Should I use the LGBTQ+ Tag?

[CytricAcid]

I see the lgbtq tag for a more inclusive and/or written by actual lgbtq people, for lgbtq people type comics. it doesnt preclude romance, but i feel its a catchall term for comics that deal with lgbtq themes.

[HippieGhost]

I second most of these suggestions. Your work may not focus heavily on being LGBTQ+ but it's still an LGBTQ+ work, and as it evolves you may find that those themes will grow only more prevalent.

Case in point: I have fantasy marked as my primary genre and LGBT+ as my secondary, but of my 4 short stories out so far, 2 of them ended up having LGBT themes as their focus, with one ending up being about a person discovering she's transgender, and the other featuring a character who is very obviously thirsty for her lady mercenary. On top of that a third features a nonbinary MC, and that's when I included the tag since they were my first clear showing of a non-cis character.

Basically what I'm saying is that I had the same question about my work, but the longer it goes on the gayer it gets. My next story might depart from that a bit, but all it takes is my one character to decide that she's thirsty for someone to change that too.

[Iris-Grimoire]

Lots of good points on the work itself, but here's a pratical reason to put LGBT+ first - secondary tags don't work unless people search for them, just like work tags. For now, it'll only appear on the first genre you have set - so if you keep Romance or Fantasy, you might get buried at the start.

Personally, I switched to LGBT+ exactly because of that - my story is character-focused and that doesn't show much through a cover in the middle of tons of similar works. The characters' identities aren't as overt as most stories there, but it's still a fundamental part of most of the cast, so it still belongs AND someone will click to go "yeah, I would like to read a fantasy story with those themes" rather than fighting the uphill battle the other way around.

[vothnthorvaldson]

Ah yes, the question I'm asking myself since years..
Still no definitive answer, but I went for the pros/cons strategy, and see how the proportion of pros vs cons evolves as my story advances. This is for the case of Tapas or any other case where I can change category/tag as I go.

Pro putting my story in the LGBT category

• Most of my cast is LGBT

• I am a LGBT creator and it apparently shows in my work even when LGBT themes are not involved (for eg. I am NB and also have difficulties perceiving other people's genders, thus my characters are (apparently? I can't see it myself) gendered in an 'unusual' way, which make some people hesitate on their gender; and I also had some NB people guessing I was NB without me telling them, only from my comic).

• There are two chapters speaking mainly and directly of LGBT related themes.

• I personally love reading about LGBT characters in genres others than romance or entirely LGBT-themed stories. This is something that I missed enormously growing up, and I think it is a shame if it exists but cannot be easily found because it is not tagged so, and thus get lost into all the other material.

• It is useful as a warning. I don't give a shit about homophobes, but I care about people whose families, environment etc is a threat. I had to warn a few real life friends about the existence of LGBT themes in my work so they could read it when they are alone and safe. So, I feel the need to do the same with anonymous readers.

Cons about putting my story in the LGBT category

• Although my cast is mainly LGBT, it's not really something that is important for most of the story.

• Only about 1 chapter out of 5/6 has significant LGBT material. It may be disappointing for someone who would read my story mostly for that.

• The first clear allusions to LGBT content come pretty late in the story.

• Despite my feelings about the need to warn people as explained earlier, it is still very difficult for me to warn people about what I am. It is very, very uncomfortable, and much more difficult when it comes to strangers (much more difficult than to tell my IRL friend with the homophobic mother that there will be LGBT content and please read it in your room).

So first I only put a LGBT tag, because I thought it was a good way to give people more info if they wanted it. Maybe not for actually searching the tag, but for informing on content the person who would be about to start reading.

When the multiple category came, I put LGBT as a secondary one, same idea, as extra info. But I did not think putting it as main category was fair, because I felt it was going to disappoint people specifically looking for LGBT content.

HOWEVER! When I will be publishing a later chapter, that focuses almost entirely on the teen years and early adulthood of a trans character, I will switch to LGBT as a main category. Because I think this chapter will be exactly what kind of relevant content should be found under a LGBT category, and also that chapter is possible to be read alone, so someone who would only be interested in this section could find it (and hopefully read the rest too, but this is their choice).

