Today’s topic comes from QSFer Beth Brock: “Is there a place for gay antagonists in LGBT fiction?”
It’s a simple question on the face of it – of course there should be. Gays (and I’m using the term generically here for LGBTQI), like straights, like lesbians, like transgender and bisexual and asexual and intersex folks, come in all shapes and sizes and types in the real world.
There are white gays, black gays, asian gays, short gays, tall gays, happy gays, sad gays, good gays and evil gays.
But to simply say “yes, of course” would be to ignore the history here.
For to many years, gays (and lesbians etc) were relegated to first one role in fiction – the evil or misguided gay. Then we branched out a bit in the late seventies/early eighties to the gay sidekick (who was never allowed to have a relationship in the story).
So we’re necessarily sensitive to the issue of the “evil gay”.
Which brings us back to today. Have we now progressed enough to open that door again, a little? Is it time to allow our characters to be as widely written as the gays in real life? Are we ready for more evil gay antagonists?