On Tue, 22 Apr 1997, Hayesman wrote:

Y'know, I've realized something that kind of disturbs me.
I mean, alot of fics out there have lesbians or lesbianized characters in 
them, i.e. "Confessions".
I saw the "BGC lemon" and though, "Dang, never seen one of those before". 
 So I skimmed through it to find that it was a Lina on Nene fic.  Yeah, 
right.  Priss on Nene, maybe.  But Lina?  No way.  (BTW, that "let's do a 
59" line was about the funniest thing I've ever read.  Way to go 
Vermilion)

And I started to think: where do people get off (no pun intended) on 
writing all this stuff about lesbians?  Do you know any lesbians?  Are 
you lesbains?  What right have you to write about lesbians?

Note - I written a lesbian fic.  But going on the assumpsion I might, does
it really make a difference if I am a lesbian?  Seriously, making the
assumption that you have to be a lesbian or know some to write about them is
a terrible mistake.  I do, in fact, know quite a few homosexual/lesbian
people, and I can tell you one thing about them.  They are as unique and
varied individuals as any people I know.  Some act closer to the steroetypes
of gays, some act closer to the stereotyped heterosexual than most
heterosexuals, it is all a matter of personality.  
If asked, I am certain my homosexual freinds would for the most part agree
with me in saying, writing about a homosexual/lesbian is fine, as long as it
is not overly stereotyped and as long as it isn't said that this is how
*every* gay is.  It is like a white person writing about being black, or
vice versa.  You just go along with the personality and don't push too much
credance on one aspect of their life.  If we went along with the type of
assumptions you made, we couldn't write any fics at all, being that most of
us have no experience in what it is like being an Japanese, anime, sex
changing boygirl, with too much action in our lives.

I mean, I'm a writer of comics, and I like to write sex comedies/ 
romance, but I wouldn't feel right about writing about a homosexual or a 
homosexual relationship unless I did some research.  I'm sure we've all 
heard the line "everyone has at least a gay cousin"; well, I don't.  I'm 
the only person I know who doesn't directly know a homosexual individual. 
 That strangely makes me feel out of the loop.  

You know what they meant, right?  Most likely, you know a gay person.
Statistics (the real statistics, not that tabloid-news stuff) point to gays
as being 6% of the population.  Though not necessarily openly gay, this
doesn't exclude from the fact that you most likely know a gay person.

Me, personally?  I'm a lesbian trapped in a man's body.  Seriously, I'm a 
sensitive guy who likes girls and girl stuff.  And I look like John 
Balushi.

Huh?  Being sensitive and liking girl stuff are definately not hallmarks for
being a lesbian, and certainly looking like John Balushi isn't either.  It
isn't really possible for anybody to say how any group of people definately
is, it doesn't work like that.

Has anyone read "Gay comics"?  It's an anthology.  Good one too.

Nope, missed that one. Maybe I'll look it up.

Back to the topic, I think this is a serious point that needs discussion.
Any authors with experience or knowledge who would like to share with me 
would be very much appreciated.  I feel that such information will be 
vital for writers of the future because of the emminent greater 
acceptance of gays in entertainment.  Try naming a sitcom without a token 
gay character.

Married with Children, X-files, Star Trek Voyager, Deep Space NIne, ect.
I hope I did share something with you just in the knowledge that you can't
just know about all of them, they are all individual.  

Anyway, any experience or information, please contact me.  I'd rather 
discuss with my friends here than get caught browsing thought the "Gay 
and Lesbian Literature" sectionof Barnes and Nobles. (not that there is 
anything wrong with that)

Wow, I missed that part of Barnes and Nobles.  Sorry I couldn't send this
directly to you (and sorry for spamming guys), but I didn't get the original
message, just the response from Wade.

Wade Tritschler wrote:

So what right do I have to right about such a person, none other than the
fact that I had an idea.  Is that sufficient?  Well, as long as no one
takes my interpretation of a bisexual as a textbook example then it should
be. 

Exactly!  Don't take it too much as cannon.

But as always, this is only my point of veiw, feel free to argue against it.


                                        Josh