Queer People Existing in Books
Apparently the mere existence of queer characters is an affront to some.
Queer Identity in Books
It often comes up that someone will get mad at the mere existence of queer characters. People say all the time that queer people are no long oppressed and that we should stop talking about it. Well, that’s untrue. I recently entered into a conversation where I blocked several homophobic people. Why, you may ask? The topic was a fellow writer had someone post a review stating her book was sapphic (when it was a straight romance). The reason? The main character had previously dated a woman and was bisexual. Note: there was no relationship with a woman in the book. None whatsoever.
However, several people commented (or agreed with the contents) that by merely mentioning the fact she was bisexual, they wouldn’t read the book. But of course, they started with “I’m not homophobic, but...” Which that statement means I’m about to say something homophobic without fail. Their problem wasn’t with the content of the book at all, just the fact someone was bisexual instead of straight. Why would this matter if the actual romance was a straight one? It didn’t affect the story at all. Not even a lesbian kiss found, only a hug between female friends.
Yet these people believed that the mere existence of a queer identity ruined the book for them, and they would immediately stop reading. News flash, queer people exist.
Just a Preference
And of course the war cry is “I can have a preference! I don’t want to read queer romance!” Which, fine. I don’t want to read straight romance. I find it literally turns my stomach to read it. But I’m not going on every straight romance and complaining that there are straight characters in it. Preferences are fine. However, choosing to leave a book because a character of a certain type is in it and not actively shown doing the thing you don’t like...that’s not okay. And yes, that’s homophobic. Or, in the above case, biphobic.
If I’m reading a fantasy or science fiction book, and there’s no romance, but one of the characters is queer, I’m going to cheer. Because the plot is not about their identity, it’s just an aside and a part of the character. And it is absolutely phobic to put down that book because of the character being queer. It doesn’t impact the story at all, so why are people complaining?
Pushing an Agenda
And inevitably, people are accused of being “woke” and “pushing their agenda” as if in the real world, queer people don’t exist at all. Of course, if they’re the type of person who would put down a book because a character is queer, they probably don’t have any real queer friends, or they have one and use it as a shield. “See, I’m not homophobic, I am a friend with the gay person here.” Sorry, that doesn’t excuse someone from shitty actions.
Queer People Just Exist
We exist. And we can exist in fictional worlds because we exist in real life. I’m not just here to be a token queer when it’s necessary, or to suffer from the “bury your gays” trope. Not everything about queer people is sexual. Sure, most of my books have queer sex in them, but not all of them (see the Nexus Chrnicles). There mere presence of a queer person doesn’t change the plot of a book, and as writers we have every right to make characters whatever the hell we want to. So, if Suzy is asexual, bam, deal with it.
And sure, you’re free to discard a book with queer people in it. What you can’t do is try to call it a preference without facing the facts that that is phobic in some way or other.
Closing Thoughts
So, I’ve ranted for a while, and I hope you stayed with me long enough to hear me out. And if you disagree? Okay, cool. But don’t try to tell me my feelings on the subject are wrong. You can’t tell another how to feel. And it feels very gross when someone expresses something overtly phobic to a group and then tries to play it off as a preference.