500 Word Friday: Gay Bad Guys?

I was just looking at some writing prompts.  I subscribe to a number of writing blogs on tumblr and a few of them occasionally list writing prompts.  I haven't ever really used a writing prompt; I find more than enough content to write about on a daily basis for the blog just by scanning social media.

When I saw this writing prompt, though, it made me stop and think.  The prompt?  “It’s perfectly fine to make your antagonist gay.”  In other words, bad guys can be gay, too.

At first I thought that this was a legitimate point.  Statistically speaking a segment of the world’s most villainous leaders have been LGBT.  Why wouldn’t I consider making a character who “kicks  puppies and steals candy from children and is the most despicable person on the face of the earth and is gay?”  Then I realized the sad truth.  When I write LGBT fiction I always make characters who happen to be gay and are heroes because the world vilifies LGBT people enough on its own.  For me, at least right now in my writing journey, I want to write characters with whom LGBT people identify  and that means characters struggling to come out or characters who are LGBT and being vilified by segments of the community in which they live.

Last night I was made aware of a member of the Minnesota State House of Representatives by the name of Glenn Gruenhagen.  I blogged about him last night. In his ignorance and in an attempt to sound informed, Mr. Gruenhagen has introduced legislation he claims is based on the Diagnostical and Statistical Manual in an attempt to legally label LGBT people as “mentally ill” and “in need of treatment.”  With people like this trying to continually and consistently victimize and vilify the LGBT community, why would I ever consider writing a character that is an antagonist when members of the LGBT community, particularly youth, know who the real villains  in the real world are.

That being said, I wonder if I’m not being disingenuous by rejecting the idea out of hand and making all of my antagonists non-LGBT.  I mean, I’m acutely aware of how segments of the LGBT community emphasize a false dichotomy.  It’s not always us (LGBT) against them (non-LGBT),  The world isn’t black and white.  I think we need to be careful about who we consistently define as antagonists.  After all, there are degrees of “bad.”

I don’t know.  As I finish my current book, I’ve already begun scribbling down ideas for the next one and pulling out some research and old short stories.  I might have to think more about this idea, though.

What do you think?  Does the world need to be introduced to some bad guys/gals who happen to be gay?

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