don't exactly care about facts and logic. But like, why do they think so many countries specifically brought in laws against transition and against learning about being trans? Do they think lawmakers just make laws randomly outlawing things that don't exist? No. They did it to repress and to hide and to keep the truth away from people. Because they knew that people, kids adults everyone, would learn about being trans, and many would think "Huh, that sounds like how I feel".

So yeah, I didn't see anyone pre-2000 in my primary school explicitly question their gender (there are some who would've tried though). I did in high school though. and more again in University. As we grew old enough to find the things that were being hidden from us. And bold and strong enough to speak our truths aloud, even when we know there will be consequences.

I graduated high school in 99.

There was a student at our school named Wayne.

Wayne was gay. It was obvious. He was unable to stay in the closet even if he wanted to. To make matters worse, he was also Black. From a bullying standpoint, that was not a great combo. Both Black and white students made fun of him relentlessly. He was ostracized from the only community that may have given him protection. Only us theater kids stuck up for him, but not to significant effect.

Wayne was bullied so much that at one point he finally snapped and attacked his bullies with a lunch tray. I was actually seated in perfect line of sight and just sat there chewing my soggy fries in stunned silence. It didn't even seem real as I was witnessing it. The image of him wailing on his main bully as the food on his tray flew off is permanently logged into my long term memory.

The bully he attacked had blood all over his face and went straight to the nurse. Other than superficial cuts, he was not injured.

Before the attack, Wayne went to teachers for help. He went to guidance counselors for help. He went to the principals for help.

He did all of the things you were supposed to do. No one helped him. They wagged a finger at the bullies and warned them to stop.

Wayne's lunch tray melee was the only thing that worked. His bullies stayed far away from him. But a week later Wayne was expelled and the bullies were given no punishment.

So... no.

No one in my school talked about being trans.

Because the only way to survive being openly queer was to bash people with a lunch tray.

[lover-of-mine]

Hello and welcome to Anna thinks they just kickstarted Eddie's queer arc and *coldplay starts to play* it was all yellow (and blue). (metas on the blue and yellow here and here if you feel like reading)

I feel like at this point I have made the point that I think Eddie's queer arc is gonna be yellow where Buck's was blue very clear (post on that here, more on the theory applied to buddie here), so I'm watching for any amount of blue or yellow around Eddie. The whole thing comes back to the way 704 is very blue and yellow and the climax of Buck's bi arc, the coming out scene since it's the one scene Buck chooses to come out, is also blue and yellow, but Buck himself is blue.

This actually starts in the locker room in 701 tho, but we have established that Buck is blue, so they are in the wrong colors. They're also in the wrong colors during the will reveal, which is interesting if they follow through it this particular symbolism the way I'm expecting them to.

The will reveal is interesting because they don't match their backgrounds the way Buck does in the coming out scene, but the backgrounds have the right colors, but I digress.

The thing is, the thing that I keep waiting to happen, happened. The sandy yellow shirt. Something about Buck's journey to blue, is that he is in darker shades of blue while Eddie is in neutral tones, mostly black, until he reaches a shade of blue that's basically the color of Oliver's eyes, so it's a brighter color.

So my working theory is that Eddie is gonna mirror that, and we will have Buck in neutral tones while Eddie finds his golden yellow, that right now I'm 90% positive will be the shade behind him in the coming out scene, but Eddie's arc will be lighter shades working up to the darker ones. And this is a promising start.

But I wanna talk about Eddie's arc on the episode. Because his arc is blue and yellow, but he's drowning in blue. Which is the wrong color. And not just because the uniforms are blue.

Something in particular that's intriguing me is the fact that they changed the waiting room of the hospital, so it is yellowish now, where it used to be a more neutral blue color.

Something else is the fact that this is the school from 504, an episode called home and away, that has "you're the guy who likes to fix things" conversation, where we actually discuss the way blood family knows you differently than a significant other. So we have a few s5 callbacks going on, and I feel like this will be a pattern, even though I don't think Eddie is in route for another full breakdown, I think deconstructing parts of who he is will have a lot of callbacks to his s5 arc.

The dialogue of the ambulance scene is very interesting too, because Eddie is talking about fixing someone's heart in less-than-ideal circumstances, and he actually manages to pull it off after some struggle. I'm probably reading too much into it, but the fifty/fifty on 2 attempts is making me 👀 because if we take this to the more metaphorical possible Eddie and his own heart, unless we are talking Buck, he failed all times, but it interesting to think Shannon vs Buck since Ana and Marisol where superficial relationships. Considering what we know, how young he was and the way his relationship with Shannon got to serious to fast vs the way Buck squeezed his way into his life and Eddie did take some leaps of faith in less than ideal conditions, I can see a symbolism hidden there.

The talk with Bobby is also interesting because of the whole yellowish setting and the implication that the issue can be traced to the mustache, and since we know the mustache is gonna be important for Eddie's character in the following episodes.

But the thing that had me screaming was actually the shop scene. I wrote a meta on this (you can read it here) but 911 uses blue and red for parenting issues. And the shop, the car the dad is working on, and the equipment are blue and red. And that makes sense, they are talking about parenting. Eddie is there as a father, at least at first.

And all of this is happening while Eddie is in white.

After they go outside, while Eddie is talking about being a father in a more detached manner, he is surrounded by the blue and red, even though the chair is yellow.

But while the dad is talking about his struggle understanding his kid, he is blue and yellow. This is interesting even though I don't want to sit here and say that Weston is queer just based on the fact that he's a cheerleader, because yes, the blue and yellow is used for Buck, but is also used for henren, and if we expand on the 911verse, it is also used for tarlos, so the metaphor there.

And attached to all the struggles Eddie has expectations that were placed on him, and specifically 517 where Eddie talks about his father not wanting to seem weak, and how that obviously affected the way Eddie grew up and how he moves on to defending Weston by saying he survived something he knows soldiers who wouldn't, we have something here. Because we don't have the focus on the red anymore once Eddie starts talking.

The green elements of the scene are interesting in the same way I said the orange is interesting about the birthday party (read that one here). Eddie is a green character, I feel like a lot of us associate him with army green, but if I'm right about the color theory we have going, Eddie can't live his life as a secondary color. That's where getting to his yellow comes in.

Eddie needs to move on from that. We talked a lot about the green army armor, with that jacket he wears when Shannon dies and when he leaves the 118 (first 2 pictures up here) so he needs to stop hiding behind the green. And the green is there, but it is out of focus, it's not supposed to be the main thing even tho it does take a lot of space in Eddie's frame. Mostly because you can see the yellow very clearly behind the dad, but not the green car behind Eddie, the edges are blending, which is good. He is moving in the right direction.

He also ends the episode drowning in blue again, which, yk, wrong color.

He's also in the same color he was in 506 after the whole kidnapping and yet another moment Eddie risks everything because there's a kid involved. But this time he can't go home to his kid. Someone give him Chris back right now (set on this parallel here).

So, since Buck's queer arc was blue and yellow, and Eddie just started an arc with those, I am choosing to believe they just kickstarted Eddie's queer arc.

That's all for today, if you read this I love you 💜

taglist (interact with this post if you wanna be tagged, or send me a message, just let me know):

@sparkedblaze @hermioneindisguise @eddiedisasterdiaz @mosaicstardust @stagefoureddiediaz @kejfeblintz @glasscities @angelcamael @sparkedblaze @caw-salem @dreamofsomepiphany @100ceruleaneyes @linus-lucy @chaosqueery @gina-spike @chimchiminie98 @elvensorceress @dangerpronebuddie @ijustdontlikepeople @182daysof @steadfastsaturnsrings @sparklespiff @inell @joshwritesfics @lunarsolar1 @dingdongfries @wolfdeans @jesuisici33 @miles--to--go @hopefuldreamers-world

[littlexdeaths]

ten minus two with you - r.b.

modern robin buckley x queer reader

18+ ONLY MDNI

warnings: robin and reader are in their 20’s, allusions to smut, reader is a tease, oral sex, fingering, public sex, heavy petting, both reader and robin are tipsy & in love, getting caught, little nod to queer steve

a/n: this is absolutely inspired by the few times i’ve had steamy make out sessions in bathroom stalls oops. the title is a line from one of kehlani’s new songs called 8… go stream it now.

word count: 1.7k

also big thank you to both @strangerstilinski and @xxbimbobunnyxx for listening to me ramble and helping me so much. ily both so much!! now enjoy babes xx.

You’re a mess of limbs and colorful fabric as you both stumble into the bathroom of the bar. Your sweaty bodies are buzzing from the flow of alcohol in your veins and the feel of her lips against yours.

Your lipgloss is smudged, the glitter littering your cheeks has transferred to hers in your hurry to taste each other. The blonde eagerly leads you into the stall, caging your body against the door. Her fingers fumble to slide the lock into place before they are back on you.

“You really know how to keep a girl waiting, huh?” She all but grumbles, earning a small giggle from you as her lips trail down your jaw.

You hadn’t meant to tease her per se, but it was genuinely so easy with Robin.

All you had to do was bat your lashes in her general direction and she’s flustered. But the outfit you’d chosen to wear for the pride festivities really had her riled up. Even though you had spent the early afternoon getting ready together, she wasn’t expecting it.

The sounds of Pom Pom Squad filter through your shared apartment, all sorts of makeup products scattered across the floor of your bedroom. You both sat amongst the chaos, giggling in excitement as you passed a cheap bottle of wine back and forth.

