Icon by @ThatSpookyAgent. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. The X-Files. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
There’s a post going around with the sentiment of like ‘you can tell when a gay character is written by a gay person bc the stereotypes are the right ones” and people keep adding what the ‘right’ gay stereotypes are with things like ‘always getting iced coffee’ or ‘having enamel pins’ and honestly….
Honestly, on a more serious note, the number of times in the past few years someone who was assumed to be straight wrote a gay storyline and loads of people kept talking about how they wrote their gay characters in a straight way because they were straight only for the author to end up publicly coming out due to all the pressure should probably lead at least some people to reevaluate whether their ‘straightdar for authors based on how they write gay people’ is truly always accurate lmao.
Things I remember reading online that I wish I had screenshotted: Story of a trans guy, estranged from family, who got an invitation to his sister’s wedding, but their parents had specified that he’d better come in a dress or not come at all. But they hadn’t seen him in almost 7 years and didn’t know that not only was he on T and had surgeries, he’s a passionate weightlifter.
So if I remember right he sent the sister a heads-up beforehand and the sister was like “holy shit do it”, and he showed up in a pink, frilly dress, and sneakers. No makeup, jewellery or anything, just this bulky, hairy dude in a dress for no particular reason.
Their parents, naturally, still got mad despite of him following their exact, specific instructions in order to “not embarrass the family”, and after the wedding the sister made sure to pick as many photos of the wedding as possible with the brother visible in them, because it was now a funny family story of bringing the family together by pissing the shit out of their parents.
Rick Berman: Absolutely no same sex couples holding hands in the background. We could get angry letters.
DS9 Creatives: Okay
DS9 Creatives:
[Image: Worf gripping a chain leash that connects to a collar around Garak’s neck.]
For other moments of supreme queerness (well really just the ones I can’t forget lol) see also:
Lenara Khan and Jadzia Dax’s tragical romance
Garak introducing himself Like That and basically wrapping up the conversation with “So if you should desire full body sloppy At Any Time here’s my address” and putting his hands on Bashir’s shoulders (which. For Cardassians is a lot like putting your hands all over someone’s inner thighs, I presume)
See also like. Every other interaction between these two
The Looks that Kira and Cretak keep giving each other
Quark being Hagath’s sugar baby
Basically every other mirrorverse episode
And a shitload of background characters who get to just like. Exist casually and queerly (chief in my mind are Lt. Vilix'Pran, aka that guy who keeps getting pregnant and everyone keeps throwing him adorable baby showers, and like any mentions of cohusbands/wives. I remember Zim Brott has a couple kids, pictured here with him, and a wife and a husband). Oh also I forgot bc I hate him but Odo canonically doesn’t have a gender. Also it had to be confirmed outside of the show bc Berman is a dick, but Jadzia Dax is canonically pansexual and Garak is canonically omnisexual (and idk how long people have been saying Jadzia is pan, but Andy Robinson has literally been saying Garak is omni since the 90s, pretty sure like. While the show was running)
hot take. i think jokes that hate on rainbow clothing and accessories and kids getting purple undercuts and going to a GSA and going by names like “kai” or “zelda” aren’t funny. like… idk man maybe we should just let lgbt kids go through their “holy shit i’m gay/bi/trans and i’m gonna tell the world about it!!” phase? like it’s literally not harming them? especially the GSA thing. yes, GSAs can be toxic as is any school club environment but it’s better than them being completely isolated from the real world and only having an lgbt space online (which is clearly detrimental as evidenced by all you weirdos here). let them put flags and pronoun pins on their backpack, let them get a bad haircut, let them wear smelly dysphoria hoodies that make them comfortable, let them put on bad eyeliner and lipgloss. let gay and trans kids exist without being ridiculed for not being out of their coming out “honeymoon” phase. let them fall in love with being lgbt. it’s better than repressing it and hating themselves for years, isn’t it?
Having separate flags is good bcos it’s good to have a symbol for your particular identity to embrace but it also important to remember the rainbow flag unites us all. All LGBT+ people can use it. I feel like it’s somehow become assumed by a lot of younger lgbt+ people that it’s only fr gay men, which it isn’t and never has been
The rainbow flag when originally created by Gilbert Baker in 1978 actually contained 8 stripes that were assigned values and specific meanings that were meant to show what unites us and what we value as a community,
It took 30 people to hand dye AND hand stitch the first 2 pride flags- 30 people of various identities came together to create the first symbol of pride. Hot pink was removed due to fabric shortages and turquoise was mixed with indigo to have the darker blue we have today.
Having individual flags is great to show your identity but I think we shouldn’t forget that the rainbow flag isn’t reserved for gay men, it was created to show what we all have in common regardless of identity.
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I honestly want to see more love to people who’s gender/orientation is something along the lines of “I don’t really know, and I don’t really think I ever will”
Sometimes it’s just more comfortable to not have any label, not because you can’t find one that fits but because you just don’t feel the need to find one
For some people it’s “I know my sexuality but I don’t feel like figuring out my gender” and that’s okay! That’s great!
Other times it can be “I know my gender, but I don’t know about my sexuality” and that’s great too!
For people who are on the ace/aro spectrums, it’s also great to have romantic orientation figured out but not sexual (and the other way around)!
This also includes people who use broad terms to describe themselves because it makes them feel more comfortable “I’m trans, but I don’t have a specific label” amazing! “I’m queer, because that’s my identity” also amazing!
You don’t ever have to figure out your identity if you don’t want to. It’s your life and your experience, live it the way you want!
