Gay Representation in ChoiceScript games?

[TSSL]

@MockTurtle

By the way, what are the opinions here about negative stereotypes for LGBT people?

I guess I’ll mostly be chiming in to agree with what other people are saying (which is the main reason I’ve been liking up a storm, but not really posting) I mean, I myself am definitely on the more feminine side in a lot of traits, and I even feel myself to be feminine as an identity. (I tend to feel like the word “effeminate” is usually used with more negative connotations than just “feminine” is, but this could vary by person ) So I really dislike the idea that writing a character like me would be problematic, because, I mean, I want characters like me to exist? It can be a pretty damaging double standard if gay characters “have to be” more masculine than the hetero ones, and can end up being rather a way to invalidate us feminine gay guys

So… I’m really especially going to second @ParrotWatcher’s suggestion that it’s best if including a stereotyped character to also include someone who doesn’t fit the same stereotype… because it’s pretty generally best to show that members of LGBT groups have as wide a range of characteristics as everyone else. It also makes it so that you won’t have a single character who has to bear the brunt of representation on their own; that just puts a lot of pressure on that one character to be perfect, and no one character can be everything to everyone. But given enough characters in aggregate and you can accomplish a lot

@anon7953808

I’ve been told to stop being stereotypical in real life because I’m an effeminate gay man, by my friend, I might add, and she said that it was harmful.

Because apparently in her opinion, it’s less homophobic to police how a gay man can behave than it is for a gay man to authentically be himself

@ParrotWatcher

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with an effeminate gay guy.

I should hope not I want to be in stories too…

@idonotlikeusernames

I guess I can be a bit flamboyant in real-life too and yeah I just so happen to like clothes and men’s fashion very much (but in defiance of the stereotype I have a minimal interest in women’s fashion), but that is far from all there is to me.

I think that “that is far from all there is to me” is a good point as well… any character should have interesting traits and interests and personality dynamics that round them out and make them more than just a collection of stereotypes anyway.

@idonotlikeusernames

On the other hand @ParrotWatcher for example is, by his own admission, far less interested in fashion or looking fashionable than I am and that doesn’t make him any less gay.

Well, and as for me, I tend to enjoy male fashion in theory (i.e. cute guys in cute outfits) much more than in practice (which costs money and effort)
(So my MCs in CoGs tend to be much more fashionable than I am )

Though, I definitely have noticed that people, even if they’re not homophobic in a hateful way, will often assume that I’m more knowledgeable about fashion than I really am stereotypes can affect how someone’s perceived even if they have no bearing on what the person’s actually like.