Promotion Fest: GLBTQI characters

[dark_administrator]

To launch our celebration of characters with intersectional identities, let’s talk about characters who reflect the wide range of sexualities and genders found among chromatic people. We’d like to highlight chromatic characters who are explicitly identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer and intersexed, as well as encourage interpretations of chromatic characters whose sexuality and gender remain uncoded that resist the assumption that being straight and cis is default.

In particular, we’d like to emphasize that intersectionality does not mean with orthogonality: for the GLBTQI people of color, their chromatic identities can closely interact with their sexual or gender identities, and the two cannot simply be taken separately. The oppressions they face are often both racialized and homophobic/transphobic/queerphobic, and issues facing their communities may be different from the issues that are the face of the mainstream gay rights movement in the white Western world.

We’d also like to consider how chromatic cultures have different frameworks for understanding sexuality and gender: different languages may have their own words for describing sexuality and gender, and there may be cultural roles for people with GLBTQI-analogous identities, such as the Hijra in India or the Two-Spirit among First Nations. Furthermore, most non-Western chromatic cultures have their own queer histories, which have frequently been erased through colonialism and imperialism, and we would like to encourage participants to research such histories while creating fanworks for chromatic GLBTQI characters.

Starting Points

• More than 50 books by Queer People of Color compiled by zahrawithaz
  
• GLBT tag at Racialicious
  
• Sisters in the Life: Stories
  
• Behind the Mask: The Voice of Africa’s LGBTI Community
  
• Utopia: Asian Gay and Lesbian Resources
  
• Gay Middle East

Brainstorming

Here are some chromatic GLBTQI characters that we think would be great nominations for Kaleidoscope:

• Antique Bakery (manga, anime and Japanese drama), Seoyang'goldong'yang'gwajajeom Antique | Antique (Korean film adaptation): Ono Yusuke (Min Seon-wu in Korean film)
  
• Aoi Hana (anime and manga): all characters
  
• Chūn guāng zhà xiè | Happy Together (Hong Kong film): Ho Po-wing and Lai Yiu-Fai
  
• Fire (Indian Hindi film): Radha and Sita
  
• Hourou Musuko (anime and manga): Nitori Shuuichi, Takatsuki Yoshino, Makoto Ariga, Yoshida Yuki
  
• Insaeng-eun Areumdawo | Life is Beautiful (Korean drama): Yang Tae-seob, Gyeong-soo
  
• Kari (Indian graphic novel): Kari and Ruth
  
• Onir (Indian filmmaker): filmography, especially My Brother... Nikhil (Nikhil Kapoor and Nigel De Costa) and I Am (Jai and Abhimanyu)
  
• Saving Face (Chinese-American film): Wilhelmina Pang and Vivian Shing
  
• Wang-ui Namja | The King and the Clown (Korean film): Gong-gil and Jang-saeng

Suggestions from commenters:

• dorothean recommends Yellow Peril (Asian-American webcomic): Lance Li
  
• ceares recommends Shamim Sarif (South African writer and filmmaker): I Can't Think Straight (Tala and Leyla) and The World Unseen (Miriam and Amina)
  
• ceares recommends Xǐyàn | The Wedding Banquet (Taiwanese-American film): Gao Wai-tung
  
• snowynight recommends Rice Rhapsody (Hong Kong/Singaporean film): Daniel, Harry and Leo
  
• svollga recommends Noah's Arc (African-American TV show): all characters
  
• gloss recommends Cì Qīng | Spider Lilies (Taiwanese film): Jade and Takeko
  
• gloss recommends The Business of Fancydancing (Spokane (Native American) film): Seymour Polatkin
  
• livrelibre recommends Jīn nián xià tiān | Fish and Elephant (Chinese film): Xiaoqun, Xiaoling and Junjun
  
• livrelibre recommends The Watermelon Woman (African-American film): Cheryl, Fae Richards, June Walker
  
• livrelibre recommends Nina's Heavenly Delights (British Asian film): Nina Shah and Bobbi
  
• livrelibre recommends Chutney Popcorn (Indian-American film): Reena
  
• livrelibre recommends Sukkar banat‎ | Caramel (Lebanese film): Rima and Siham
  
• ceares recommends Marco Berger (Argentinian filmmaker): Plan B (Bruno and Pablo) and Ausente (Martin and Sebastian)
  
• ceares recommends Do Começo Ao Fim (Brazilian film): Thomas and Francisco
  
• ceares recommends Cut Sleeve Boys (British Chinese film): Mel and Ash
  
• ceares recommends Brother to Brother (African-American film): Bruce Nugent and Perry
  
• ceares recommends Dirty Laundry (African-American film): Patrick and Sheldon
  
• ceares recommends Punks (African-American film): all characters

Share your squee for these characters or give other suggestions for chromatic GLBTQI-identified characters in the comments below!

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