06/06/2026
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It’s Pride Month! ‘That’s nice, lots of colourful rainbows, but what it’s got to do with me?’ some might say. If you don’t write or edit LGBTQ+ material, or if you’re not part of the community, you might wonder whether indeed it concerns you. You might feel the same about International Women’s Day if you’re a man, or about Black History Month if you’re not a PoC. All these special calendar dates are designed to raise awareness, so even if you simply know they exist, they’ve done part of their job.
But this is Pride Month and we are writers and editors. What can we do beyond raising awareness? Do you remember in the ‘old’ days when female doctors and black teachers were shoehorned into literature and other media? When a character was referred to specifically as a ‘male nurse’ as if that was part of the job description? Thankfully, this is becoming rarer, but we’re not there yet.
However, gay characters in modern literature and film tend still to be shoehorned in or aren’t there at all. And if they are there, it’s because they’re gay, as if to make a point (plot or otherwise). Where are the characters who just happen to be gay, whose ‘label’ doesn’t define them?’
The LGBTQ+ community is as diverse as every other area of society, and includes people from all occupations, income groups and personalities. But stereotypes? It would be a brave person who looked at a representative group and pointed out those who were funny, serious, a football fan, camp, a music lover - and that brave person would likely be wrong. Why does anyone need to be pigeonholed? Authors create multilayered characters about whom we learn a little more in every scene or chapter - so the funny lady has a serious, even tragic side. Let’s make sure that we do that with every character, rather than have a token gay whose personality ends with a label.
Where would the arts world be without Benjamin Britten, Samuel Barber, Oscar Wilde, WH Auden, Noel Coward, Elton John, k.d. lang, and of course Freddie Mercury?
And for those who know me better, where would Doctor Who be without John Nathan-Turner and Russell T Davies?
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