A rant ...

[bubosquared]

Twice in recent days, while talking to ruby_fruit, we've gone off on rants about Things We Want To See More Of (Or Even At All) In Books And Other Media. Specifically, what we want to see are "casually gay characters."

Honestly, I'm a little burnt out on Gay Lit lately. Not that I don't still love to read about boys loving boys and girls loving girls and either loving both, but I'm starting to feel a bit ... ghetto-ised, I suppose. It's not that I want Gay Lit to go away, it's that I want more gay characters in "mainstream" lit. And on TV. And in movies. And fuck, in songs, in advertising, in the street, in every part of everyday life. But I'll limit myself to books, and the general media to some extent, because if I get started on the rest I'll just never shut up.

As most of you will know, I pretty much read only fantasy and some science fiction (with a peppering of True Crime and nonfic when I'm feeling like reading brainless trash and brainfood, respectively). You'd think in these genres if not in any other genre, or in "mainstream" lit, you'd see more gay characters being generally accepted. Or even gay characters at all.

In fantasy, you have the opportunity to set up a society where same-sex relationships are accepted the way opposite-sex relationships are. Yet very, very few writers do this. Why? If nothing else, it's a perfect way to set your novel apart from the gazillion other fantasy tomes on the shelves. Because there are people out there, people like me, who will give anything a chance if it has two boys or two girls touching in sexy ways.

For once, I want to read a book in which there are queer characters other than the by-now-cliché effeminate gay mage or the lesbian mercenary (especially if she "turned gay" because of rape--HATE!). I want to see the macho mercenary fall in love with a bloke. I want to see the hero walk into a bar and get hit on by the waiter instead of the waitress, and not freak out. I don't care if he's straight and just politely turns him down, even, though it'd be even better if he flirted back, of course. I want to see the beautiful witch fall in love with the heroine rather than the hero. I want to see the kitchen boy go on a quest to prove himself worthy of his True Love, and have that True Love be the prince rather than the princess. I want to see a society where same-sex relationships are the norm, and procreation is the only reason for m/f sex, if it happens at all (turkey basters, anyone?)

Science Fiction is marginally better about this, but not by much. In most science fiction worlds, sexism (and, usually, racism) are things of the past, yet queer people are still not even acknowledged most of the time, and when they are, well. See above for the usual clichés. I'm tired of it. Show me the hero saving the guy instead of the girl, and falling in love with him. Show me the women settlers raising a child together. Hell, show me the people falling in love with aliens whose race has more than two genders, or no gender at all--though that's getting into genderqueer territory somewhat.

And once genre fiction gets with the program, let's start fixing "mainstream" lit. Let's start seeing queer characters in contemporary books, and let's start letting them have actual relationships. Let's start letting the protagonist have a gay or lesbian friend, and allow that friend to be more than just "the best friend". Let's start writing about queer characters, and have a plot beyond the main character's sexuality. One in ten people are queer, and that's not even counting the bisexuals, and a whole lot of us are out and proud, so let's start seeing that in books that are supposed to take place in the here and now. Let's start seeing an accurate picture of what (especially urban) life is actually like in this day and age.

I'd especially love to see more queer characters in YA novels that aren't coming-out stories. Not that I dislike those, and I'm sure they're a great help for a lot of queer teens, but not every queer person had to struggle first with themselves and then with their family and peers to come out as queer (I didn't), and putting queer characters in "straight"/"non-queer" YA novels may help make people, especially teenagers, realise that we are everywhere.

I'm sick and tired of being "accepted". I don't want to be "accepted", as if I'm some sort of embarrassing relative you'll put up with for the sake of blood ties but who you'd rather not be seen with in public. I want to be acknowledged as part of society. Because I am, and I've had it with being invisible to the media, with seeing queer people trotted out to show that look, aren't we progressive? I want to see "my kind" in books, on screen, in ads and in the street, and have no one bat an eye the way no one bats an eye at straight couples.

I'm here, I'm queer, and I refuse to be invisible any longer.

Comments

[dine.livejournal.com]

I totally and completely agree with your rant - there aren't enough characters who just happen to be gay in books, and while the coming out story is important and can be inspirational, there are tons of other topics to cover. Over the years, I've read a skillion books (mystery, SF, fantasy) and can probably come up with some recs for you - and if you can't find them locally, could send you some titles.

One author you might look for is R. M. Meluch - she wrote a handful of paperback SF novels in the 80s; they've not been reissued, though her first title in years (The Myriad) was just published in hardcover, so there's some hope. Of her older titles, I highly recommend Sovereign, Chicago Red and The Queen's Squadron, which all feature gay/bisexual characters in various (mostly) fucked-up relationships - but they're fucked up for various reasons, not because they're gay. Some of these are apparently available used in the UK - I checked ABEbooks and amazon.co.uk. The Myriad is the first in a new series, and one of the central characters is gay, although it's hard to tell where that's going to go - personally I'm hopeful that he and the (male) captain will end up together.

Although it doesn't appear to have been updated recently, the Lambda Sci-Fi Recommended Reading List might give you a few new titles/authors to check out. Again, if you find stuff you want but can't get locally, just holler and I'll locate a cheapish copy used and send it to you. http://www.lambdasf.org/lsf/books/recommend.html

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs, I'll look into those and get back to you if I can't find them!

I think one of the reasons that the prevalence of the coming-out story bugs me is that it's not a universal experience for queer people, not anymore at least. I've known I was at least bi since I was twelve, and the most I've ever done is not explicitly come out and say "I like girls." I openly admitted to finding certain girls attractive, and if I'd actually dated in secondary school, I'd have had no second thoughts about saying that yeah, I have a girlfriend. (I still don't make grand announcements about my sexuality, still. If people can't figure out from my mentions of ex-girlfriends and the like that I'm a dyke, that's really more their problem than mine.) I never had to worry about what my parents would do when I came out, or my employer, or my classmates and friends, or whatnot. And maybe this is partially a cultural/generational thing, but I know a lot of other people who had the same experience.

Plus, and this is also something I'd like to see in comtemporary fiction, not all straight people simply assume they're straight by default. I know a lot of people who identify as gay, but who still considered the possibility that they might be at least somewhat queer, before deciding that no, straight here. Again, this may be different if you live in another culture or grew up in another generation, but still.

[armistice.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you've heard of it (becuase if I hadn't happened to catch it on the television a couple times, I don't think I would've), but there's a show called Crossing Jordan in which the main character (Jordan) is a medical examiner who has an affinity for playing detective. Anyway, there was an episode where she almostalmost got together with a woman--who was somehow involved in a case she was working on--but alas! Discovered that she had not the gay in her.

I found it noteworthy.

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Either Amy or Ruth (possibly both) mentioned it a couple of times, I think. It's not on TV over here AFAIK, but I may try and download it at some point.

[ruby-fruit.livejournal.com]

Both of us. *g*

I was very well handled. And there's a secondary character, Nigel, who's sexuality has been up in the air for pretty much the whole series. Also handled well, and with humor.