While Robin wasn’t too keen on wearing makeup most days, she happily let you paint her lids in varying shades of pink and orange. The wine had you both feeling fuzzy, stealing chaste kisses as Robin helped apply a sticky rainbow glitter to your cheeks.

Her brows were scrunched in concentration, her tongue just barely poking out from between her teeth as she worked.

“So serious, Robs.” you giggle.

She just grins, shaking her head fondly as she wipes the remaining glitter on a makeup wipe.

“I take my job as resident glitter artist very seriously,” she teases, pressing a small kiss to your nose.

When her phone starts to ring in the other room she is quick to go get it, knowing it would likely be Steve. Which left you to finish putting your outfit together as she reiterated to him what the plans were for the day. Robin had everything planned out, your group would meet to watch the pride parade in downtown Indy.

Then you would end the evening with a little pub crawl of her own design. She’s had this planned for weeks now, determined to make your first pride as an official couple a memorable one. But the one thing your girlfriend wasn’t prepared for was the way she’d react to seeing your outfit in its full glory.

So when you stepped into the living room wearing a cropped, bright pink shirt with the words ‘The Pussy Diet’ etched across the front her jaw dropped. You paired it with a pair of high waisted cutoff shorts that hugged your curves just right, fishnets and your trusted Doc Martens— you were everything she’s ever wanted.

“I think you’ve got some drool there, baby,” you smirk, stepping between her open legs as you swipe your thumb over the corner of her mouth.

Robin responds by guiding your thumb past her lips, tongue swirling around it. With a soft groan her fingers dig into the meat of your hips as she maneuvers you onto her lap. Her lips find yours in a clash of tongues and teeth, causing a soft mewl to rise in your throat.

If it wasn’t for Steve’s insistent banging on your apartment door, your girlfriend would’ve had you sprawled out on the sofa until your legs were shaking. But your friends were waiting on you, so she reluctantly let you tug her along without any further protest.

However your accidental teasing only continued to escalate the more the day went on.

During the parade you had coaxed her onto your lap, in the rush to leave your apartment you had forgotten to bring an extra lawn chair. Your hands unconsciously wandered beneath the hem of her button down shirt, fingertips splaying across her soft skin.

Under normal circumstances she would find this kind of touch comforting, but instead it had her fighting the urge to slide your hand just a little lower…

“— You okay, Robbie?”

Your soft voice snaps her out of her trance, her cheeks flushing as a nervous laugh leaves her lips.

“Oh, yeah!” She rasps, trying her best to play off the obvious hitch in her tone. “Never better.”

As she continues to watch the parade, you find yourself studying her. Her cheeks were flushed a lovely shade of pink, her leg bouncing in between your own. Robin could easily blame the scorching summer heat for the reason behind her blush, but you knew better.

It was obvious by the way her breath hitched whenever your fingertips grazed her skin, and she carefully pressed her thighs together. She wants you, and she wants you badly. So you really can’t help yourself from wanting to tease her even more.

And you do, but subtly enough that your friends wouldn’t take notice. You’d slip your hand into the back pocket of her jeans as you walked between bars. Squeezing her ass as you pull her in for a needy kiss when no one was paying attention.

You even gave her a little show when you did a sultry rendition of Crimson & Clover at a karaoke bar you stopped at. You watched in absolute delight at the way her bright eyes never left you, even as Steve so desperately tried to get her attention.

So much for being his wing-woman tonight.

But the worst was when you were on the dance floor, losing yourself in the music. She opted to watch for a while, eyes darkening with each sway of your hips. But with Steve now preoccupied by a gorgeous drag queen, Robin had no choice when you coaxed her over with your index finger.

Her feet carry her across the sticky dance floor, her body all but melting into yours. Your eyes sparkle with mischief as you wrap your arms around her waist, tugging her closer so your breasts are flush against her own. But when your lips brush against her ear, and you start grinding on her thigh is the moment she loses what little self control she has left.

Robin takes your hand and urgently tugs you through a sea of rainbow lights and glitter, your heartbeat rivals the pounding bass as you enter the bathroom.

But once she has you pinned to that metal door, it’s game over.

The feeling of her lips trailing over your sweaty skin is utterly intoxicating and when her fingers dip past the hem of your shorts you’re putty in her nimble hands. Those same fingers glide through the mess between your thighs, coaxing not one, but two orgasms from you in record time.

So in your mind, she’s definitely earned this.

“That’s— ah,” she pants, her hips rutting up against your mouth as you continue to lap at her puffy clit. “That’s so good, honey. Fuck, you’re so good.”

Robin can almost feel the way your lips lift up in a grin as a mixture of your own saliva and her juices drip down your chin like liquid honey. You pin her hips to the cool metal of the stall wall in an effort to stop her from squirming more.

The feeling of the grimy tile beneath your knees does nothing to deter you, if anything it encourages you more. Just knowing that anyone could walk through that door at any given minute makes all this that much more exciting.

“Hm,” you hum, against her. “You like it when I do this?”

You flatten your tongue, rubbing firm circles over her swollen bud as you slip another finger inside her. Robin keens at the feeling, her fingers gripping onto the edge of the stall to steady herself while her other hand cups the nape of your neck to hold you in place.

“God, yes,” she babbles, her cerulean hues taking on a glassy quality. “I’m so close, baby.”

Her leg that was hooked over your shoulder starts to tremble when you apply more pressure to her clit. Your fingers increase their pace, curving them to rub up against her sweet spot just right. Robin is a beautiful, panting mess above you and that sight alone is enough to have you moaning against her pussy.

Neither of you register the bathroom door opening or the click of heels walking past your stall over the heavy bass from inside the bar and the soft whimpers your girlfriend was letting out. But when the sink turns on both of you freeze, silently praying that the person on the other side didn’t notice you.

A moment passes in silence, and you think you’re in the clear. Just as you’re about to continue circling your tongue over her clit, a melodic voice stops you.

“You know… if you’re really looking for some privacy,” they pause, shutting the water off. “There’s a lot less traffic behind the bar, dolls.”

You curse softly, a resounding chuckle leaves them as you fumble to help Robin put her jeans back on. Her face is deeply flushed from the embarrassment of being caught in this position and the buildup of her now stalled orgasm.

You finally dared a glance through the crack in the chipped metal frame and you’re faced with one of the many queens you’d seen perform earlier in the night. She meets your eyes in the mirror before giving you a playful wink as she fluffs her large blonde wig and turns on her heel back towards the door.

“Now, don’t do something I wouldn't!” She pauses before her laughter echoes through the bathroom again, “Or do, live a little. Happy Pride, lovelies.”

She calls over her shoulder, the sounds from the bar spill back into the bathroom before you’re both met with subdued silence. You lean back against the stall wall opposite of Robin, both of you suddenly bursting into a fit of giggles at what just transpired.

“I can’t believe Miss Anna Conda herself, just caught us like this,” you snort.

Robin just gazes at you, hooking her fingers into the loops of your shorts to pull you in closer. She’s practically glowing as she nudges her nose against yours with a playful grin.

“Take me home?” she asks, though her question is slightly muffled when your lips find hers again.

“Always.”

tagging some lovelies: @edsbug @eddiesxangel @splendiferous-bitch @undead-supernova @paybacksawitch @nailbatanddungeon @lokis-army-77 @babygorewhore @voyeurmunson @bimbobaggins69

[subtlehysteria]

Until I See You Again (28030 words) by subtlehysteria Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 9-1-1 (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Tommy Kinard, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley & Bobby Nash, Howie "Chimney" Han & Tommy Kinard Characters: Tommy Kinard, Evan "Buck" Buckley, Howie "Chimney" Han, Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Bobby Nash, Athena Grant, Henrietta "Hen" Wilson, Josh Russo, Sue Blevins, Ravi Panikkar Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Buck is a pop singer, Tommy is a bodyguard, Can I make it any more obvious?, I really just needed more content of Buck with Oliver’s British accent, which led to this, whoops, Identity Porn, Miscommunication, Protective Tommy Kinard, Evan "Buck" Buckley Needs A Hug, Platonic Soulmates Evan "Buck" Buckley & Eddie Diaz, Eddie Diaz is a Good Friend, Protective Athena Grant, Bobby Nash Acting as Evan "Buck" Buckley's Parental Figure, Meet the Family, the 118 is a record company, Getting to Know Each Other, Getting Together, First Kiss, Secret Relationship, Serenade, Bisexual Evan "Buck" Buckley, let Buck explore his queerness and have fun!, I just wanted an excuse to dress Buck up in some cool outfits let's be real, Soft Tommy Kinard, Soft Evan "Buck" Buckley, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, Firehouse 118 Crew as Family (9-1-1 TV), Insecure Evan "Buck" Buckley, Supportive Tommy Kinard, Romantic Comedy Summary: “Good to see you, Howie,” Tommy murmurs, giving his friend an affectionate squeeze. “Good to see you too. Seriously, thanks for doing this.” Tommy shrugs. “What are friends for?” Howie grins up at him. “Have you been introduced to Buck yet?” Tommy shakes his head, chuckling when Howie immediately grips his wrist and starts frogmarching him towards Buck and his choreographer near the front of the stage. “Buck, Eddie!” Howie calls out, grabbing their attention. “This is Tommy, the guy I was telling you about!” The choreographer, who Tommy guesses must be Eddie, spots Tommy over Buck’s shoulder first, offering a smile and a jut of his chin in greeting. Buck finally turns and— Oh. Oh no. Bright baby blues framed by enviably long lashes. Plush, pouty lips people would pay a mini fortune for. A light scattering of stubble in shades of gold and copper along a beautifully cut jawline. Wild curls begging for Tommy’s fingers to brush through them lay atop his head. He’s exactly as Tommy remembers, all except for the cherry blossom birthmark adorning his left brow. “Evan?”

