Quote from: jhkim;629942For example, I'd really like to see a good kick-ass action movie with a gay hero, instead of gays being restricted to chick-flick rom-coms.  There is a common trope that gays only exist when there focus is on relationships and/or sex, and I find it kind of annoying.

Can I call your attention to the movie Zorro, The Gay Blade.

Brendan - I think we're in general agreement.  (Apparently there was some subtle gay subtext in Transporter 2.  I saw no sign of that in the first movie, though, and he has a female love in the third, so it seems questionable.)  

Quote from: Fiasco;630325Can I call your attention to the movie Zorro, The Gay Blade.

I love Zorro, The Gay Blade - but it is definitely a comedy, and not an action movie.  I guess it was reasonably progressive for 1981, but I'd definitely prefer a hero who isn't an overblown joke that is all about his sexual identity.

Quote from: jhkim;630322It seems to me that the hero has a love interest plot in a strong majority of action movies.  It's not the center of the action, but Indiana Jones, James Bond, Jason Bourne, Martin Riggs, etc. - all have a clear orientation.

It's remarkably common, and even when not part of the text, usually pretty heavily established in subtext.

And even for films that don't, it's often because of procedural matters rather than authorial intent.  Hot Fuzz is a rare exception of an action film stuffed with a lot of gay subtext.  That's not because it's part of the comedy or because either protagonist is supposed to be gay or bisexual, but because Nicholas Angel had a female love interest acting as exposition until one of the last script revisions, and all her lines went to Danny rather than have a spare character.

My Star Trek PC Captain has admitted to having had boyfriends in the past, and expressing interest in men he's met, while being in a heteronormative marraige with kids ("Hey, I can look, but I won't touch.") I've always presumed that various orientations in the C24th UFP aren't really work commenting on.

Come to think of it, I've played at the table with two gay players in the past, and neither of them played gay characters. They instead chose to play women and their sexuality was never really a notable element.

Quote from: CRKrueger;630046So the reason Caine had Pegasus-Six gang-raped was the vengeance of a jilted Lesbian lover? Sheesh.

Yeah, more than a little heavy-handed, but it does fit with her character.

Quote from: jhkim;630157I'm not trying to say that there are no good gay characters anywhere in film and television, but that I'd specifically like to see a real action movie hero who is gay.

Even with several examples given (and no one has even mentioned Buffy yet), you say that none of them are from a "real action movie". Why is this not a case of you shifting goalposts then?

Captain Jack Harkness from Dr Who? Who is more omnisexual than anything.

I should probably bring it up in my L5R campaign at some point.  The game's text is pretty het-normative and all, but given the way romance and marriage is handled in-setting, homosexual relationships seem like they would be more socially acceptable than heterosexual ones as extramarital affairs.  Less chance of illegitimate children to muddle up inheritance and all that, even if it is still a sin of Desire.

Quote from: jeff37923;630566Yeah, more than a little heavy-handed, but it does fit with her character.

Yeah, it's just a little disappointing.  I mean you have a super strong, hardened military female character, and of course, she's a lesbian, which means instead of interesting, it pushes into ball-busting dyke stereotype.

Also instead of the torture and gangraping of Pegasus Six being due to the near-destruction of the Human Race, and the response saying something about us as a species (like maybe we deserved it, which dovetails with Adama's speech in the Pilot), now it moves into to "vindictive crazy Ex" territory.

Quote from: jeff37923;630568Even with several examples given (and no one has even mentioned Buffy yet), you say that none of them are from a "real action movie". Why is this not a case of you shifting goalposts then?

How is this shifting goalposts?  My original comment was that I'd like to see "a good kick-ass action movie with a gay hero".  I'm sticking exactly by that.  

If someone brings up an ambiguously bisexual side character from a television show, that doesn't fit what I said I would like to see.  I'm not saying there is anything wrong with such characters, only that it doesn't match what I said I'd like to see.  

There is a difference between gay and bisexual.  There is a difference between a television show and a movie.  And there is a difference between a comedy and an action movie.  I mean, seriously, if you and some friends get together to watch a "kick-ass action movie" and a friend arrives with a DVD of Zorro the Gay Blade - wouldn't you look at him a little funny?

