🌈 LGBT+ OCs discussion thread

celestiials imo I think it's definitely ok, and even a good thing, to make characters be trans just because they are, and not focus on it--especially when he's a divine being who would have no reason to actually have to deal with trans issues as we understand them. He's so powerful that it would be out of place for him to actually struggle with it, imo. I like it as a way of normalising being trans and also secure in yourself. Also, just saw the edit, definitely not seeing any obvious stereotypes.

@circlejourney Thank you for answering my question and explaining why too! Sorry that my response isn’t long but yeah thanks a lot aaa

celestiials
Trans person here to say that I see no stereotypes ...and even if there were...not all stereotypes are harmful or inherently bad :') . (It's mostly how someone uses them that makes them bad!) and its actually SUPER refreshing to see a trans character who's story/personality DOESNT focus on them being trans?? like
Thank you!

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im going to vent about my experiences with lgbt characters here on TH (and media in general) as a gay trans woman bc this has been on my mind for a long time.
I'm posting mostly to talk about my experiences here. I'm not entirely interested in debates, so please don't ping me to try and argue (I don't answer @'s anyway). I'm sure many many people here with disagree with me lmao


I've been lurking here a few years and I personally have a lot of qualms with how a LOT of people on TH write their lgbt characters, and a lot of it has to do with seeing many of the characters here who's stories/personalities focus expressly on them being lgbt. A lot of the ocs/creators I see here seem to treat being lgbt or Not Straight (TM) as if its their...defining quality or the point of that oc even being there and its gross... or as if its a Cool Kid thing to not be heterosexual or cis which is also frankly disturbing. I've seen profiles with nothing other than 'Big/Super/Really Gay' written, and that's also very concerning. Why even write anything in the profile? You don't write anything else in there (age, race, abilities, any amount of history or summary that might actually make that character interesting) but for some reason you have to make sure everyone knows that they're gay....?
I feel like a lot of this behavior originates from much of this sites community coming from tumblr (and I have the same issues with the hellsite's behavior towards lgbt characters and actual people as I do here tbh but on a much larger scale.)

It makes me so sad that more people (ESPECIALLY lgbt people???) aren't treating their lgbt ocs….as people...mentioning that an oc is gay 10 times in their profile is overboard and you probably need to rethink what you're writing and how that's gonna make that oc appear to everyone else imo. Are you writing that oc to be a person with a story and life, or a Token. Is the general public, those that dont have the same attachment to that oc as the creator does, going to see it as a realistic person or a token ''Gay babu uwu"?
It has gotten to the point that I see better lgbt ocs written by non-lgbt people than I see lgbt ocs written by lgbt people.. I see more lgbt characters I feel are treated as a fetish from lgbt people than I do from non-lgbt people (actually, now that I think about it, I don't think ive ever seen an lgbt oc from a non-lgbt person that I thought was fetishy).... which really says something to me.

I don't think some of it's entirely intentional, especially if the oc creator is a minor but I don't think there's really any excuse for the adults here.

All in all, my experiences with the lgbt community and lgbt characters here on TH has been immensely negative on almost all fronts.

Tarning I know that you don't wish for a debate but since this is a discussion thread at least allow me to counterpoint for the sake of the thread- I'm fairly certain that a lot of younger creators in particular, especially if they are queer themselves, are putting some subconscious emphasis on their characters' sexuality as a means of their own exploration, and while yes, it's in a little bad taste, or at best awkward, it's not the most harmful thing in the world, especially since I think a lot of people here write up their profiles more for their own and their friends' enjoyment than to necessarily promote to the world at large.

Sometimes even as an older gay I'll sometimes just put some stupid similar identifier on a character's profile until I have the energy to write it up properly; often the characters I know the most about are the ones I write up the least.

It's also nice to have a space where people are comfortable with putting their character's sexuality up front, when in more mainstream spaces one is often expected to downplay it for the sake of not upsetting a cishet audience.

tl;dr I understand what you're saying and it can certainly get out of hand sometimes, but I don't think the concept itself is harmful.

^ yeah, totally reasonable take. tbh I think there are a lot of character archetypes that I would judge differently depending on the creator; e.g. I think a lot of us grew up identifying with intentionally LGBT-coded villains, so one of those written by a straight person carries a v different meaning to one written by a queer person exploring their complicated feelings on the subject. Regardless of author though the things we write can hurt other people, esp if it's a character for a work meant for public consumption, so I do also think we need to tread more carefully around some character concepts than others... 

Unrelated: as a nonbinary person my biggest pet peeve is when people write alien/robot/otherwise nonhuman characters and put down their gender as "genderless, but identifies as female" or whatever. If they think they're a girl then they're a girl! That's all gender is! If you have to obliquely hint that they don't have any genitalia (and you really don't), then put it in a different info field!! 

octopi Just wanted to say that it's not always someone being ignorant; I'm agender myself but prefer masculine pronouns for a number of reasons, including that there are a lot of people in my life who don't understand/can't comprehend they/them as a singular pronoun and not referring to a group, but it doesn't bother me at all! It's case by case, but I do agree that there are many cases where the genderless character unnecessarily needs the heshe pronouns but has em shoved on them anyway

//Slinks back to the shadows 

TheStrayCat I think you might have misunderstood? It's totally cool for a robot to be a girl, any sapient creature can make decisions about their own gender, I'm talking about when the creator implies that a girl robot isn't really a girl/is actually genderless because she's a robot. I do also think people gender nonhuman beings unnecessarily sometimes but that's a totally separate problem. 

Alright, I'm pretty hesitant to post this (I don't want to offend/anger anyone, and that is not at all what I want to do with this character), but I could use some help with a character I'm making!

The character is Moki here. He looks pretty feminine, no? Well, as you probably figured out from the pronouns, he is in fact a boy. (And future art will probably look just a little more "male" in terms of facial features and such). He is cisgender, and quite happy with being a male in spite of his feminine nature. He also happens to be gay, and here lies the problem. I really don't want to feed into the stereotype of ultra feminine gay men; I just have a feminine male who I feel is gay. He is not a total stereotype; he is more likely to do sports than drama, and he is no fan of shopping. But I still feel like this could, if written badly, be seen as a stereotype, and could be offputting for people.

So, what I would love to hear is any comments or suggestions. Is there a way to make sure he doesn't seem offensive or meant to be a jab at the community? Should I just keep him offline to avoid any of this?

(And apologies if this was worded badly! I wrote this out rather quickly, but I want to get it out before I decide against it xD)

RyuWarrior ((pshh I'm a feminine gay guy and I don't see any problem with him so far. In fact I encourage you to keep developing him 8) I like him so far, and what a pretty design h e c k))

TheStrayCat Ahh thank you! I'm glad that he seems fine. (I'm just anxious about making sure I don't accidentally make a misstep) And I agree on the design; I had pretty general concepts for him (he was a custom), so I absolutely love how he came out!

RyuWarrior I am only one person, anyone else is free to give their opinion, but I definitely see nothing wrong c: I'll definitely be stalking his profile though! ;)

RyuWarrior It's perfectly alright for even cisgender characters to enjoy playing with their gender presentation! As long as you're never implying that he's femme-presenting -because- he's gay, then I think he's perfectly fine. (And super cute!)

Waltz Thank you! I will be sure to avoid anything like that. ^^