[virgo-dream]

heard u need some headcanons!! much love bc this time of year is ROUGH 🫂

Hob got really into the queer liberation movement and has gone on to be the resident bisexual professor that all the students know is a safe person to go to and helps out with the LGBT clubs on campus.

He gets really excited to share this with Dream, who is a little confused about why it's so important (having missed much of the fight) but immediately takes interest because omg Hob is into more than ladies??

Hob hosts the club at the New Inn and Dream shows up and all the students just Know by the way those two look at each other and spend the night trying to get them to admit it to each other.

Look. LOOK. I'M. I'm very NORMAL ABOUT THIS. Did you know the bi flag was unveiled in December 5th of 1988? Did you know HOB DIDN'T MEET DREAM IN JULY 7TH OF 1989 ANYWAY HAVE A FIC

Dream doesn't get it at first. He never really did get it, but only attributed it to the need humanity had for labels, for packing things into boxes and saying this goes here and that goes there. Sometimes, it led to this goes to heaven and you go to hell. It seemed to be a very common one, too. He was beyond that; his name said it all, Dream was endless. Not he nor she, not man nor creature, he was all there was to be and the nothingness beyond it. Gender and sexuality need not apply.

Still, it meant so much to Hob, that he'd have dreams about it. Nightmares too, for nights on end, and even if Dream begged Hob to allow him to take them away, Hob always declined, always braved through them. "If you take them, I'll forget how much it all means. I'll forget why I'm still fighting."

They sat at the New Inn one afternoon, while Hob graded papers and Dream had a cup of chamomile tea, but his eyes couldn't help but focus on a shiny pin on Hob's jumper shaped like a flag, the shades of pink, purple and blue a spot of proud colour in Hob's otherwise earthy colour palette.

"It's the bisexual pride flag."

"Hm?" Dream's eyes dart up to meet Hob's, tilting his head slightly. He wasn't sure if he should feel bad for being caught, because he wasn't sure what he was looking at in the first place.

"The pin. I wear it for my students, but also for myself. The kids feel safer I guess, knowing they have at least one of their own in the faculty. Can't say it doesn't make me feel good too."

Hob has a particular tone to his voice that makes Dream's heart sing in tune to its melody. It's a fuller sense of self, maybe more than Dream ever had in regards to his own identity. "...one of their own?"

"Oh, I– Sorry, those are pretty recent." Hob straightened himself up (ha) on the chair, his lecturing posture taking over. Dream liked when he did that. He liked to hear Hob speak of things he had deep knowledge of and passion for. "This one was created in 1988 by a queer activist called Michael Page. Had the pleasure of being there when it was first unveiled, but clearly it took a long time until I was able to wear something like this out in public and not be decked by some bloody homophobe."

It was starting to sink in.

"...I'm afraid I was not present for these developments." Dream saw the look on Hob's face, like he was ready to apologise. He raised a had to stop him, waving his concern away. "As far as I can remember, queer was not a form of self identification, but only a way to shun out those outside the established norm."

"Ah, yes. We reclaimed it, though. Or are reclaiming it. The 80s were crazy. All of them were, for me." Hob smiled at Dream, at their shared secret and at their years of now reestablished friendship.

"I think you're lonely."

Could it have been....? Could he have meant...?

"What does it mean for you, then?" Dream asks in a way he hopes sounds inconspicuous, pointing at the pin. He was hesitant to ask, afraid to be getting it all wrong.

"For me? It means I love whoever I love. Man, woman, either or neither."

The pride coming from Hob's words filled Dream with hope, something he had not felt in a long, long time. The look in his face then shifted onto something else, something he didn't quite understand. "...what about you? That is, if you're okay with talking about that. I don't want to overstep. Last thing I want is for you to walk out–"

"I won't, Hob." Dream knew Hob had reason for feeling that way. "I don't believe the terminology you have could define my experience. I have laid with mortals and gods alike, and have wore many faces and names. It is beyond human comprehension."

Hob seems takes a moment to think about what he'd just heard. Dream feels like he might have thrown too much at his human friend. "...I think I get it. But, and tell me to bugger off I'm wrong, do you prefer to be a particular way? To be with a particular sort of being?"

Dream. Didn't have an answer.

He never thought of what he preferred. He'd never felt in need of any sort of outside validation, but. That was a lie. He needed it. He just never cared to look for it.

Hob's smile was what broke him out of the spell of his own self doubt. "It's okay if you don't have an answer, you know. It takes people a loooong time to get it, it took me nearly 600 years, you know? Ah! You know what? I've got an idea–" He reached inside his brown messenger bag, pulling out a colourful piece of paper, handing it over to Dream. A pamphlet for a meeting. "We're having a meeting for the uni's LGBT clubs here at the Inn. I want this to be a safe space for the kids, and to get them to connect with other folks in the community, share their experiences. It's tomorrow, and I'd love it if you could make it. I'm sure they would too."

Dream took the pamphlet in hands, looking at the bright colours and bold fonts, taking in every bit of information Hob was giving him and trying to fill in the gaps of the questions he wouldn't dare ask. After a moment, he looked up at Hob, allowing himself a small smile. "I shall be in attendance, then."

[telomeke]

BE MY FAVORITE EPISODE 5 – A PADAWAN IN THE TEMPLE OF ENLIGHTENMENT (AND A NOD AT MARRIAGE EQUALITY)

I consider myself quite visually-oriented, but oddly I've not applied that so much to the dramas I watch, preferring to focus on the text and narrative as though they were a book come to life.

But this scene in Be My Favorite (beginning at Ep.5 [3I4] 1.55, when Pisaeng goes to see Max in the café) is so chock-full of meaningful visual details whacking you in the eyeballs that I've simply got to write about it.

It's not a secret that Max is portrayed as the wise queer elder in BMF. The narrative clearly shows him inhabiting that role, with his queer activism (Ep.8 [3I4] 5.43, Ep.10 [2/4] 2.58) and him doling out advice to Kawi (e.g., Ep.4 [1I4] 3.03, Ep.5 [2/4] 10.07, Ep.6 [1I4] 16.11, Ep.8 [3I4] 4.35) and tough love to Pisaeng (Ep.5 [3I4] 2.53) as they grow into their (queer) identities.

The visuals in the scene at Ep.5 [3I4] 1.55 really reinforce this purposeful portrayal as well.

First of all, the camera angle is pitched low, so that Max towers above all others in the scene, amplifying his physical stature (and drawing attention to his intellectual one as well).

He is also dressed in shades of yellow and rust, which call to mind the robes (that range in hue from saffron to cinnamon) worn by the greatly respected and influential Buddhist monks of Thailand. With this chromatic and cultural context, the colors of Max's wardrobe are meant to signal his seasoned wisdom and authority as he sternly counsels inexperienced babygay Pisaeng. (GMMTV has also used these colors to denote similar higher-thinking preoccupations and orientations in Moonlight Chicken and Bad Buddy as well – see this write-up linked here.)

Now the colors that we see in the café interior are also significant – the abundance of white with yellow and gold/metallic accents is a color scheme that is also used very often in the Buddhist temple architecture of Thailand. You can see this too in the scene where Pisaeng comforts Kawi after the funeral of the latter's dad (Ep.8 [2/4] 4.42):

(above) Be My Favorite Ep.8 [2/4] 4.42 – Pisaeng and Kawi talk on the steps of a Thai temple, most probably after the funeral of Kawi's dad (note the white, yellow and metallic accents)

A Google Image Search for "Thai Temple Architecture" will also bring up many examples; Wat Benchamabophit is a sumptuously typical one. The similar colors in the café are thus playing their part to emphasize the monastic theme and Max's role as the sacerdotal senior in these hallowed grounds.

Among all the pops and pings of yellow in the café décor is a prominent disk (likely a representation of the sun) that can be seen on the noren of the doorway behind the servery.

(above) Be My Favorite Ep.5 [3I4] 2.32 – Max and his halo while talking to Pisaeng

The cinematography has some shots carefully positioned so that the disk appears to encircle (in turns) Max and then Pisaeng like a golden halo – Max at Ep.5 [3I4] 2.32 and Pisaeng at Ep.5 [3I4] 2.47.

(above) Be My Favorite Ep.5 [3I4] 2.47 – Pisaeng and his halo while talking to Max

Significantly, the halo in Buddhist iconography is also used (as it is in Western art) to evoke holiness and/or enlightenment. In this BMF scene we see it first around Max, and then around Pisaeng, which suggests that the (queer) wisdom being imparted is moving in the direction from the former to the latter.

But the brightest splash of yellow must surely be the large sunflowers on display behind Max.

(above) Be My Favorite Ep.5 [3I4] 2.54

Aside from the higher-minded connotations associated with the yellow color, the choice of bloom is significant in a number of other ways. Sunflowers turn to face the sun's illumination as it moves across the sky, and this parallels how Pisaeng has come to the café to seek out Max, the haloed source of his enlightenment.

In addition, various Thai websites (including the Pantip forum, linked here) point out that in Thailand the sunflower is symbolic of steadfastness, which to me aligns well with Max's unwavering confidence in his LGBTQ+ identity and dedication to the cause.

And finally, the Thai words for sunflower (ทานตะวัน, pronounced something like taan dtawan) can be roughly translated as "to resist/oppose the sun", which also fits really well with Max's leanings toward LGBTQ+ activism and the peaceful protesting for equal rights in the face of searing opposition.

