re: rick riordan, lesbophobia, and wlw characters

Hello friends, I recently made this tweet and I've been getting some comments about it.

So here's a thread:

First of all, I would like to apologize if I implied that lesbians can't be upset about Riordan's writings or actions. I am sincerely sorry, I'm not a lesbian and I will never act as if I completely understand how it may have been awful and how it may have affected you.

It is not my place to tell you how to feel, how to move on, how to react over things. For that, I want to say that I am really sorry. My ignorance is not an excuse for the worry/stress/annoyance/pain that came out of my tweet.

Going forward, I promise to be more careful of my tweets. I know that this may just be stan twitter but my account has a following of a few thousands and its sort of my obligation to always check myself considering that my tweets can "explode", can cause and influence reactions.

Second of all, I've got comments telling me that I'm a lesbophobe. I just want to at least say a few words. I've got a total of 100k tweets in this account already. And I felt that I've always been sincere and consistent in my opinion and feelings with Reyna's case.

I don't want to be petty and attached receipts but maybe I owe it to my friends and followers here.

I wanted Reyna to come out as a lesbian, I wanted her to have a girlfriend, I thought that Riordan was a coward for not doing so.

I've always been vocal about this.

Here's a few of my tweets from years back:

Here's one where I pointed out how Riordan's reason in not making Reyna a canon lesbian is problematic. This is from two years ago.

P.S. You may consult lesbian fans/readers who are more suited to explain this.

You can search this: "from:cursedbythegods reyna" if you want to check for yourself.

That's all I have to say about myself.

I originally didn't want to say anything in defense of Riordan because I felt that he already spoke of it and we can't do anything about that anymore.

(But I realized that its my account and I should be able to tweet whatever I want so here we go.)

People have been raising concerns re: Rick Riordan and his lesbian characters, his past statements/actions and writings.

I'll try to answer issues I've seen too.

1. The Hunters of Artemis, Jo and Emmie

Jo and Emmie are from ToA, they are lesbians who are former Hunters.

Some says that its lesbophobic of Riordan that his lesbian characters are "kicked out" of the Hunters when in the myths Artemis probably would take care of them instead

Here we go -

It is the oath in Riordan's books that is sort of inaccurate because it emphasized that Hunters will "turn their back from the company of men".

The whole point of the Hunters is MAIDENHOOD. There should be no falling in love, of any kind, not just to men.

Jo and Emmie ASKED ARTEMIS FOR PERMISSION TO LEAVE. They weren't kicked out. They want to live their lives together, and they can't do that because they are supposed to be maidens if they are hunters.

Artemis gave them their blessing too.

2. Riordan dismissed and acted rudely with readers who were doing headcanons about Clarisse and Silena mirroring Patroclus and Achilles (who were lovers)

I've been informed that he tweeted this but I'm not sure what the tweet says because I can't find it.

If you felt that he is lesbophobic because of this, then I think you have a valid point!

Clarisse and Silena's plotline in the Last Olympian clearly mirrored Achilles and Patroclus story in the myths. I've also noted this observation before.

I'm not sure about the content of then Riordan's tweet, but anyone especially lesbians can be rightfully upset about it.

What I'm sure, however, is that Riordan also explicitly stated now that readers are free to interpret his characters, that we can headcanon them in any way.

Rick Riordan tweeted that we can interpret his characters in any way. (I can't find the tweet again, if anyone have a screenshot tell me!)

That doesn't mean that you can't be upset anymore about that remark he said about Clarisse and Silena, you can, of course.

I only wanted to say that we already see how Riordan learns from his mistakes, his actions and writings now points to a direction different from before. He says now that we can interpret the characters however the way we want.

(3) Reyna

Riordan did not make Reyna a canon lesbian. He said that after his consultations with lesbians and bi women, he got their advice that it might be a harmful "I can't find the right man so I'm now a lesbian" stereotype.

But I said this earlier in the thread re: compulsive heterosexuality that happens to many lesbians (as well as bi women). Lesbians themselves can explain this further.

Although Riordan actually already acknowledged this:

I receive comments from some lesbians themselves that they didn't find it problematic of Riordan, thats their own experience and interpretation too. They were satisfied with Riordan's answer.

However, Riordan said it himself that he knows that this will not resonate with all of the members of the lesbian and biwomen community.

If you were hurt or angry with his answer, then he is deeply sorry for it.

That's it, and with Reyna's plot coming to a sort of a conclusion in Tyrant's Tomb, I think this is a case close. For now, at least.

If nothing of what I said seems sufficient for you, of course you are free to be upset. Your feelings are valid. At the end of the day, Rick Riordan is a cis heterosexual, white, old man.

I don't think its surprising that he won't be able to write the wlw characters and wlw relationships the way we all want him too, the way that can resonate with you.

Do I think that Riordan forced heterosexual relationships in his characters too (Jason and Piper, Leo and Calypso), and that he never explicitly used the word "lesbian" for his supposedly lesbian characters, AND that all these is awful of him? Yes! He isn't a perfect author.

Do I think that some of you maybe are feeling too entitled over what Riordan should do to HIS characters, and that some can be too ruthless, harsh and crucifying him for these mistakes and loopholes? YES.

Again, I am apologetic with the implications of my tweet. I am really sincerely sorry if it caused you stress/worry/pain. I assure you that as a member of the LGBT+ community myself, I will not purposely hurt other people in the community.

Also, I stand by this too: I support authors of diverse backgrounds, authors of color, LGBT+ authors, and I also read and support their works.

You know who else does the same? Someone who did it concretely- publishing their works thru his own imprint nd using his platform and influence to give attention and direct his already existing fanbase and readers to these authors' diverse books? Rick Riordan.

End of thread.