Wednesday 4 May 2016
Indigo Tour: Guest Rawiya with Mocha Kisses and Coffee
Writing Gay Men of Color
Sharita Lira
Unfortunately, the media is filled with
stereotypes. How people perceive men of any color is a guy lacking emotion,
rough, most of the time an alpha with a bad attitude. Then there’s the gay man
who is sometimes portrayed as overly girly, weak, and more often than not, a
sex addict. In the early 2000’s we were blessed with Queer as Folk, showing beautiful gay men of all types, embracing their
sexuality, dealing with the same issues as straight couples trying to survive
in the modern era. As brilliant as QAF was, it was missing a key element. In my
opinion, a gay man of color who was also a main character would’ve added
something to the show.
Some time later, Noah’s Arc came along and I believed it only lasted two seasons. From
the couple of episodes I did see, it portrayed gay men of color in a positive
light. Seemingly, this series might not have been interesting enough to keep
running so it disappeared without a trace.
What about in fiction? These days we
have a wealth of colorful gay characters in many books. The question is how do
we write them? Do we draw on the stereotypes? Black and or Hispanic men who are
angry and always intense; Asian men who seem timid and weak. Those are just a
couple of examples. Do we need to add this to our books for them to seem real?
In my estimation we don’t. I often wondered why authors, whether it be books,
TV, and or movies can’t make a character, especially a gay male character of color, who doesn’t fit that mold. Sure, you
can add to the setting to make it more “real”; a young black man from a poorer
neighborhood. Perhaps his family hates that he’s gay and his friends don’t accept
him. Yes, that’s all the reality I need and let me say, not every black man comes from a background
like that. But with his attitude? Must he be overly angry at the world and
seething all the time? Well hell, he could be a goth boy or an intelligent
scholar, from a not so poor neighborhood. Perhaps he was the rich one and his
white counterpart the middle class working man.
What’s my point here? When I write a
gay man of color, I try to avoid the stereotypes unless it is a central part of
the plot. I feel people should be written as people, without pulling from the
so called mold.
Regardless of race or nationality or
orientation, we’re all human with unique traits and attitudes that make us
stand out from others. Characters should be treated in the same fashion.
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