All of this fingerpointing to wisdom and high-mindedness is given an additional boost when we look at the prominent Thai lettering on the wall behind Max (that spells out the café's name "เจ-ดีย์", pronounced something like che-di).

More often spelt without a hyphen, เจดีย์ refers to the Thai chedi or stupa, which is also a Buddhist religious building in Thailand (usually bell-shaped and functioning as a holy reliquary and/or a place of meditation) within a temple complex. You can see a painting of a chedi on the café wall next to Pisaeng at Ep.6 [1I4] 6.27:

(above) Be My Favorite Ep.6 [1I4] 6.34 – Max and Pisaeng chat on the café terrace next to a painting of a chedi

The idea that Pisaeng has entered a hall of greater erudition is further underlined by the name of the café on the wall. However, in real life when using Roman letters the café spells its name Jedi, not Chedi (you can see this on their Facebook linked here, and also at Ep.3 [2/4] 6.17 and Ep.6 [1I4] 12.35).

(above left) Be My Favorite Ep.3 [2/4] 6.17; (above right) Ep.6 [1I4] 12.35

And although it's not a Star Wars-themed café, they do have a drink called the Yoda, drawing attention to the café's name as a pun on the noble knights of the film series as well (see this link here).

Remembering that the Jedi in Star Wars canon are a line of monastic, wise, peace-loving elder fighters (Yoda being a prime example), the café name behind Max also calls out to his senior queer activist role in Be My Favorite.

(above) Be My Favorite Ep.5 [3I4] 2.30

Coming back to the colors, it's impossible not to notice the streaks of pink in Max's hair:

(above) Be My Favorite Ep.5 [3I4] 2.49

In Thailand the head is considered the seat of knowledge and wisdom (leading to much unnecessary handwringing on foreign websites around touching a Thai person's head; see this link here that sheds more sensible light on the matter). As for the color pink, it's historically been symbolic of the LGBTQ+ community.

With his distinctive coiffure, it's not difficult to see that Max is being presented as radiating pink knowledge and wisdom. (Also worth noting is that the streaks in his hair fade to a somber gray in other timelines when he is not the sagely elder and/or the narrative has taken a darker turn, e.g., at Ep.7 [2/4] 3.10 when his standing is downgraded to popstar Kawi's put-upon assistant, and at Ep.11 [4/4] 1.45 when Kawi is in the ICU.)

(above left) Be My Favorite Ep.7 [2/4] 3.22; (above right) Ep.11 [4/4] 1.54

‌I never knew that all of this visual signaling in film actually had a technical name, but it does. This is called visual rhetoric, when details in the setting, props and wardrobe echo and amplify the same message being conveyed by the dialogue and drama on screen, and I learnt this from the wise and always-spicy @respectthepetty's posts on Reading the Visual Rainbow (linked here and here). RTP's posts have greatly enriched my understanding and enjoyment of the dramas that I watch, especially Thai BL, and I highly, highly recommend reading them. 👍💖

Anyway, if Max in this scene is the venerated elder imparting wisdom to his rapt congregation (and that includes the viewing audience too; it's not just Pisaeng), what is his message here? I think that there are at least two messages being conveyed.

At the level of the text, an exasperated Max is admonishing acolyte Pisaeng (beginning at Ep.5 [3I4] 2.53) for all of his bumbling around coming to terms with his queer identity:

"Listen. There are wars going on around the world. Our politics are crap. People get locked up because they voice their opinions. Ice is melting at the poles. People are killing people because of race or religion. Who are you? Are you that important? Why do you even think other people would care where you go or what you do?"

But Max's tone and choice of words are maybe a touch harsher than they need to be? Especially in Thailand, where jai yen (ใจเย็น, meaning coolness of heart; see this link here for more explanation) is so important in polite social interaction, his diatribe seems far out of proportion compared to Pisaeng's clumsiness, insensitive as it might have been.

I think this is because it's not actually Pisaeng that is the intended recipient of this rant – the message is actually meant for the larger viewing audience. In Thailand where queer people face considerably less risk to personal safety than in other countries but are nonetheless still subject to discrimination, Max's questions ("Who are you? Are you that important? Why do you even think other people would care where you go or what you do?") are not just telling Pisaeng that he should be worrying less about how others might perceive him, but are also highlighting that no one should even have to worry about been seen as different (and treated differently for it) in the first place.

Because – following the mention of wars, dirty politics, arbitrary detention, restricted speech, global warming and ethnic cleansing – idealist Max's questions can be directed to broader society as well, if you re-phrase them a little differently to encompass all queer people and not just Pisaeng, like this:

"Who are we (to you)? Are we that important (in the larger scheme of things)? Why should other people care where we go or what we do (if it's just us living our lives as private members of society)?"

Max is declaiming that on a grander scale, the fixation that conservatives have on denying queer people equal rights based on fictional, imagined reasons is farcically illogical and wholly unwarranted compared to the actual problems being faced by the planet. At its plainest, the message is: stop objecting to equal treatment for LGBTQ+ people, because surely it must be a non-issue that equality should apply to all, since it harms no one.

And all of this ties in to the second message of the scene, that is trumpeted loudly by the visuals – and it's about marriage equality.

I learnt about the most important part of a Thai wedding ceremony called รดน้ำสังข์ (pronounced something like rot naam sang; have also seen this reversed as sang rot naam) when I looked up a scene in Not Me The Series, in order to reblog a post by @wen-kexing-apologist referencing marriage equality in that BL:

During the rot naam sang, elders in attendance pour water from a ceremonial conch shell (nowadays replaced by a symbolic, cone-shaped vessel) onto the hands of the bridal couple, and this marks the moment when the pair are formally married. During that particular scene in Not Me, various elements onscreen came together (in another example of visual rhetoric) to form an unspoken comment regarding the issue of marriage for all in Thailand (more info in the post linked here).

Since then, anytime something shaped like a cone or funnel appears in a Thai drama, especially in the presence of water, I can't help but wonder if they're referencing a wedding somehow (remembering @respectthepetty's post on reading the visuals, and the scene in Not Me).

And this scene in Be My Favorite (starting at Ep.5 [3I4] 1.55) is absolutely doing just that, especially in the light of Max's little sermon on equality and Thai BL's years-long march in support of queer marriage in general.

When queer elder Max pours water into one of the cone-shaped coffee filters at Ep.5 [3I4] 1.55, the scene has been set up as an explicit visual reference to the rot naam sang, with the filters standing in for the symbolic conch.

There are two funnels in front of Max, but only one gets the water. Both pour-over coffee sets are identical in form, function and capacity (with only a superficial difference in the appearance – one has a metallic frame and trim while the other doesn't). But the funnel on Max's left (despite being the equal of the other) receives no water at all, emphasizing how only cishet couples in Thailand are allowed to get married, while everyone else outside that definition is denied. (The two funnels are actually separate filtration sets placed side-by-side just for this scene.) And then Be My Favorite unequivocally draws a line through this to show how wrong it all is, by having Max's arm physically cross out the visual of the two symbolic sangs or matrimonial conches (one filled, one empty) at Ep.5 [3I4] 2.24.

This is not the only time BMF shows up with drums beating for marriage equality – we see this on the activist signage display at Ep.11 [1I4] 11.27 and also when the doctor sidelines Pisaeng (at Ep.11 [4/4] 0.36) when discussing Kawi's health because he's not a blood relation or a legal spouse.

(top) The activist signage display at Ep.11 [1I4] 11.27; (bottom) the doctor asks if there are family members he might contact regarding Kawi's health, when Pisaeng is right there in front of him (Ep.11 [4/4] 0.36)

Given all of Be My Favorite's focus on this matrimonial LGBTQ+ cause, my hope for the finale of the series is that Pisaeng and Kawi end up in a timeline where marriage equality does become a reality for them (not a prediction though, just wishful thinking). And it's not just their own wedding that I would like to see. 😍

In different timelines, Pear ends up with nothing but heartache for choosing the wrong guy – e.g., Pisaeng absconding before their wedding vows in order to kiss Kawi in a drunken declaration of love (Ep.2 [4/4] 5.46), her relationship with Kawi souring because Pisaeng (apparently) came between them (Ep.7 [2/4] 11.28), and settling for a prison sentence with slimeball Not as her jailer because she's pregnant and doesn't want to wait any longer for marriage (Ep.7 [3I4] 4.00).

(above) Be My Favorite Ep.7 [3I4] 3.50 – a tearful Pear explains to Kawi why she's marrying Not

My hope is for the finale to bestow a Happily Ever After on long-suffering Pear for once. And with all the discourse around marriage equality in Be My Favorite – wouldn't it be a nice touch if her soon-to-be spouse James (whose name pops up on the wedding invitation at Ep.11 [3I4] 0.27) turns out to be somewhat different from the usual boring supermarket box-cake variety?

(above) Be My Favorite Ep.11 [3I4] 0.27

Whether it's trans, lesbian, nonbinary or another option, so many possibilities abound. As long as they make her happy... I can only hope. 💖

‌

[direquail]

Going to put it out here: Calling John a fascist is lazy. He can suck without being a fascist. He can be a dictator or colonial imperialist without being a fascist. Tyranny and imperialism predate fascism as an ideology by thousands of years. The Catholic church is older than fascism. Even mass resettlement of conquered populations (like the displaced refugees at New Rho) dates back to at least the Bronze Age. That doesn't make it okay! It does have some implications for the words we're using.