Quote from: jhkim;630648How is this shifting goalposts?  My original comment was that I'd like to see "a good kick-ass action movie with a gay hero".

Sorry for my 8th grade moment, but seeing "kick-ass" and "gay hero" in the same sentence tickles my funny bone. :rotfl: I would pay big money for a first rate action movie where the Kick-Ass Gay Hero teams up with the Sexy Lesbian Ninja Stripper.

Quote from: jhkim;630648If someone brings up an ambiguously bisexual side character from a television show, that doesn't fit what I said I would like to see.  I'm not saying there is anything wrong with such characters, only that it doesn't match what I said I'd like to see.  
?

I do realize jack harkness isn't exactly what you had in mind but I mention him because he is the kind of character where he happens to be bisexual and though they don't hide it, it isn't all there is to him. I think Harkness, I think hero first. I also feel if people can accept a bisexual male action hero, they can accept a homosexual one (my guess is most who object to a homosexual male will also object to a bisexual male). But I don't expect we will see a prominent gay action hero (in film) that isn't female in the states for a while for the reasons I have before.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;630662I do realize jack harkness isn't exactly what you had in mind but I mention him because he is the kind of character where he happens to be bisexual and though they don't hide it, it isn't all there is to him. I think Harkness, I think hero first.

Absolutely - I love Jack Harkness.  Also, sorry - I realize that the topic of a gay action movie hero became its own topic separate from homosexuality in a campaign.  

To try to tie it back in, in my James Bond 007 campaign (link), Quentin Falstaff, 008 was a good example of what I'd like to see in an action hero.  He came across as the classic strapping, horse-riding, English country noble - but was also a superspy as well as being gay.  There was funny stuff about him, but he wasn't a joke character.  

Quote from: Reckall;630655Sorry for my 8th grade moment, but seeing "kick-ass" and "gay hero" in the same sentence tickles my funny bone. :rotfl: I would pay big money for a first rate action movie where the Kick-Ass Gay Hero teams up with the Sexy Lesbian Ninja Stripper.

Sorry, I don't think I get it.  Is there an in-joke here?  A reference to the movie "Kick-Ass" maybe?

Quote from: RPGPundit;629238What this thread is for is to ask people, in their actual campaigns, whether or not their campaign setting...
1) features homosexual characters, or......
2) bring up the topic in their settings at all, or if this is something that never comes up in your campaigns. What's more, ...
3) if it does come up, you can talk about how its come up.
RPGPundit

Okay, first off the answer to all three above questions in my most favorite recent campaign - the GURPS:TRAVELLER campaign known as the "Maggie's Marauders" saga is a big YES. However, there is sort of an assumed missing question in all of this - Do Sexual situations and relationships show up in your campaighn at all?

In that G:T campaign the amusing thing is that it was the oldest woman in the group who asked during one moment of the gamew session: "Are there any attractive men close to my character's age in the Bar?" . Yep, she decided her character was looking for a good night and we did some reaction dice rolls and took care of it 'off-screen".

Once that session was over - at least 2 other players started having their characters pursue relationships and lovers.

One player pursued a lesbian relationship with a 'regular NPC' that was a member of the ship's crew.

The PC group was also friends with the crew of a Beowulf-class trader that had a lesbian couple as captain and 1st officer.  It was treated as normal and not a big deal. More like "They're our friends ...we party with them if we're at the same starport and watch out for each other in times of trouble."

My current playing group - the GURPS: STAR TREK campaign; that kind of roleplaying hasn't really come up.

I think its because of the age mix of the payers and the fact that we play in a much more public space than the previous campaign did.

Also, in my version of the STAR TREK universe - its just NOT a 'big deal'. What a crewmember does in private while off-futy is their own darn business and it doesn't matter to the rest of the crew. They just better show up for their shift on time and not let any personal situations interfere with their duties.

If anything the current batch of characters have more of an issue with the bottle (alcoholism) in-game than their sexual activities.


- Ed C.