the LGB representation bingo card

[kindkit]

I've decided that the world needs a lesbian, gay, and bisexual¹ representation bingo card for all those oh-so-reasonable answers some people like to give when one asks why a particular text contains no characters who are identified as LGB. I'm probably not the first person to think of this, but a quick google didn't reveal an existing card except for a comics-specific one.

So, wanna help me brainstorm squares?

Ideas so far (mine and others'):

It's a children's/YA story.

It's not important to mention the characters' sexualities.

Lesbian/gay/bisexual people only make up X percent of the population, so statistically it makes sense that all the characters are straight.

The creator is at the start of their career and obviously can't risk including queer characters.

Wasn't that one character who had two lines in episode eight gay?

The author said Chracter Y is LGB but it just wasn't specifically mentioned.

It's set in [historical period or historical event] and there's no evidence of any queer people then (and if there was, they were all in the closet).

The creator is gay, why are you singling out their sexuality?

It contains [other minority group], why does it have to have queer people too?

The character is bisexual, they just happen to be attracted to the opposite sex for the whole of this canon.

Why do you have to make everything about sex?

The creator is straight, how can you expect them to write about something they haven't experienced?

It's fantasy! And this universe just doesn't have any queer people in.

There are queer people in my universe.. I just didn't think any of them were worth writing about.

In my universe, nobody cares about sexuality.

They'd just mess it up anyway.

It's about [common setting for situational homosexuality] so that would be stereotyping.

They're as good as dating already!

It just never came up!

The creator is gay, so I'm sure they know what they're doing.

We all know [Character X] and [Character Y] are doing it, anyway

Your contributions are encouraged!



¹I'm aware that the list does not cover the entirety of the queer spectrum. That is because I think the issues of visibility and inclusion around, for example, trans* or asexual characters are sufficiently different from those around LGB characters that one bingo card will not fit all. For that matter, there could probably be separate bingo cards for gay men, bisexual men, bisexual women, and lesbians, if someone wanted to make them.

Comments

[lilacsigil]

It's set in [historical period or historical event] and there's no evidence of any queer people then (and if there was, they were all in the closet).

The creator is gay, why are you singling out their sexuality?

It contains [other minority group], why does it have to have queer people too?

The character is bisexual, they just happen to be attracted to the opposite sex for the whole of this canon.

Why do you have to make everything about sex?

[sebastienne]

It's fantasy! And this universe just doesn't have any queer people in.

Or

There are queer people in my universe.. I just didn't think any of them were worth writing about.

Or

In my universe, nobody cares about sexuality

[lilacsigil]

A few more...

They'd just mess it up anyway.

It's about [common setting for situational homosexuality] so that would be stereotyping.

They're as good as dating already!

[chalcopyrite]

What about "If it's not specified, can't you just assign them whatever orientation you'd like?"

I came up with "It's not relevant to the plot," but that's basically your second point above.

"Why do you insist on having queer people in everything?"

And the non-specific but always good chestnut: "Aren't there more important things to worry about?"

[magnetic_pole]

Ah! Fun to see all these together.

It just never came up!

The creator is gay, so I'm sure they know what they're doing. [This might be more for shows where the representation is problematic rather than nonexistent...]

We all know [Character X] and [Character Y] are doing it, anyway.

[wisdomeagle]

Author didn't want to let politics/being PC get in the way of telling a good story!

Author's muse told them all the characters were straight. Cannot fight the muse!

Is very important to plot that everyone be straight because of the rules of the universe that author... made up.

[halotolerant]

It's a children's/YA story
Oh god yes this excuse *headdesks* I have seen it trotted out so so often. As if 'queer character' was the same as 'explicit sex' because QUEER IS DIRTY, or, tbh, I think the line is 'If you tell the kiddies there is queerness they might take it into their heads to be queer' which is depressingly fail on so, so many levels and basically exposes a very deep homophobia.

And the one about 'character is bisexual but happens to be attracted to opposite sex for now' is I find so much used for women in particular, because bisexual women are waiting for the right man (of course they are, all women are waiting for the right man! *headdesks moar*)

My contributions:

- If there were queer characters no one would buy it/if this possibly subtextually queer was explicitly outed no one would buy it so we're better off with a wink and nod

- There was that time there was a bodyswap and a same-sex kiss biologically happened although actually the person involved choosing to do the kissing was acting on a het attraction (see: most of Star Trek)

- There's already 'Queer as Folk', how many damn queer TV shows do you need?

- Queer people don't join the navy/army/starfleet/medical services/fire brigade so logically there wouldn't be any in this story

ALSO I think an honourable mention should go to anything where one character is mentioned to be canonically queer and then never dates ever, because ew...