Fascism is a specific ideology and there is no actual, textual evidence that either John ascribes to that ideology, or that it is the ideology of his empire. Nor is there any evidence that we're supposed to view him or the Empire as a metaphor for fascism. Religious oppression? Absolutely. But what I mostly see is a lot of conflation of fascism, colonialism, imperialism, patriarchy, and religious oppression, and "fascist" getting thrown around to lump them all together. (I think BoE refers to him as a "fascist", but also, BoE is straight-up genocidal and wants to "cleanse" the universe of necromancy, and, in a war, generally both sides will shade the truth or straight-up say untrue things to dehumanize the other side to make violence against them easier psychologically. So, I think we have to take the specific insults they throw at him with a grain of salt.)

ALSO, fascism is an explicitly racist, violently homophobic ideology, so while it's possible the term could be appropriate for any given character (and there have definitely been gay fascists in real life), I would really like people to think hard about whether or not the term is actually appropriate for John, a queer man of color, before applying it to him. If it's not appropriate, we have other words, and we should use them.

There is a specific kind of lefty social media that is very used to discussing fascism (which, given the times we live in, makes sense), and sometimes folks are a little too comfortable slinging the term around instead of asking if the analytical tools we're using are in fact appropriate for the subject.

[james-vi-stan-blog]

why do I feel like the previous anon was a dig at me for asking questions about the kind of people James and George were😃I could be wrong though.

my only thing about why I’m hoping all of them in the show will show their flaws or how much of a bad person they can be is because I know it’ll be so much easier for people to understand or even sympathize with George simply because Nicholas is playing him. I’ve probably mentioned this before but I fully believe it has something to do with looks.

Nicholas is incredibly attractive so a lot of people feel more inclined or gravitate towards his character to feel sympathy, maybe defend, or ‘babygirl’ George even through problematic issues he’s had (that might be in the show but idk what they’ll include) but compared to Tony portraying James? I don’t think he’s going to get that same energy or thought process because his character might be criticized more simply because some people don’t find Tony/James attractive. I’ve seen this happen many times and it’s just odd people haven’t picked up on that.

I’m not saying people aren’t allowed to make up their own opinions about how they perceive the the characters or force my opinions onto others. I honestly can say that I feel sympathy for George and James (even Mary) but I think a lot of people aren’t going to realize how much looks would come into play when their formulating their opinions about the characters.

I’m sorry if I’m not making any sense, I have a hard time writing my thoughts! also I’m not trying to start anything so I hope this doesn’t come across as rude or anything😭

-✨

I don't think asking "good or bad" type questions is necessarily pointless… after all, people do have vices and virtues, and they can make good, bad, or downright evil decisions. I think we can even evaluate relative badness to some extent (like the 5th Earl of Bothwell, there's a phenomenally shitty person). Rather, it's a binary vision of good and bad guys that's toxic for the study of history. I think it's also limiting for media. If you (general you, not you, ✨) are going into Mary & George just looking to be entertained, there's no need to have several essays cited that George Villiers Is A Good Person™ Actually before you've even sat down. Not every story is meant to be didactical. What is about to unfold in front of you could be a villain's tale, some complex shade of tragedy, etc.

But to the main thrust of your ask, honestly… I too worry about this. The halo effect and lookism are well-documented phenomena (known and understood even in the period itself… I mean… why was short, stuttering, shy Baby Charles so invested in his iconography, but to depict himself as strong, masculine, handsome, and therefore virtuous and deserving to rule!!!) and also applies to media depictions of historical figures. It's totally a real thing that when a historical figure gets played by a popular actor, people will tend to be softer on that character, not even purely due to "beauty = goodness", but also because the pleasure of the visual spectacle inclines us to excuse what we're seeing. (Actually, even outside the appearance of the actors, people tend enormously to excuse the actions of a protagonist. It's just sort of an effect of the medium.)

That said, I believe the vast majority of people who say "I support George's rights and George's wrongs!" are just being silly and having fun and are perfectly capable of rationally judging what they're watching. You guys are great, please have a great time, tell your friends about the show so that more people learn about James VI and the Villiers family!!

But yeah, rarely there's… I don't go on Shitter but saw a screenshot of someone saying they hoped Somerset/Buckingham would be the main ship because Laurie Davidson is hotter and they don't want to watch an "ugly" (??) "old man fuck" and that just disheartened and disgusted me. You know, gayness doesn't exist to be hot and entertaining. Queer stories serve more purposes than fetish fuel for oglers. And this story is about real people who actually existed…

Also, I've got thoughts about people who think it's wrong and disgusting for James to have fallen in love with handsome George Villiers but also vociferously and openly thirst over Nicholas Galitzine and want to see him naked in queer roles. 😑

Anyway I'm happy to see these figures in almost any interpretation but I really hope George Villiers will be allowed to be magnificently terrible because… c'mon… it's George Villiers. The icon. The legend. The Duke of Buckingham himself. I feel like watering down his character would be cheating him of the glory he's due.

[luesmainblog]

i'm not gonna reply directly to the post because i don't wanna get into a bunch of shit, but i was surprised to see a mutual i respect reblog it, so i'll say this much. the reason people in bdsm didn't like 50 shades of grey was not as simple as "this is harmful". they didn't like it because it was an innaccurate portrayal of bdsm - or, more accurately, a portrayal of how bsdm can be used as an excuse to abuse - that was CLAIMING to be ACCURATE, GOOD BSDM. the problem wasn't the content itself, the problem was that anytime a criticism was brought up, you were accused of not being able to handle the spice, and the author was CONSTANTLY insisting that what her character did was totally fine and he definitely wasn't Like That. yes, we SHOULD have bare minimum standards of kink, but that doesn't mean "fictional depictions of abuse as kink are automatically harmful". it's about the context and attitude you're entering with, just like any other media. what matters is the conversation around it, not the content itself. Let's all remember that Lolita's biggest problem was readers viewing it as a romance, when the author was certain any sane reader would know how awful the situation was. and i've said it before but it bears repeating until this becomes common sense again: equating fictional abuse, even romanticized, to real abuse causes more harm than its existance does. equating lolicon to actual fucking child molestation is a massive disservice to CSA victims. equating anime twincest to the actual real life abuse of incest lessens the impact the word has for real situations. and i REALLY shouldn't have to say this, but telling a black person that they can't partake in raceplay is SIGNIFICANTLY more racist than anything they're gonna be agreeing to.

and whenever someone tries to give praise to weird and problematic kinks, or talks about how fictional darkness can't hurt you any further than you can hurt yourself with it, or anything remotely related, somebody always comes in with "um okay i agree unless its pedo shit", and we KNOW you mean the fictional stuff. you ALWAYS mean the fictional stuff. and i'm sorry, but no. if nobody was harmed unconsentually in the making of this god damn fanfic then you can just walk away. any argument you try to make for why it's actually Too Harmful To Be Allowed is going to use the same logic that christian moms use to say that pokemon is DEFINITELY going to make your child a satanist. yes, some people can use fiction to cause or perpetuate harm. authors can convince their fans that some fucked up shit is okay, abusers can use ANYTHING to build trust and convince their victims that what they're doing is fine, and people with little self-control can use things that trigger them to emotionally self-harm. all of this is true, and deserves to be talked about and considered. but if you can handle the idea that the majority of people playing violent video games every day are not actually violent people and will react negatively to real world violence, and can enjoy the mayhem they cause in-game while also being aware of how bad it is in real life, and SOME people being inspired to violence does not mean we should ban those games entirely, you can apply the same to kink. even the shit you find abhorrent. to be very frank, we shouldn't HAVE to bring up the therapeutic benefits to victims of real crimes for you to be consistent in your beliefs on censorship. edit: also pointed out to me and extremely important: "pedo shit" is EXACTLY how queer stuff is painted by conservative censors. it is one of the oldest arguments they have. so YES, the best way to immunize ourselves from allowing gays to be censored because too many people find them gross and immoral, is to get used to there being fictional csa depictions even if you find them gross and immoral. your disgust and fear that somebody MIGHT be hurt by it or MIGHT be taking it the wrong way is not, and has never been, a good reason to remove it. again: if no actual people have been harmed in its creation, then it should be allowed. we're obviously not defending actual CSEM here, that is irrefutable harm. we're defending the stupid fetishized anime shit that helps the people who went through that process and move forward.

[gorgeousgreymatter-x]

okay sorry i guess that it’s grey’s smut opinions hour lol but i’ve been reading a lot of it, both queer and het, in different fandoms and I have some Thoughts 

First of all, I am not some big authority on smut writing by any means. So, if you read these thoughts and your first thought is, like, ACTUALLY FUCK YOU NO....perhaps these thoughts are not for you lol

And also, maybe you don’t like writing smut scenes or reading fiction with smut, that’s totally fine too!!! but as someone who has been reading and writing both queer and cis-het smut for well over a decade, I do think i’m not entirely clueless and am at the very least qualified to have some Thoughts. 

Also I’m generally pretty slutty and like having a lot of sex so I suppose I can add a little write-what-you-know in there too lol (NOT TO SAY THAT PEOPLE WHO DON’T HAVE SEX OR DON’T LIKE SEX OR ARE AROACE OR ASEXUAL OR GREYACE OR WHATEVER CAN’T WRITE GOOD SMUT. I HAVE READ SOME OF THE HOTTEST SMUT EVER WRITTEN BY ACE PEOPLE SO PLEASE SHUT UP IF THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO START BITCHING ABOUT) 

one of the biggest problems i have with cis het smut in particular is that most of the time it reads like a bullet-pointed list of sex acts and body parts. When I write smut, most of the time I actually try to limit the descriptions of body parts and the actual physical sex acts themselves whenever I can regardless of whether i’m writing mlm or wlw or t4t or m/f or whatever. Literally, to me (TO MEEEEE BEFORE ANY OF YOU START AACTTTTUAAAALLLY-ing), the hottest smut scenes have almost nothing to do with describing the act itself and everything to do with the vibes

Good smut, IN MY OPINION, isn’t just body part touches other body part and elicits bodily reaction.  It’s all about feeling. And I don’t mean physical (even though physical reactions do very much have a place in smut obviously).

