Spark In Darkness

There is an ongoing trope of GBLTQ people as servants, adjutants and otherwise assistants in the life of straight people. I say trope because we see this a lot on TV and in books, but really trope is inaccurate because this is one of those that has bled out a lot into real life as well – and it's deeply problematic.

In fiction we see a lot of side-kicks, a lot of side-characters, mentors, advisers – always there to lend a hand and support to a straight protagonist. And this leaks – ye gods does it leak – into the real world. Not just with so many GBLTQ people being unable to find a depiction of themselves centre stage – but also in how we're often treated.

Just look at the GBF trope. I don't really have to say more about it since I've already ranted about it a lot – but again, we are treated as accessories, servants adjutants to other people's lives.

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After the much reported homophobia in YA fiction (or, should I say, after the long term homophobia in YA fiction's publishing became noticed and more shouted about) following 2 authors being called upon to de-gay their story there has been a lot of talk about it. A lot of people expressing outrage at the erasure of GBLT characters from YA – and especially the utter wrongness of publishers demanding that GBLT characters be removed or made straight before publishing.

Many things have arisen out of this – not least of which is a lot of authors coming forward with their own stories of publisher demands and erasure. It's good to see some attention being paid and hopefully we can see some changes.

A one thing that has arisen is book lists. Lists of YA books with GBLT characters as protagonists. I approached the lists with – ok, not glee because I'm far too cynical for that now. But cautious optimism and certainly a hope to increase my reading lists

And then I looked at some of the lists and... was saddened

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I've been thinking, and particular tweets and posts I've seen have prompted me further, about the “gay porn” revelations we've had both when Osama was shot and now when Gaddafi has been sent running into the wilderness.

In both cases, some reports said that they found vast porn collections including (DUM DUM DUM GAY PORN!). And among certain circles there is a chortling and a laughing and lots of “I knew it” and “it wouldn't surprise me” and similar sentiments that give me grey hairs

And I side-eye the whole thing and wonder in some cases whether or not it's a plant (Actually, in the case of Gaddafi I find myself in agreement with Queerty on it being a plant - not because they did an exhaustive search of porn to try and find the title that didn't seem to exist - but because I boggle at the idea of someone with just ONE porn DVD :P). But plant I side, I ask what the point is? Of all the things you could say about Osama Bin Laden and Gaddafi's regime exactly how is this porn even slightly worthy of mention?

Well, I can think of three reasons:

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I've complained before that I just can't agree with the idea of True Blood being as pro-gay as everyone likes to celebrate

But I'm going to go further in a little rant because I am getting really sick of Lafayette and Jesus and their complete and utter lack of intimacy.

I think this season has really hit hard at how sanitised and cold Lafayette and Jesus' relationship is. It's now so glaring that the characters now irritate me immensely and I'm begging to want to skip past their precious little sanitised platonic, don't-put-off-the-straighties 'relationship'.

The most glaring example of it is the lack of any kind of sex or physical contact between them. True Blood is very free with displaying sex and nudity and it’s a very sexually charged show. In this series we've seen Sookie, Jason, Alcide, Eric, Bill and Sam naked. We have seen Sookie straddle Bill repeatedly, Jason spent pretty much the entire first season naked and having sex from numerous angles – and I'm sure we all remember Eric's bondage session in the basement (I know I do). Sex and nudity is extremely common on this show. But not just sex and sexuality, couples, coupling, kissing, intimacy – it's there.

Now look at Lafayette and Jesus. They have yet to share even a serious kiss. Most of the time they don't even touch. Even Arlene, Terry and Andy Bellefleur have all had more action than Lafayette and Jesus. Contrast that with Tara and Naomi - we have gratuitous sex displayed instantly with the same-sex female couple (almost before we knew Naomi's name or any kind of relationship was established). We rarely see them together in a scene when they are NOT kissing, having sex and happily naked – happily pandering to to the straight male gaze.

Someone coming to this season without seeing the previous seasons would be forgiven for thinking they were friends or room-mates. There’s no sense of them actually having any kind of relationship, it’s rare you see anything from either of them that indicates they have anything other than a platonic friendship - even less! Friends generally have a greater sense of connection between them than this supposedly year-old couple. Even beyond the physical distance, there’s just no rapport between them. No pet names, no internal references, no in-jokes, no body language communication - there’s no connection between them, no sense of unspoken understanding. Where’s the eye-contact? Where’s the facial expressions that communicate a whole conversation? Where is the connection, the relationship, the sense that they are actually a couple. Look at Arlene & Terry - they look at each other, they are connected, they react together, the communicate non-verbally, they seek closeness together. Even Sookie and Eric/Bill communicate a lot with eye contact - in fact that was a major part of the conclusion of the last episode when Sookie made dramatic eye-contact with the vampires. And this is very glaringly missing from Lafayette and Jesus’ relationship, beyond the physical distance and lack of intimacy.


