I know June's almost over (happy pride to my fellow queers <3) but I was asked to make a post abt the intersection of black characters & queer headcanoning so I hope y'all will hear me out abt this
I've been in fandoms for something like 16 yrs now, and while I think a lot of things have changed and some things have improved, the short of it is that fandom racism & our willingness to combat it always is in flux. The first step many fans take is acknowledgement, which is a start! They'll be more careful to include certain characters in group shots of fanart/fancomics. They'll make a mention of them in passing in a fanfic or headcanon post.
Where I think these fans fall short, is mistaking that acknowledgement for actual inclusion.
Because when the majority of a cast is white, all being headcanoned with various flavors of queer identity, and yet your only black character is mentioned briefly as "def a supportive ally :)" ... I always have to wonder... Is this a case of a fan who has simply not yet examined their biases, or a case of a fan who genuinely thinks it counts as inclusion & not as tokenism.
Because real inclusion in this case, must be equal. The characters of color in a group should be given the same amount of consideration as their white counterparts. Even if it's 'just for fun' or 'based on vibes' (excuses I have seen made over the years), that doesn't negate the fact that a character of color is being tokenized while the others are being celebrated. And as a fan of color, that's exhausting to see! Fandom should be an escape for everyone. But if real-world biases have not been examined, they WILL bleed over into the fandom space.
