The secret to good writing is often to use our own experience and knowledge. So it is no suprise that queer writers often include characters or specific storylines that represent the challenges of many people within the LGBTQIA community. In my case, I didn’t necessarily start out with characters that were obviously queer but there was probably always an ambigouty or desire to question hetreonormative stereotypes. It is perhaps no suprise that the decision to embrace my own gender identity and sexuality has made me a better writer, as only once we embrace the complexities of our own life can we truly understand how to replicate this on paper. However, sharing queer stories is more than just an opportunity for many of us to express different ideas but serves a vital role in building acceptance and supporting the overall community.
LGBTQIA specific writing
Obviously, queer fiction and memior focus on sharing specific stories relating to different LGBTQIA communities. Whether these are focused on coming out or growing up queer these are extremely varied and full of different challenges since no journey is ever really the same. In my own experience, so many of these stories help us validate and understand our own journeys. In my case, reading trans memiors was especially important throughout my first year after I came out. It both helped me understand my experiences but also educated me a lot about some of the issues facing the trans community.
Perhaps the limitations of LGBTQIA literature to support others and influence change is that as a specific genre, people need to actively seek out these stories. It means that realistically, our audience as queer writers are those that already identify as part of the community, established allies, or perhaps family. It also means that the LGBTQIA section of the library or bookshop often has that all to familiar stigma that might prevent, especially young people, picking up a book that just might make a world of difference. Now, successfully books like Heartstopper definitely manage to get mainstream attention. However, as a teacher, I still don’t see many boys willing to pull it off the shelf and read it during class. The prevalence of adaptations on streaming services thankfully cut through some of this stigma but are only going to focus on those stories that have a broader appeal like Heartstopper as a teen drama. It is the ongoing challenge to build visibility and acceptance within a society corrupted by bigotry.
Inclusion of queer storylines
In some ways, the inclusion of specific storylines in other genres of writing can be more powerful. The distinction here is that a specific LGBTQIA narrative may be included as a sub-plot or through a specific character rather than the main focus of the piece. In this way, there is a potential for queer stories to reach a larger audience and are more accessible. As a result, there is a greater potential for those unsure about themselves or struggling with things to see themselves reflected in characters. This is the true power of including LGBTQIA characters as young people, especially, can make connections and validate their own experiences. A major issue for many of us that grew up in the 90s and earlier is that we lacked these representations, which made it harder to understand ourselves. Not only did we lack positive representations that voiced our feelings but also found negative stereotypes instead. Thankfully, we have come a long way. However, as Disney’s decision to remove the Trans Storyline for ‘Win or Lose’ demonstrates, this representation can often be silenced or removed.
These storylines are also excellent for educating the wider community as more people are exposed. The inclusion of Mackenzie Hargreaves in the Australian Soap ‘Neighbours’ played by Georgie Stone is a perfect example. One of the two classic soaps ‘Neighbours’ has a significant place in Australian identity. With many of us watching it growing up before streaming platforms, it even found a following overseas. Therefore, with mainstream appeal, the decision to include a Trans girl as she completes high school and falls in love is a huge commitment. The structure of these soaps means that over the course of her time on ‘Neighbours’, the show was able to explore bathroom discrimination, surgery, and parental relationships, which are common issues affecting the community. It perhaps isn’t the most complex depiction, but it is a starting point to introduce things to a broad audience. ‘Neighbours’ for all its flaws and, at times, overly comic drama has a history of representing LGBTQIA storylines with same sex couples, bisexual characters and surrogacy all being represented in the last decade. This is an extreme example, but I know that if I had a Mackenzie Hargreaves when I was in my young teens, maybe things may have been a bit different.
In addition, the representation of LGBTQIA storylines alongside other plots and focusses does go a step towards normalising our identity. It is a frustrating thing to think that normal human behaviour needs to be normalised within society, but this is our situation due to a few millennium of enforcing cis hetreonormative and persecution. It means that many people haven’t been exposed to LGBTQIA lifestyles or people and find it confronting, which is at the core of so much bigotry. Therefore, representation on mainstream media or books helps these people become aware and more comfortable with the LGBTQIA population. The problem is that these characters are very much a deliberate inclusion and often stand out, which draws a level of rejection from conservatives. However, it definitely has gone a long way to normalising trans identities over the last 20 years. The exact thing conservatives fear and are now desperate to attack, through bans, legislation, and pressure on produces.
The background
An area that is really forgotten and possibly the most important is when LGBTQIA characters just fade into the background. In these instances, they may not even be important characters, but the fact they are gay or trans is never a topic of discussion. Instead, there sexuality or gender identity is just so accepted that it is a non-issue and not worth of comment. This represents an ideal society that we would like to see where nothing matters, but it highlights this idea of it all being a ‘normal’ part of human experience. In many ways, it has been the process of normalising changing trends in heterosexual relationships through advertising, film, and literature. It is in so many ways how our society has reinforced stereotypes and behaviour for a long time. The effectiveness comes from the subtle and the simple fact that people don’t realise they are being conditioned to accept certain values. The struggle for our community is it is hard to fight dominant viewpoints through such subtlety. However, it definitely doesn’t mean we stop trying.
As a writer, I am therefore encouraged to continue breathing life into some of our stories as it can have such an important impact on individuals and our community as a whole.
Subscribe to read my long listed LGBTQIA short story, An Inconsistent Line
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