So, in conclusion my strategy is balancing pros and cons and not hesitate to change my categories when I feel it makes sense to do so.

[cortezlord96]

No problem! Keep your head up and don't let the negative voices get in your head.

[cortezlord96]

Be careful that when switching your genre, cause it MIGHT tank your views, cause of the audience that search in that genre. I went from fantasy to action and I lost 90% of my views, from 100 to MAYBE 10.

[vothnthorvaldson]

Rhha, I'm sorry that happened to you
I did not have problems when changing back and forth between drama and fantasy, but my comic is really small and most readers are people I know.. so I could not really get a good idea of the potential issue..

[ratscout]

I dunno. XD I always struggle with stuff like this. I have a feeling that if you put it in romance, people might be a little put-off if there's suddenly LGBTQ stuff in there, but by the same token, people who are looking for LGBTQ might be put-off if there's not enough LGBTQ stuff in it? Topics like these are always so eggshell-y, haha.

[rajillustration]

So I had a similar problem where my main character is Bi--he just doesn't really call himself that because he mostly likes women--so initially, I did tag it as LGBTQ+ (not on tapas, but in other places) but then I realized...rather quickly...that I'm writing a fantasy, mostly about him trying not to die all the time, and the expectation for the LGBTQ+ tag isn't just to have people who fall into that range, but to discuss the lifestyle at length...otherwise like 85% of webcomics would be LGBTQ+, lets be real.

but since I wanted him to be a character that doesn't know if he's allowed to identify as really anything: bi, or racially, or as family, he doesn't actually say what he is outright. (it may come as a little surprise to the readers who haven't been paying attention (not that we've had any chance to figure it out because in this story, there's no one for him to date and as an author I've been low key worried about how to stick it in there without it feeling forced now that we're in the fantasy groove).) But, I based his personality on people I know who are bi, who aren't like 50/50 dating men and women, but tended to lean mostly one way. Since he goes for girls most of the time, people either don't know this about him or just don't care.

So I don't label it with that tag, once it was made available, because it just doesn't consume his thoughts which are mostly consumed by other angst. His romance stuff--which contains like half a chapter--comes soooo much later that it's like...if I labelled LGTB+ people would be wondering where it is. I don't think that chapter has even come out yet. It's like how Dumbledore was revealed to be gay like after the books came out, you do have to show a certain amount in the text or people would be like "sorry, doesn't count."

[tiredpigeon]

I didn't know the MC was NB- I'm sorry! I didn't mean to misgender him, I know that sucks.

I know that when I go looking for things in the LGBTQ tag, I look for queer romance- I can't speak for other people though. That's why I said what I said before, not knowing the MC was NB-

I'm super sorry about that- I didn't intend to misgender him.

[tiredpigeon]

@cortezlord96 @Freemints30 I wasn't trying to say any of that-... I should have worded it differently. I'm sorry if what I said offended you in any way.

[ameliori]

It seems that there are a number of us that have the same worries!

I'll tell you my current decision, in case it helps anyone else struggling with this. I decided to make my main genre "Drama" instead, LGBTQ+ second, and Romance third. I also added an lgbtq tag, a romance tag and a mythology tag. I haven't used tags before, but one look at the collection of tags in the main page paints a very vivid picture of the story I'm going to tell, which is perfect for me.

I came to this conclusion by thinking as the reader. Like I said, when I click the Romance tag, there is heavy expectations of a particular format. There's a Female Lead. There's a Male lead. They fall in love. I'd like to think this is what people clicking a genre would expect. There is heavy romance elements in my comic, but it will not follow the Romance tag expectation, so taking it off as main genre seems like the right choice.

I put LGBTQ+ as the second tag, and since my first tag is NOT Romance, they can expect LGBTQ content, but not particularly romantic. This is exactly the vibe I'm looking for.

