People seem to be very concerned about ‘unnecessary’ gay characters all of a sudden, like there haven't been thousands of unnecessary straight characters in the history of fiction.

People also seem to be very concerned about gay characters being ‘defined’ by their gayness, like there haven't been thousands of characters whose entire narrative is based around their attraction to a person of the opposite sex.

People also seem to be very concerned about having gayness ‘shoved in their faces’ – as if straightness hasn't been shoved in our faces for centuries, relentlessly, through every form of media.

I'm exhausted. It is impossible to reason with this level of wilful ignorance.

They see straightness as default, as neuter. They seem to genuinely think TV shows ‘don't make a big deal’ out of straight characters' sexualities – just because the word ‘heterosexual‘ is never used. Like their heterosexuality isn't hammered across in every other way.

I'm tired of the mere presence of a gay character being described as pandering, point-scoring, shoehorning and/or an agenda.

I'm tired of parents moaning that they'll have to ‘explain’ a same-sex kiss to their kids. You have to explain EVERYTHING to kids, you absolute pillock.

I'm tired of people who have more mirrors than they could ever need doing 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 in their power to take away the few mirrors that others have.

I'm tired of these hidebound, self-righteous, boring people who can't handle others not being exactly like them.

Okay, I need . . . a coffee.

And then I'm going off to shoehorn a few more flagrantly and unnecessarily gay characters and their big gay agenda into a book, almost definitely to perplex the righteous, score points with who-knows-who, and sow the earth with chaos and confusion