Writers/artists with majority LGBTQ casts: Which do you prefer?

In terms or creating, I usually prefer for things to have been normalized, but I don't always stick to that. It depends on what my setting is. A fantasy novel, yeah for sure. If there can be werewolves then there can be a world that has zero cares about each other's sexuality. Set in USA in the 1950's... It's a little harder to just ignore and have everything be normalized. Also sometimes you just want to write about the discrimination aspect of a love story.

In terms of reading, I usually lean to reading more novels that contain more realistic representations discriminations. I enjoy reading about people coming together despite the odds being stacked against them

I didn't select an option because my choice would be both

I like both themes, but I feel more affected by stories that show cast overcoming hardships/discrimination in unaccepting societies.

Would much rather see media and make media where it's normalized.

Even in instances where it's addressed well it just feels like something that appears often at least in mainstream and I just want to see queer folk living in peace and if there is conflict it's got nothing to do with their identity (like you mentioned in SPOP). Plus like there's more than enough discrimination present irl so to go and watch/read something that also has it is just...tiring

A cool example of how to do both well is The Penumbra Podcast (an audio drama) They have two stories they go back and forth between, Juno Steel, which takes place far in the future and characters are just queer and discrimination based on that isn't a thing anymore, and then theres the Second Citadel, which is their issue tackler.

Make it normalized. Because it's high time for that.

We're past the point in society too, and I'm sick and tired of seeing minorities in the 'hardship' role. Let them shine for crying out loud, people are more than the assumed trauma.

I'd love it to be normalized- A lot of the time, I do go to the media for comfort. I'd still like it to be a little more realistic. I always try to normalize it when I write, though. Mainly just because I don't know who's reading it and what they're going through.

I try to stay away from LGBTQ+ things in shows if I can- no doubt it's gonna make me sad or my mom is gonna walk in on me when the MC is coming into their sexuality and making out with someone and be like "wtf is this- oh i know a browser history search warrant"

Unless it's a historical piece, I prefer as much normalization as possible. I don't care for discrimination at all in fantasy/sci-fi these days, generally, but even the real world at this point would be better off if we just ignored the bad stuff and focused on the actual relationships in these large LGBTQ+ casts. It's not "realistic," but hey.

To be fair, there is a lot of stuff in the real world with LGBTQ communities that is really important; those overlooked histories that the media rarely portrays are absolutely vital to giving a voice to those voiceless people in the past, many of whom are perfectly alive today. The AIDS crisis in the 80s, for example, is an absolutely harrowing event that has brand-new emotional significance in our post-2020 era. As tragic as those stories are and against my normal reader habits, I'll never get sick of AIDS stories, as long as they are told by people who lived in that time or at least studied it significantly (and that's about the same for all historical LGBTQ stories).

I can't really answer one way or the other because there's a lot of nuance.

I think that "done well" can only truly be done by people who are themselves LGBTQIA+, because when cishet creators attempt it, no matter how hard they try and how much they research, it always becomes some unrealistic feeling combination of misery porn, inspiration porn and self-congratulatory patting on the back of both themselves and the "enlightened" audience. I think that's because the "oppression" angle seems to be particularly fascinating to cishet creators, especially if they're white and middle class, because oh boy, you can live out all your emo fantasies about being oppressed while having a white middle class protagonist like you and have boy on boy or girl on girl action!? Hot damn!

Because of this, I'm just really tired of the tropes of LGBTQIA+ oppression in mainstream media. Every damn movie about lesbians for a while was set in the 20th century and had a sad ending so the audience could be all sanctimonious like "thank goodness nowadays there are good people like me who accept lesbians!" while they enjoy the gratuitous and hilariously unrealistic lesbian sex scenes... (if you believe cishet dude film makers, sex for us is just kinda... rubbing against each other sensually while making sure to be positioned so a hypothetical onlooker can see our boobs...).

