In the same vein as my 'Proper Characterization in Ships' post, as far as LGBT is concerned, I feel like I treat it similarly to my other preferences.
For instance, I'm not a fan of the color gray & don't think it's a good color, especially for things like walls or hair dye or such. Even still, just because I don't like it, it doesn't mean that when I walk into a room & see grey walls that I'm gonna pretend that those walls AREN'T grey because that'd be delusional.
Similarly, I might not agree with the LGBT lifestyle IRL, but I still acknowledge that they exist & refuse to try & take away their ability to choose what they want to do with their lives. I don't support anyone trying to push their views onto others. It's one thing to recommend things to someone & have a civilized debate about the merits of it, it's another thing entirely to harass & pressure them.
So, when I view a character, I will try to get a vibe off them & be like, "oh, I can see how people could think this chick is a lesbian" or "nah, dude, this guy has shown zero interest in other guys beyond friendship level; he's not gay as far as I can see."
Like, there has to be evidence for me to think a character is gay or trans or whatever, but if there is enough, then sure, I'm not gonna deny it!
However, because of this, I don't like it when other fans don't do the same because it feels like they just wanna be woke or are projecting their views or personal life experiences onto the characters & I think that's kinda dangerous.
Like, sure, in cases with the silent protagonist where there's not much characterization, then that's the perfect medium & you can go hog wild! That's what the silent protagonist is for: self insertion.
At the same time, in regards to the whole silent protagonist/self-insertion thing; don't tell other fans that they can't hc that a self-insert character can't be something.
Like with Frisk/Chara from Undertale. So many fans say that Frisk/Chara are non-binary & can only be non-binary because they use they/them pronouns, but didn't Toby specifically say that those pronouns were used so that the player can decide what they want them to be? I've seen a lot of fans absolutely ride a person's ass if they so much as insinuate that they consider them male or female. Stop that!! Frisk/Chara are self-insert characters, so if I think Frisk is female & that Chara is male, then that's what I think & there's nothing wrong with that because the creator said so!
Not only that, they will argue forever that Frisk can only be a child because of what Monster Kid said about stripes & the fact that Frisk is wearing stripes. But the thing is, that's a monster custom! In human customs, stripes mean nothing! Not to mention that it's such an arbitrary standard for gauging age! I get it for monsters because they are so ridiculously varied in shape & size & appearance. So, it makes somewhat sense for them, but humans don't have that problem! We can generally tell a person's age just by looking at them, no matter what they're wearing. Of course, there are some exceptions, but they are exceptions. You shouldn't treat everyone based on the exceptions to the rule!
At the same time, you should also take into account the environment, time period, technological advancements, creator's intent, & standard levels of bigotry within the world the character lives in.
For instance, before, I brought up how I don't believe Danny Phantom is trans, specifically, I don't think he's transmasc, & how Hartmen's words only cemented my beliefs.
Another example is Harry Potter. I honestly do not think that Harry is trans &, in fact, I think there's even more evidence of him not being trans than there is for Danny.
Let me explain. In the very first scene of the first movie, Mcgonagall says "And the boy?" regarding Harry. He was 1 year old! This makes it nearly impossible for him to be transmasc. The only way that he could possibly be transmasc would be if his parents had wanted a boy & instead of accepting that they had a daughter, decided to tell everyone that she was a boy, which is an utterly horrifying thing for parents to do to their child & should be illegal! I can only see him being transfem & even that I don’t see as being very likely!
Not to mention that, while the first instance of a binder was is 1920 & it's therefore possible to a certain degree; the Dursley's attitudes towards Harry & general bigotry, would make that practically impossible. Do you really think that they would support his transition, let alone spend actual money on a binder just so Harry could feel more comfortable in his own body?! They'd had him since he was 1 & even if they didn't change his diapers themselves, I imagine that anyone they hired to do so would've mentioned something. The Dursleys would know what his biological sex was & would've treated him as such. I doubt that he'd even have a concept of what trans is or even consider the idea that he may be something other than what he's always been treated as! It didn't even click inside his head that all the weird things that happened around him could've been magic until Hagrid told him directly that he was a wizard, where would he even get the idea that he could have gender dysphoria in that day & age?? It was the sort of thing you researched not heard of other than in the derogatory!
If Harry was trans, he'd HAVE to be transfem because it's, if not impossible, then at least very highly improbable for him to be transmasc given the evidence & the environment that he grew up in.
Then, even in fanfiction where he was trans, he'd have, logically, been famous in the wizarding world for an entire decade as being the gender he abandoned & considering the wizarding world's own unique brand of bigotry, do you really think that they'd embrace his decision?
So, no. I don't think J.K. Rowling was being a bigot when she said that Harry wasn't trans, because in the setting that she created for him, being transmasc was all but impossible. So, get off her ass & your head out of yours!
I'm just saying, if you're going to just arbitrarily make a character trans, even if it's a character that you created yourself, try to make it make sense as far as their environment is concerned!
Sure, in a modern American setting where everything has to be woke or it's broke, you could get away with it, but if not there, then depending on the place & time you DO decide to choose, the character could literally be slighted for execution!
I only got into comics recently. So at first I didn't really notice all the bad things that were happening to the batfam with characterization and... Other things. But now I'm starting to notice things like: where the fuck are Jason and Tim in the animated universe (yeah under the red hood but come on Jason just didn't appear in bad blood and no one can tell me that he wouldn't at least have contacted them to know where the fuck Bruce went)? And does Tim even have a personality? And why did they do the thing with steph and CASS. It's terrible. And I'm getting so desperate for there to be just one thing. And now I just want the cinematic universe to do it right. PLEASE
It is totally ok to base your characters off real people. Just remember to keep them in a sterile and secluded observation/containment cell for proper reference material because you donFUCKINGDAMMIT HE GOT OUT OF HIS ROOM HOW THE FUCK
[edit]: that sucker sure can run fast but it's ok i caught him it's all good now