This applies to PWPs too. Just because you don’t have a plot doesn’t mean you need to write a cringe sex scene. It is very much possible to write a PWP that doesn’t read like the worst scenes in 50 shades of gray lol

Also...please please please. I’m not saying your sex scenes need to have like full-on conversations in them, but dialogue during smut scenes can actually very much be your friend. People having sex with each other do tend to make sounds and even talk to each other. 

AND PLEASE. EVEN IF YOU FEEL STUPID DOING IT PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD READ YOUR DIALOGUE OUT LOUD YOU WILL THANK ME I PROMISE YOU WILL

remember, your smut doesn’t have to be the most realistic, but it should be, at the very least, believable

also, please, again -- i am not an authority. i am not an expert. i just really like sex and i write a lot of porn and these are the thoughts i have about it. and they might not be your thoughts, and that’s okay so if you don’t care about any of this, just scroll on by. i promise you i am nobody and i’m not worth the discourse lol

[nedlittle]

genuine question: what is wrong with the peyton beachdeath lma trans thread? I know…too much about peyton himself so we don’t need to revisit that, but i’d love to see you rip into some shoddy scholarship and ways to (mis)understand historical queerness

oh god...

i mean aside from people taking the word of a notorious clout-chasing liar and conspiracy theorist at face value...peyton just doesn't understand or even really care about history when it does not directly benefit him. full disclosure i have not read the thread since it was first posted but it is burned into my memory unfortunately, i also don't know a lot about lma as a historical figure

aside from cherry picking quotes from lma's diaries there were no actual sources. nothing from her biographers, no secondary scholarship at all. it was just peyton presenting quotes purposefully stripped of their context in order to further a point that he wanted to be right.

this should be like. queer history for pre-schoolers but people in the past who were or may have been queer understood themselves and their queerness differently than people do today. peyton is incapable of looking at queerness outside of his very specific 21st century lens. could louisa may alcott have been a trans man? possibly! could she have also been cis and/or gnc? sure! could she have simply been writing in both her private and personal lives about how suffocating the experience of being a woman in the 19th century was? yeah. we have no way of knowing which of this could be true, and whether they overlapped at all. queer history exists in shades of possibility. in some cases (and we're going to use trans men contemporary to lma), like those of albert cashier and charley pankhurst, we can pretty definitely say that they were both men; that being a man was essential to their continued survival, that they would have wanted to be remembered as men. in other cases, it's more slippery because the taxonomy we use nowadays to classify ourselves and especially our differentiation of gender identity vs sexual acts is SO recent that it does a disservice to classify all historical queerness with it.

it's insane that there are MULTIPLE notable 19th century trans men in american history at the time lma was living and he still was like no this is not good enough for me i can only emotionally relate to something if i can force my own image onto it. that's really the problem here, not the shoddy history and the deliberately misleading language, but the fact that peyton is seemingly incapable of enjoying or relating to a piece of media or a person if he cannot find a direct comparison to his own life. he did the same oh "(x) was 100% absolutely a trans man if you tell me wrong you're transphobic" thing with katharine hepburn (iirc??) a few years back and this is a personal gripe but having read a 600+ page bio of hepburn that was very generous to several queer readings of her life: lol. lmao even. his insistence of flatting the experience of anyone with a moderately fucky gender into "you're either Like Me or your not" is so purposefully stupid.

like, do all the trans readings of little women you want! i myself made a deranged little women trans post a few weeks ago. but lma isn't a fictional character who you can apply different literary lenses to! she was a real human person whose relationship with her gender we will never fully understand because we were not there. at some point you just have to accept that it is not your business. why are you so desperate for any shred of historical representation that you are willing to exhume the dead in order to out them?

peyton relates to jo march, so he insists that reading jo as a trans man is the only (morally) correct reading. he likes little women but has to make it fit the public view of transness that he is made his personal brand. i actually followed him for longer than i'd care to admit, and it's a trend with any piece of media that he is publicly into that he has to make a character a trans man in order to relate to them.

he also has this deranged idea that any author writing with emotional depth about the """opposite sex""" must have been trans. see the article he wrote for the niche about how must have been a trans man because he gave dido's emotions and the collapse of her marriage to aeneas the same "dignified treatment as any sprawling, epic battlefield scenes." [direct quote] the article is literally called " vergil had a pussy and i'll prove it." no further comment.

one of his "proofs" is that lma was called "lou" by her family, which he then proceeds to call her for the rest of the thread. lou is....a very normal nickname for louisa both now and then. you know what else was a 19th century nickname for louisa? wheezy. imagine that same thread but he calls her wheezy alcott. thank you, good day.

[junipertheweaver]

Hi, we're Tsuru!

We're a band of high school dumbasses from Adelaide, South Australia and we like queer retellings of folklore!

Our members are:

The Weaver/Storyteller (she/her)

Once a spirit of music and storytelling, the Weaver, or the Storyteller was cast out and left almost powerless after she toyed with the outcomes of stories one too many times. After some time, she gave up on attempting to regain her power and simply continued her craft as best as she could in her new form, eventually forming the band Tsuru.

Description: While she mostly appears to be just an ordinary human, while performing, enough of her power comes back for her to temporarily regain her wings, though they once again vanish when the performance is over. The feathers are every shade from pale purple to dark blue. She mostly plays keyboard, but will sometimes play the guitar if needed, or flute during someone else’s song, and is one of the main vocalists of the band, as she can sing anywhere from tenor to soprano range. She often wears gloves to hide the inkstains on her hands.

The Harmacist (any/all) (@sentientshitpost69),

They were an outcast to society due to their abnormal height and inhuman regeneration, they found their way in helping people using the natural resources of the forests and the nature around them using Phytokinesis. They were eventually enslaved by The System Of Thorned Shields where they were instantly recognised as helpful due to people recognising them from when they helped them previously. They ultimately found their friends when discovering a group of foreign people who accepted him for who he is, they then formed the group of Tsuru.

Description: A tall lanky person who measures to be 178cm tall and wears a ragged white lab coat with a hooded jacket underneath, along with cargo pants for all of the medical supplies that they need & wears a set of masks to hide who they are but when they take them off it reveals a set of sharp animal like teeth without any lips to conceal them along with boots to trek through the rough terrain that they inhabit. A deep and gravelly voice easily turns to a harmonic opera by just the will of them. Usually plays either the bass guitar or classical guitar. They generally like to listen to rock, metal, alt and electronic music and play a lot of video games, ranging from tower defence games, RPGs, sandbox games, to metroidvanias, rogue likes and fighting games. They are also very smart despite their ragged appearance considering that they are a doctor and they have managed to create weapons from mere grass and sticks.

Miki (she/they) (Peony/@sauleline),

Miki was born kinda fucked up, at least as a human, she was born with both cat ears and a tail, and was considered a medical anomaly. Although it’s not normal, she doesn’t really care what shits people give about her, and normally just flips off haters. They were unemployed for a while, and found a poster reaching out for members of Tsuru, and they applied, played a slightly technical rock beat. 

Description: A 5’9ish girl, with a purple undercut, with cat ears and a tail. Normally wears a bomber jacket with a crop top underneath, and jeans, which are cuffed. They also wear either Bright red cons, or Purple cons. She normally goes onto stage with a can of monster. They play the drums, quite aggressively, if/when I (peony irl) get a manual drum kit, there’s a big antifascist A on it, and an inverted pentagram, and a “Holy Fucking Bingle”. 

Baller Bat (he/him) (Jerome/no tumblr as of right now, @vampireslayersrscary on youtube if you want to see some his non-Tsuru stuff)

Vampire, cool, hot, and a bat, negative -13 rizz 🥶, dripped out, his fur is light brown instead of dark brown

We have two other members whose character descriptions are still underway/not begun yet, and this post will be updated when those are finished.

Our music:

Currently, we have two planned albums, The Selkie's Weddings and The System Of Thorned Shields

TSW is the story of a selkie, Mara, who has their pelt taken from them and has to figure out a way to escape, with the help of some friends along the way, while TSOTS is the backstory of The Harmacist and a future antagonist.

[gillianthecat]

GAP — episode 2

It seems like my GAP reactions have become the space in which I wax philosophical about various matters political and personal. But it's an excellent show nonetheless, I'm starting to really like it!

below the cut are my thoughts while watching:

- So does Sam know that she has a crush and is flirting like mad? I honestly can't tell how self-aware she is.

- Sam's friends! I love them all already. I appreciate that this show is populating Sam's world with interesting queer women. It feels like they've studied the boys' shows and are applying all the lessons carefully and skipping over a lot of the growing pains. So if Sam already knows she's queer, maybe she does realize she has a crush, she's certainly waiting by the phone anxiously. Then again, she seems not very in touch with her feelings in general.

- Ok. I hate grandmother. I love both the sisters. And Freen is great at portraying the two versions of Sam—young, open and vulnerable, and grown up, hard and walled off.