With this conclusion, I think my problem is solved. I'll give my thoughts to people who want to discuss further ie. having trouble with the LGBTQ content genre/tag.

Edit: I changed the Romance genre to Horror. But put a note in the summary that it will have Romance elements. It's too bad since I think "Supernatural" would fit my story better than "Horror", but there will be some dark stuff somewhere along the lines, and completely taking out the Romance from the main genres looks right, so there will be no expectations.

@ghostoast No worries! I really didn't judge your opinion. I thought you were thinking along the lines of "people looking for the LGBT tag will prefer more LGBT content therefore, better use the tag sparingly" which is totally understandable. That was my worry too.

[cortezlord96]

Na na na, you good. I wasn't offended. I just was trying to explain a way some people might feel. We good

[SpavVy]

I personally don't use it in either of the comics I work on because it's not really the focus especially in my main comic. If people want to get pissy once they find out their favorite character so happens to be whatever falls under the LGBT+ umbrella then that's their problem and not mine.

[MrTwennysebben]

I almost created this exact topic a couple weeks ago since I had the same question so this is actually a great thread for me! I'm in the same boat: comic includes LGBTQ+ characters but it's not the focus of the comic so I ultimately decided to leave the tag off. Thanks to everyone who shared their advice.

[Flug]

Tagging your sexual preferences only makes sense on a Tinder entry. Not in a story for a broad public. If my gay friend tells me a story about a relationship issue, he doesnt tag it either and I still can relate. Were both humans and have an idea of sexual desire - what more do we need to understand? Even though Im het, I love Satyricon and I even know girls who read Tom Sawyer, gasp!

[Iris-Grimoire]

Dude, LGBT+ isn't a sexual tag, what are you on about.

[Lady_T_Musings]

This is my approach too. I have characters that are on the LGBTQ+ spectrum (arguably most all of them to be honest) ,but as romance grow slow in my comic and happen along the way and the comic is more focused on relationship development than fully actualized romantic plots, I decided to tag it over put it as a subgenre. But Pan is totally a part of the LGBTQ+ spectrum!

[leopagefiore]

I've been stressing over this topic as well. I'm bisexual, and I'm writing a Tapas serial that includes some same-sex relationships, but that aspect feels secondary to the story. The main couple is a bisexual man and a heterosexual woman, and I worry if I use the LGBTQ+ tag, readers looking for LGBTQ+ content will be disappointed that the main couple is an opposite-sex relationship.

Also, I'm worried my book is not very good LGBTQ+ representation. It's an urban fantasy with horror elements, meaning I'm going to be killing off several characters, both straight and not-straight. In other words, I'll be (and I wish this trope name was worded differently) burying some of my g##s. Not all, but perhaps too many for some LGBTQ+ readers and ally readers.

Also also, the main couple will have a love triangle subplot up to Books 4 involving another bisexual man, and while this might be positive representation for the polyamory community (depending on how I choose to resolve the love triangle), some might see it as a perpetuation of the negative and inaccurate stereotype of bisexuals not being able to commit to a monogamous relationship.

I don't know. Anyone have some thoughts?

[miss.monocle]

I would say that you shouldn't be afraid to use LGBTQ+ tag. If you feel that it LGBTQ+ characters or themes play a role, which they seem to in the romance subplot, but aren't the main focus, you could have the LGBTQ+ tag be one of the two additional ones alongside the main genre tag.

I'd also say that your story's content would classify as LGBTQ+ content, even if it isn't the main focus! My comic is tagged as LGBTQ+ since it includes themes of queer life and involves LGBTQ+ romances. And just because the main relationship for your story is between a man and a woman, if that man is bisexual, then bam, that's an LGBTQ+ relationship. The beauty of the LGBTQ+ tag vs. the GL or BL tag is also that it gives room for queer stories and relationships that don't center on a same-sex/same-gender couple.

So in the end it's up to you, but don't feel discouraged about using the tag just because your story doesn't fit the classic LGBTQ+ story of a gay romance or coming out.