#how does shannon constructing the world starting in 2008 and publishing in 2012 impact its queerness?

[bookwyrminspiration]

How do you think queer relationships are treated in canon kotlc? I think maybe less stigma than bad matches but that’s it. It might never be addressed, maybe because the matching system was written to be bad but also maybe accidentally written it as homophobic.

I think I agree with your assessment, and I also don't expect it to be addressed. My hopes are rather low when it comes to queer acknowledgement in the series, but that's a different thing.

My reasoning for the "stigmatized but not as bad as bad matches" status is that you gotta go to the root of why bad matches are bad. So then you gotta look at what makes a match good.

The match office has the words "Progress, Prosperity, Permanence, and Proliferation" above it, which gives us some insight. The elves are concerned with genetics and genetic purity, and bad matches disrupt that. Those that are talentless or bad matches are lesser genetically and have lesser kids.

In that case, queer relationships (this does not encompass all queer relationships) would be somewhere in the middle. On the one hand, these queer relationships aren't supporting proliferation of their species, they aren't having the genetically pure kids they aim for. However, the same could be said of non-queer couples that choose not to have children. And even if those in queer relationships were considered lesser, they wouldn't be continuing their genetic lineage, wouldn't be having genetically lesser kids, and therefore would avoid some of the criticism bad matches get.

I imagine that queer relationships that can be interpreted as straight in whatever capacity would be treated as though they are, in fact, straight. Their queerness would be ignored, and if they go on to have children, they would act as though that proved their "normalcy" (in quotes because straight isn't more normal than queerness).

I believe that any queer relationship within the system people would turn a blind eye to, essentially. If you're a couple keeping to yourselves without offspring, then we don't have to worry about you and can look the other way. If you're a couple that can pass as their version of "normal," then they can ignore everything else going on with you.

So not supportive, but not outright hostile either. At least based on my understanding of the worldbuilding. Also I'm well aware that my word choice and explanations fall well short of the complexity of queerness; it's not a topic that can be easily encompassed in so short a post, so please be lenient with me :)