Pride Month Picks - There Is No Such Thing As Perfect Queer Representation

thegamer.com:

This article is part of Pride Month Picks, a collection of pieces that aim to highlight queer representation across games, television, film, books, and more throughout June.

Representation isn’t a linear path. We will move forward, stumble backward, and remain in place as time passes and queer storytelling becomes more widespread. In recent years we’ve made massive strides, with entire stories built around LGBTQ+ identities that aren’t afraid to express themselves and depict people, worlds, themes, and situations we can proudly see ourselves in.

As a non-binary demisexual trans woman I’ve never felt happier that I can turn to the majority of mediums and find narrative themes and nuanced characters designed to represent the queer experience and do away with heteronormative attitudes that have been the norm for far too long. We obviously still have a long way to go.

Related: Leaving Genshin Impact Behind Was The Best Decision I Ever Made

Romances are edited out of major blockbusters to cater to international audiences while representation is still met with hostile attitudes and bigotry online. Go woke, go broke is used as a cudgel against representation, but diversity is ignored when it leads to mammoth successes. They claim we’re trying to push an agenda instead of just stating that people like us exist and we deserve to be seen, heard, and loved just like everybody else. It’s not much to ask.

Queer communities can also become toxic places, with unfair gatekeeping being placed upon how you need to look, act, or feel in order to be considered LGBTQ+ and have your validity confirmed by fools who are putting up pointless barriers in a space where we are all fighting for the same equality. Trans men or women entering