- On the one hand, I’m guessing that Sam just wants an excuse to keep bringing Mon into her office. Which is adorable. On the other hand, I’m having to actively work to not get annoyed at how bad a boss Sam is being. Not so much the meanness, that I can handle, but at how unskillful she is at it. Just telling your employee (who is brand new to the office and to the working world in general!) "change it" and "it doesn’t wow me" without giving any specifics? That is not the way to get the results you want with any efficiency. On the third hand, I am relieved not to hear them rambling on about "influencers" and marketing." So possibly a win overall. And their dynamic is great.

- And Mon called her out for it it! Bless you, darling. Sam tried to pull that boss bullshit are you just lazy? thing, but at least I know the show isn't ignoring it. And that is enough for me to be content, I think.

- I think I may actually really like this show? I was going to watch it regardless as long as it wasn't completely terrible (and I made it all the way through fahlanruk, so clearly my tolerance for terrible is high) just to a) support Thai GL, and b) see what they would do, but it's turning out to be very good. A solid story, good characters, lots of really good details, and it feels genuinely queer. I'm so pleased.

- The one sticking point for me is the whole influencer social media thing, but thinking about it, I can see how that was the best choice. If they want to make a billionaire romance with a cruel boss and and an ingenue employee, which I fully support because it's a genre with a lot of delicious potential, especially when made lesbian (I have no interest billionaire romance when done straight á la Fifty Shades of Gray, but love it when it's played with in some way) then they need a company for the billionaire to run. And they need to find something that a) could realistically become profitable in this day and age, b) Lady Sam could plausibly be passionate about, because the tension between her love for running a business and grandmother's pressure on her to live a traditional heterosexual life is crucial to the story they're telling, and c) feels cool and hip to fit the aesthetic of the show. So it can't be a paper company or something boring, and advertisers have always been the sexy creatives of the business world. "Content Creators" aren't as interesting, but they are more modern and more plausible as a start up business. And so while social media marketing still makes me recoil, and I honestly think is responsible for a lot of ills in this world,* I do understand their reasoning and I think that will allow me to tolerate and ignore it. I just hope Sam learns how to be an effective boss at some point along the way too!

*I didn't find Mad Men's ad agency setting off-putting in the same way. Perhaps because the creativity is more obvious in what they were doing, perhaps because it was all set in the past so it had that nostalgic fascination rather than watching people work at something that is actively making the world and my own life worse today. Not that advertising in the 60's didn't do a shit ton of harm to the world that continues to fuck over the planet. But I don't personally feel it as viscerally. Plus I think there is less creativity in the sort of content creation that Lady Sam's company seems to be doing, although to be honest the whole show is keeping it all pretty vague for now.

- Tangent over. I love how full of queer women this show is! It's not just the main couple, it's both of Sam's sisters, probably all of her friends, and even the villain and/or faen fatale! The only heterosexual couple (besides the parents) were kicked off the show in the first half an hour, in a loss for workers' rights but a victory for gay rights. And the only confirmed straight guy is Mon's creepy friendzoned neighbor, who is all but discarded. (Kirk may be straight, but it's not confirmed yet.)

- Speaking of which, I'm kind of excited to see what this villainous woman is going to do.

- I suspect most people associate Heng with Sky and expect him to be good, but my strongest association is with his character from War of Y so I keep waiting for him to be at least mildly evil.

- I actually really appreciate that this migraine is a situation in which taking medicine actually makes sense to me. Characters in Thai shows keep taking medicines for ailments that don't seem fixable with medicine and it always slightly annoys me. I don't know if that's part of the general Thai approach to health, or if it's just a shorthand for caretaking that dramas have developed, but it is so different from my approach.

- Oh how tender. Her head on her lap. I like this rendition of the caretaking trope. It uses the tropes, but puts its own spin on it to make it feel interesting and real.

- (I feel like I had that shirt pattern as wallpaper as a child. I'm not knocking Mon's outfit, I love her workwear style! But it definitely has a late eighties/early nineties vibe, especially combined with the oversized blazer in that shade of pink.)

- I love how even half asleep and knocked out with pain and drugs Sam (pardon me, Hon. Lady Sam) is still bossy and prickly and rude.

- Sleepy taxi head to shoulder slide my beloved! (I don't know what to call this trope, but it's always a good one.)

- I don't think I've ever seen That Fucking House 1.0 from the street before. I always pictured it somewhere more suburban and quiet.

- I love their dynamic so much! And I'm glad that Mon is getting the stars knocked out of her eyes—it makes for a much more interesting story (and a healthier relationship) if she has to fall back in love with the real Sam, rather than coasting on hero worship.

- Omg, I adore prickly bossy Sam. She is so cat coded. Be polite. Why are you so formal. Text me. Why are you texting me, you should call. Why are you calling me. 😸 I thought maybe it was because I'd just watched Choco Milk Shake so I'm imagining cats everywhere. But no. Mon really is another cat. I love her. And just like Milk, she is totally confused by her feelings and has no idea how to act around her crush. She sure sat up quick though 😹

- Oh Mon baby. My darling. How heartbreaking to find out that your idol, your forever crush, is not the person you thought she was. That she's actually mean and rude and confusing and is a terrible boss. And you're just trying to be a good employee but you have no idea what she wants from you. Oh my darling.

- Oh my god, Sam has zero social skills. I mean, it makes sense why, but she is a disaster. Mon is doing a great job of telling her when she's being hurtful or confusing, and every time Sam doubles down on acting like an asshole. Sigh. I still love her though.

- I am glad that Mon has the spine to keep standing up to her. Otherwise their relationship would be doomed and hard to root for. She does it kindly, but clearly and with a strong sense of her own rights and needs as a person. That's hard to do for any brand new intern to their powerful asshole boss, let alone one who's been nursing a hero worship crush for over a decade.

- Oof this scene! Mon kneeling as Sam walks by glammed up with sunglasses on, and completely ignores her.

- I do like this accountant. And I'm inclined toward Kirk. No matter what his role ends up being. I appreciate his rich boy charm here.

- Omg. Of course she hand delivers the snack to Mon. In the rudest, most awkward manner possible. My favorite feral cat. And yes. The battle of wills has begun. ngl, I was nervous about the whole hero worship angle last week, but they're crushing that underfoot quite nicely.

- Does Kirk know about her crush? Maybe even before she does, lol. Also I'm so relieved that Sam has all these friends who tease her when she's got a stick up her ass and treat her like a human being and also genuinely care for her.

- What a spiky kitty cat. Calm your fur, girl.

- This courtship is going to be amazing. I'm so excited to watch Sam flailing around trying and failing to act like a human around Mon. Kirk is all of us in his reactions. 😹

- Date date date! Wingmanned by the fiancé! Which, honestly is necessary at this point. They cannot handle being alone together yet.

- Jesus Christ Sam. You are the embodiment of that Get out of my school meme. I cannot believe the things coming out of your mouth.

- Oh no. Kitty cat, sweetheart, you're going to burn off the roof of your mouth. Stop trying to act cool in front of your crush. Mon's face 😂

- Lol. Well she fooled all of us. I guess she really is cool after all.

- Look at them! Managing to have an almost civil conversation! I'm liking this Kirk-Mon allyship that's developing. I don't know if it will withstand the pressure of the angst to come, but it's something Mon, and their developing relationship, need right now.

- Cat cat cat! She is such a cat. She refuses to look at Mon even though 100% of her attention is focused on her right now 😸 ooh and the boyfriend comment made her gruum-py!

- I can't tell what Kirk knows (I can't even tell what Sam and Mon know about themselves at this point) but I love him for playfully calling out Sam about posing on her car 😸

- Damn! Sam is already asking who Mon is sleeping with. My beloved ill mannered alley cat. And she's so proud of her little joke 😸

- Aw. Mon's crush is back and she is giddy with it. And what an ending moment.

I'm excited about this show now. They're doing so many things right! The story seems solid and well structured, a good base to carry the relationship through to the end. And I feel like they're hitting the right balance for Mon and Sam's dynamic. Sam is spiking and mean and awkward, and a terrible boss, but we also see her with her friends so we know that she can take teasing and be human sometimes, and that she has people in her life that love her. She's mean enough to build that delicious tension, but vulnerable enough that I can see why Mon likes her, and I don't feel like I need to yell at her to run away. And Mon has a good balance between being open and awestruck, while still having the backbone to stand up to her hero. It reassures me that their relationship is going to feel equal, not like a creepy boss taking advantage of her employee. Those sorts of extreme power dynamics are not what I'm looking for in a story; what I like about subverted billionaire romance is seeing how the characters manage the power dynamics in order to have a real relationship.

Based on the trailer and the grandmother's everything, I'm pretty sure this series is going to get angsty and sad. But given the nuance with which they've been treating the characters so far, I trust them to handle it well.

[upside-down-sock-drawer]

I need the media and fan writers to please stop heterosexualizing queer couples.

This probably makes no sense but let me explain. This is going to be long, strap in.

As a avid queer media consumer, I see way too many people constantly obsessing over heterosexual dynamics in queer relationships, specifically mlm ones. It becomes especially upsetting to me when dynamics suck as this make up a large portion of the character itself. A common example of this, is the "Top vs. Bottom" debate.

The Top v. Bottom debate has been around for a while, and it has people arguing over who does what in the fictional relationships during spicy times. Top v. Bottom, Sub v. Dom, all generally boil down to the same question: Who's the boy, and who's the girl of the relationship?

This is an inherently wrong thing to do. Most people in the queer community find asking a question like that to be extremely offensive. The question asks people who spent years trying to separate themselves from traditional gender roles and normalize that, to put themselves back into said roles.