Like a lot of LGBTQIA+ creators, I mostly just want media to treat us like we're normal, and like we can be involved in conflicts that aren't in any way related to our sexuality or gender identity. Sure, I'm open to stuff like Magical Boy or Gender Slices, which actually really did help me understand trans identity and how it must feel to be trans, but a lot of my trans friends find Magical Boy hard to read because the scenes of transphobia and dysphoria are intense and quite triggering. Sometimes though, I just want to see people like me go on an adventure where the stakes are "Oh crap! The evil dragon king has awakened! We must save the princess!" and nobody has to deal with like... I dunno, the evil Dragon King being a homophobe. Sometimes an evil dragon can just be evil and oppose the heroes because he wants to destroy the city or whatever, and the lesbian hero can just be a hero because she's brave and has a cool sword. Stuff like "To Knight the Faithless" is really cool for that.

Sometimes you just want a break from being reminded that you're "othered" by society, or fetishised, or exploited for drama, you know?

Both can be interesting.

As a reader, I like to read both types, depending on my mood and/or on the main genre of the story.

As a creator I generally go somewhere in the middle, as it is what I experienced in my life (ie. Depending on where I lived geographically, what circle we are speaking of (friends, family, work, random strangers), I experienced either discrimination or full normalization; so I tend to write it like that too. I think a story can speak of discrimination to a certain extent without being a grave and depressing story, and a uplifting story mainly showing normalization of queer relationships does not have to avoid these topics entirely.
And vice versa.

Well this is reflecting awkwardly on me

I prefer it to be normalized with maybe small mentions of discrimination.

When discrimination is the major plot point, it can sometimes be way too depressing and just not pleasant to read. I am sort of sick of transgender people having to suffer throughout the whole story.

While I don't mind media containing content focused on discrimination toward gender and sexuality, I much prefer seeing it normalized. Some content does handle discrimination very well and it's good to show that rather than pretend it never existed. But personally, I tend to see a trend when it comes to stories in particular written about sexuality discrimination. It almost follows a pattern (not in all stories of course) in quite a few that I've read both on here, Wattpad, and published.

Personally, I think both should exist, but if I have to choose one, then normalised because if I wanted to see discrimination I'd just look around lol.

I prefer stories that highlight normalization, but in the scope of showing that discrimination is reprehensible and should call for those things to be normalized. A lot of people read as a form of escapism, so seeing a lot of what they face everyday can be a bit much, but seeing characters striving despite adversity can be inspiring. Also, little victories over bigotry are profound.

I'm obviously in the minority here, but as a lesbian myself I vastly prefer media where the existence of homophobia is acknowledged and addressed. It doesn't have to be the primary focus of the work or even a major theme necessarily, but world that are completely free of any discrimination feel.. fake and unrelatable to me.

I'm interested in reading about people I relate to and experiences that I can relate to. I do not live in a world that's completely free of homophobia. To some extent, my lived experience of being homosexual is defined by the knowledge that it is not the norm in the world and there is discrimination that exists. Worlds where homosexuality is 100% completely normalized feel like they're erasing that aspect of my own existence and experiences, and ironically they feel... alienating to me. Or condescending, even. I don't like feeling like I'm being talked down to.

Even in terms of escapism, the sort of power fantasy of seeing people overcome discrimination does a lot more for me emotionally than just seeing worlds where discrimination doesn't exist at all.

I'm not saying other people are wrong for enjoying what they enjoy, but I just strongly prefer realism and emotional honesty regarding things like this, even in speculative fiction contexts.

It was only me for a while there, I was like “Did I read this wrong”?

like both equally, and I think there's a time and a place for each. I think there needs to be a lot more media that normalizes LGBTQ casts, and shows them in a happy, healthy environment, but I also think there's a lot to be said for those who try to address the issues at hand.

That said, done "well" is hard to achieve for addressing LGBT issues. Often they try to use the woke language without the nuance and without addressing the power structures that allow discrimination to happen (or encourage it!). this often results in an empty "feel-good story" about overcoming it through kindness or empathy, or misery porn like mentioned above. I'd much rather see the systemic injustices addressed and called out if they're going to go down that route. Otherwise, give me my lesbian romance and my feel-good transition stories, please.