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And there is a predictable response. No, not happiness from gay people – nope, the “what does it matter?” “what's all the fuss?” “why is it necessary?” from the straight folks (and believe me, that's among some of the better responses.)

And I sigh, I really do.

Because it matters do damn much. I am tired tired tired of nearly all the media I consume. 3 quarters of the reviews I write on Fangs for the Fantasy include the words “and there were no GBLT characters. Again” and the few inclusions I do find generally leave me wishing that they hadn't.

And y'know in many ways I find erased computer games even more annoying than other erased media, especially in a game that has story content. Let's have some immersive escapism! Sure, so long as that involves escaping as a straight person.

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Now there has been some talk about trying to get Bert and Ernie married on the muppets. On the whole I don't think it's ideal – I'd much rather have fresh, new GBLT characters created who are GBLT, rather than some hasty retconning of previously straight characters for obvious inclusion cookie-ness (and it would be retconning since the people who make the muppets have always leaped up and down desperately screaming that there's no gay here – oh no, nononononononono)

But rather than address that, I'm going to look at the response because this is another of my side-eyes to people who can suspend disbelief amazingly to encompass any fiction. Let's have a look at it:

"Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics...they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation."

How silly are we? They're muppets! Of course they don't have sexual orientation! They're not people, they're not alive – they're puppets!

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I have learned a lot over the years. A lot about me, a lot about what I should and shouldn't do. A lot about what I can do, what I should do, what I should aim for – what I can aim for. I have learned about who I am, what that means and how I should interact with society. I have learned how I should expect to be treated, what I owe the world, how I should behave and what I should expect.

I've learned an enormous amount.

And it has been a long, ongoing work to unlearn it all. Because it's bullshit. No, it's great steaming elephant turds.

I had to unlearn that being gay was an affliction, that I need to apologise for it, that I need to protect other people from it and that if they were uncomfortable or angered by me, it was my fault.

I had to unlearn that I could actually live. That it's not written in stone that I would die young. I had to relearn hope.

I had to unlearn hatred. I had to learn not to hate myself, not to go to bed cursing what I was, raging at being cursed. I had to learn to be angry with the right people.

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Tropes. Those lovely repeated little clichés we see in books, television and media in general over and over again. I won't say all tropes are bad – but when it comes to marginalised people, tropes have a specially unpleasant taste.

It comes down to the single story.

Marginalised people are not portrayed as broadly as dominant people. We don't have the same breadth and depth of stories told about us. Rather than a million paths and possibilities being laid out, the few portrayals that include us (and sheer lack of portrayals is one of the main problems with marginalised tropes. You can't show a plethora of stories if you're not going to show our stories at all) tend to walk down the same paths, follow the same roads, and repeat the same tropes, the same stereotypes and the same tired portrayals. It only hurts more when these tropes are insulting, offensive or are built on real world isms.

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So after Brian Sewell was... well, Brian Sewell in the Daily Mail (being very typically the Daily Mail), several cast members of Corrie, past and present, have leaped forward to add their own prejudiced rantings about the terribad scourge of GBLT people ruining their precious soap!

Don't we see how horrible this is? I mean, with these 3 couples and 1 transgendered person then straight, cis people only outnumber GBLT people about, oh, 20:1. How can they DEAL with being so menaced by being anything less than 99% of the cast? Don't we see how hard this can be for them?

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So Brian Sewell has penned one of the vilest pieces of homophobia I've seen for a while. The only reason it isn't eye gouging is because it's in the Daily Mail (this link is not to the Mail because I don't want to give them hits but contains the text of his screed) and after the amount of homophobic bigotry that vile rag produces

Let us have a look at this vileness. The most basic complaint is there are just too many GBLT characters on Coronation street and Eastenders. Don't you know that GBLT people only make up the teeeniest fraction of the population?

Pfft, I think if demographically we were ACCURATELY represented in soaps then there'd need to be a damn site more of us. And large urban centres – especially London and Manchester – tend to have even more of us (because so much of rural England is full of, well, Daily Mail readers). In fact, to make up of historical erasure as well, you might want to move straight, cis people off the soaps entirely. There are an immense number of characters on these soaps – of course there need to be GBLT people and not just one token sitting in a corner whimpering “mea culpa” to the echoes of Sewell's own self-hatred. Having GBLT characters isn't because these cities are “Sodoms” (and we can have another slap around the head for that one) but because we actually EXIST. Much as Brian and the Daily Mail may hate that

And why is there so much of this gayness in these soaps according to Brian? Why, gay writers advancing the “gay agenda.” My gods, the GAY AGENDA! It raises it's head again! The evil maniacal scheme to, to... to? Oh yes, be treated like people. Curse that wretched agenda – you mean we're not shameful little dirty secrets to be shoved in closets and hidden in dark corners? How dare we?


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