Many times, I've seen these roles to be taken so seriously that they become a large piece of the character's writing. I can honestly say that if I were to read two different fan works, one with top and bottom dynamics in place, and another one with them swapped, it would be like reading about entirely different characters. Take Six of Crows, for example. The characters Jesper and Wylan are in a relationship, and for the most part, people agree that Wylan is the bottom and Jesper is the top. Because of this, people often write off Wylan as an extremely weak and emotional character, completely ignoring cannon content and deciding that he needs to be put into this role.

(Honorable mentions: Deku from BNHA, Varian, from Tangled the Series.)

Even worse, this is not only problematic for the queer community. Often times, when one character is decided to be the more submissive one, they take on traditionally feminine things, including, but not limited to: Not being able to take care of themselves, always needing the other more 'dominant' character to so things for them, and being extremely emotional. These are feminine gender stereotypes that aren't only offensive to queer people, but also women in general. This also applies to "uwu-ifying" characters, but that's a whole other thing.

This doesn't just happen within fan works, it's also in cannon works. For example, in the series Heartstopper, Charlie, for the most part, cannot deal with his bullies on his own. He has to rely on Nick to step in before he can really take matters into his own hands at all. There is also something to be said about the fact that Nick is the big tough guy that plays sports, and that Charlie is the smaller, weaker boy who has a hard time handling himself. (No shade to Heartstopper or Alice Oseman)

All this to say, please stop pushing heteronormative standards onto queer relationships. It's basing a character on what position the prefer in the bedroom. It's over sexualizing queer people, pushing gender norms and it's just generally gross please stop.

[nightshadedawn]

Shade's Masterpost

About Me

Hello, hello, hello! Please call me Shade! I accept use of all pronouns, but I do have the most fun with fae/faer, they/them, and ve/vir. I identify as queer simply because I could apply too many labels to myself. The one that takes up the largest part of my identity is my asexuality, so that's the only one I'll name. (I prefer sir to ma'am if you're going to use one, or captain if we're trying to be gender neutral, which I also accept, as it makes me feel like a pirate, which I am)

I've been strongly in fandom since 2014, a little late to the game compared to some! Especially since I always seem to be getting into fandoms as they're dying out. 🤣 My main contributing factors to fandom are fanfiction and videos, and occasionally rants and shitposts, but I'm not terribly good at either of those. But I tend to hang onto all my fandoms, revisiting them occasionally just to check on how they're doing, so I can't fully say I've ever left one. Speaking of, let's list some of those out for you.

My Fandoms

Free!

Haikyuu!!

Yuri on Ice!!!

Ouran High School Host Club

Voltron: Legendary Defender

Banana Fish

Boku no Hero Academia/My Hero Academia

Sk8: The Infinity

Buddy Daddies

Persona 5

Persona 4

Fire Emblem: 3 Houses

Spy x Family

Obey Me!

Percy Jackson

Studio Ghibli

Good Omens

Mythology (Greek/Roman, Norse, Egyptian, Native American, anything else I can get my hands on)

Fairy Tales (og Grimms, Hans Christian Anderson, etc... not Disney things)

Musicals (Phantom of the Opera, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, a plethora of more, please ask if you'd like to know!)

Our Flag Means Death

House of the Dragon/Fire & Blood (wasn't a fan of Game of Thrones)

Is that it? I think that's it for now. I have only written... for about half of them. Read for many. Most of my fanfiction is composed of anime fandoms, not going to lie about that. But I am always up for being prompted! Speaking of, let's look into the prompts.

Writing Prompts

How it works: You can send in a prompt of your own making, or you can choose one from these lists.

300 Words

Fire Emblem 3 Houses Bingo

More lists will be made regularly, and I'm always looking for prompts, especially around the holidays.

Choose one of the fandoms I know, send me a prompt, and we'll get jiggy with it. You can get more detailed, too, adding in what ship you'd like it to be for (I ship many, many things, and have often been convinced to write for ships I don't particularly care for, so don't hold back), or an AU if that's your thing. (It's certainly mine, I like AUs) If you specifically want it in cannon, might specify that too.

As a side note here, I use my Non-Binary Glossary for when I write nonbinary characters. Feel free to use it, and read through it if you see any words you might not immediately realize what they mean when I'm writing them.

My Tumblr Projects

You can find my fanfiction here at NightshadeDawn, but as I've mentioned, fanfiction isn't all I do. Let's dive into some of the other things I do, hm?

Persona 6: Genesis

A fan concept for Persona 6. An entire blog dedicated to it, with posts going through the entire plot of the game, character art created, maps planned out, and various other little things. It's been sort of put on the back burner, but it's still fun to look at sometimes.

Obsidian Sea DLC

A similar concept to Genesis, but so far faring better in the fact the actual story of it is in the works of being written. It's a hypothetical DLC for Fire Emblem: Three Houses that introduces three brand new units as part of Jeralt's Mercenaries, and makes Jeralt playable to round out as their fourth. The main plot of the DLC sees Jeralt's Mercenaries, Byleth, and their students going to Brigid to uncover the reason why people keep coming back from the dead with white hair and crests, then proceeding to turn into Demonic Beasts.

Verdant Wind: The Musical Twin AU

A series of videos edited in such a way that comes across as a musical retelling the story of the Verdant Wind route of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. With the idea that there's various parts that are incorrect either due to being lost to history or because of... "artistic vision."

The Gemini

A Persona 5 fangame that adds a social link for Shiho Suzui, making her a romanceable character while exploring her trauma and how she's growing as a person. Technically playable, but incomplete in my vision.

Ultimate Decades Drama

A collection of mini challenges for players of the Sims 4, specifically the Ultimate Decades Challenge. As I'm only a console player, I struggle with playing the challenge itself, but I love watching playthroughs. I heard a few people talk about struggling with stories or directions they wanted to take Sims, so I thought "Hey, I can tell stories. Let's see if I can translate that into something helpful."

Frequently Asked Questions

Technically, I have not had any of those yet. But I see this being updated every so often, so it's fine to leave this here.

In Conclusion...

Sifting through the reblogs, the anime stuff, the mild ramblings... be prepared for what you'll find if you continue down this blog. But you've made it thus far, and for that, I applaud you.

If there's anything you'd like to support, I do have a Kofi though I will be honest about not entirely knowing what I'm doing with it.

But now that you know all my deepest, darkest parts... is there anything else you'd like to know?

[departed-pronouns]

Scrolling through my timeline now is letting me look and see a wide arrange of thoughts and reactions. But something I notice from almost everyone right now that has something to say about 911 and it's lackluster last season and season final. Is that they never expected Buck and Eddie to get together. I don't just mean the people who say they never saw the romance, that's a given, but they are saying it as if it was a forgone conclusion and they're saying that it's because we shouldn't expect to see characters presented as queer.

And then on the other side there are people who really wanted it and believed it was possible. There are people who wanted it but kept their expectations low because there's always a chance that your ship wont sail. There were people that just wanted canon confirmed Bi buck or canon confirmed queer Eddie in any form the show gave.

But in their posts on tumblr, on twitter, reddit or discord. They always have to add after saying they saw the possibility of it, but that they wouldn't be surprised if it didn't happen. After 911's last episode people who posted about Buddie were saying they were disappointed but they weren't surprised. There are people posting that they expected to be disappointed and people posting that you should have seen it coming and just accept that it was never going to happen.

And honestly, why not? Tell me why. Things have to change some time for the better. Why not see that change now? Why not be disappointed about this? When really by now we should be to a point where one fan pairing that's queer doesn't go canon should be just as meh as if a fan hetero couple does. Why just accept it's never going to happen.

I mean maybe I wont get to see something like this in my life time. But I'd like to think one day we could do something as simple as watch tv and see people on it being all different shades of queer. See two guys who were only written as straight suddenly show queerness because like, in real life that's something that happens, people realize things late in life. People present a certain image and when you get to know them more you find out hidden depth. Characters aren't even real and this annoying rule that fiction has to be held in this chock hold because people in real life are homophobic/transphobic/just terrible in general and can't seem to handle, well, differences.

Maybe that day when I can log online and say two fictional characters would be cute together and not end up in some online discourse over it will also be the same day me or any other person that's different won't have to live in fear in real life. Can be unique but not considered 'other' and 'wrong' Because yes for a lot of people this may just be 'oh no the pretty people I want to see together on tv didn't get together'. But to some it's another way of pointing out how what a lot of us are is wrong and gross. And to people like me it's another reminder that I don't live in a world where what I am is normal enough to just be on tv. To just be out there and not given a second thought.

In this specific fandom, for this show, lots of people point out there's already Hen and Karen, and there had been David and Michael. As if that fills some quota the queers have that doesn't apply to straight couples. We didn't see anyone saying Buck or Eddie shouldn't have girl friends because there were already too many straight couples on the show. Hell, with this fandom I've had someone tell me if I want to see a gay couple, go watch a completely different show. Cause Lone star has Carlos and TK. It's like a backwards slide, enough queerness on this, move along to something else.

Frankly I think seeing people say 'I know this could never happen' is more depressing than the ship not sailing. And I wish when I or other people brought up our disappointment about this sort of stuff. It wasn't boiled down to us being silly about ship. Right now one of the very real ways I can fight against prejudice is by finding and supporting queer media and trying to support the general medium embracing and celebrating and representing queer people in real ways.

Sure it might not be on the same level as when I protest legislation that is being passed that strips away peoples rights. Which is still happening because we can't change people's misinformed views on real life issues, and we can't do that if we can't even get past token rep in shows.