This is a repost of a thread I posted over on my twitter account
My Original Tweet:
@straczynski Can you say one way or the other at this point whether we’ll get to see any explicitly queer characters this time?
Response from:
Ed C. Ex-cop. Linux-head. Day trader.
@n7ekg
Replying to @themollyjay and @straczynski
Why is that so important to you? Who gives a damn what race, sex, or sexual orientation a character is? Grow up and stop focusing on sex.
My Initial Response:
Molly
@themollyjay
Replying to @n7ekg and @straczynski
It’s easy for people who don’t wake up every day wondering which state will pass a law making it illegal for you to use public facilities or make it legal for some to refuse you health care. Representation matters. It changes minds and normalizes our existence. It saves lives.
The Follow Up Thread I wrote:
Let’s talk about this tweet? Let’s talk about the entitlement and privilege that’s showing here. I asked the creator of a new show I’m looking forward to if there was a chance we’d see explicitly queer characters in the show, and this guy jumped in with this response. 1/
Ed C. here is a Cis Gendered Heterosexual White Man. Someone who has never had his civil rights debated on the floor of the Senate. Never seen 29 states pass constitutional amendments stripping him of something as basic as the right to marry. 2/
He’s never been vilified, never been compared to a rapist or a pedophile just for existing. He doesn’t have people ask him how they are supposed to explain his existence to their kids. He doesn’t have to worry about being arrested for using a public bathroom 3/
He doesn’t have to check to see if it’s legal for a landlord to evict him for being gay or transgender before he rents an apartment. He doesn’t have to worry about being brutally murdered for the crime of existing. 4/
He’s never gone a single day without seeing himself reflected in multiple pieces of media. He’s never spent years of his life where the only time he sees himself reflected in TV or movies is as the butt of a joke, or as a crazy murderer. 5/
He’s never cried with joy at the news that one of his favorite shows is adding a character that represents him. He’s never watched an episode of TV with tears in his eyes because it’s telling a story that’s about someone like him. 6/
He’s never been shocked when a show he enjoys randomly turns into a bigoted nightmare half way through an episode. When that same show spends weeks making bigoted references to that episode. He’s never quit watching a show because of that bigotry 7/
He has the privilege not to care, because he can always find another show where there will be any number of characters that look like him, that come from the same background as him, that reflect the type of person he is. 8/
Ed can pretend not to care what damn race, sex or sexual orientation a character is, because he’s sure there will be Cis Het White Men in the show. He feels entitled to tell others what they should and shouldn’t care about because his need for representation is already met. 9/
He doesn’t understand what it’s like to live in a world where there’s only one character like you on broadcast television. To know that character and her show is going away in less than two months. He doesn’t know what it’s like to live on scraps, and be desperate for more. 10/
I’m tired. I am so very tired of people like Ed shouting us down when all we ask for is a seat at the table. I’m tired of being told that including characters who look like me will ruin the show. Of being told I shouldn’t care about representation. 11/
I’m tired of being told that it’s wrong to ask to have my existence acknowledged. I’m tired of being told that asking for crumbs is asking to much and that I should be content with nothing. 12/
I have the right to exist. I have the right to want to see myself reflected in art and media and pop culture. I have the right to want to see my existence not treated as some dirty, shameful thing. 13/
I will not be shouted down by privileged, entitled people who have never had their existence treated as a joke, or a source of disgust and shame. 14/
Yes I care what sex, what race, what sexual orientation, or what gender identity a character is. Because it matters. It matters to everyone who isn’t a White, Cis Gendered Heterosexual Man. Because it’s important, and shame on him for pretending it’s not. 15/15
[…] about the amount of privilege and entitlement that goes into making a comment like that, and I’ve cross posted it to my various social media outlets. You can read the thread […]