Episode 24: Queer Representation In Geek Culture

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Nerdificent. I'm if
you wide away and sitting in the new corner of
the table kicked out. Yeah, it is I your other
co host, Danny Fernandez, and today we are joined up
top by comedian executive producer at Enemies of Dorothy, an

(00:30):
event coordinator at LAGS, which is the l A Gaming Society,
Christopher Smith Bryant. Yeah, this is where I talk. Yes,
I am sitting in my spot. It feels weird. I
feel weird and I've never been here before. No, I'm
a incordinator at LAGS, l A Gaming Society, So I'm
super excited to be on your show and talk about
gay stuff. Yes, so we have another I know spoiler.

(00:53):
You already said, what are our episode is? I'm just kidding.
They can see it in the title. And sitting next
to him is the technical program manager at PlayStation A
gaming enthusiasts and LGBTQ activist Cannon's backman. Hey, thanks for
joining us. Thank you so much for having me. I
wonder how did y'all meet? How do you two know
each other? Oh my god? We okay, well we did

(01:14):
go on one day. Okay, I'm sorry I did not
know this. No, it's it's okay. It didn't go well, um,
but we're friends now, so it went well enough. Yeah.
I think I think sometimes you meet people, especially being LGBT,
you meet someone that you have an attraction for, but
you're like, I'm not sexually at but I'm so attracted

(01:35):
to this person, and you're like, oh, it's just because
our souls are like friends souls. We um. We run
the l A Gaming Society Together, which is one of
the largest gay video game groups in America, where we
create these giant parties and programs for LGBT nerds that
live in Los Angeles to kind of meet up UM.

(01:56):
And it's just been a really cool way. I mean
I met Cannon through that and we've met multiple friends
through that as well. Yeah, you guys actually had the
Dragon Ball Fighters tournament that I was at that. Yeah,
we had a great time with Funimation, uh doing Dragonball
Fighters tournament. It's a really great way because I feel like,
especially LGBT people who moved to l A, they feel lost,

(02:22):
and especially if they're nerds and they might have, you know,
some sort of social issues like you know, aspergers or whatever.
It's a great way for them too. I said that, right, right, Okay,
it's a great way for them to meet with other nerds.
I did it to other nerds who can't socialize like
I can't socialize Christianize. The extent of our friendship is

(02:44):
sending memes to each other like four times a day.
That's how we communicate. That's all of my friendships. And
then that's it. And I'll see Danny like once every
six months. But I feel closer to her because of
our memes. That's a millennial friendship. And I need up
our meme game. We seen them here and there. Yeah,
we're we are meme light usually it's just only it's true.

(03:08):
We spill a lot of tea in our in our chat.
So I wanted to talk about a little bit canon
about you work with WITS. Is that what it's called
Women in Technology? So yeah, yeah, yeah, can you tell
us a little bit about that group? Sure. So one
of the really cool things about being at PlayStation now
is we're experiencing a lot of change for the better.

(03:28):
We've we weren't from two different companies at Sony that
we're considered kind of the redheaded stepchild. We were the
gaming division UM and now since the PlayStation four is launched,
we've kind of become the crown jewel of the Sony companies,
and that's ushered in a lot of really positive change.
So our headquarters moved from Tokyo to san Mateo, and
we're kind of embracing a lot of modern UM culture

(03:50):
things and culture changes UM to kind of, I guess,
invite more people to be a part of what it
is that we do at Sony. So what has come
with that has been a lot of diversity initiatives, and
one of them was m making what we call employee
resource groups, and we haven't played resource groups. There's five
at Sony currently. There's Women in Technology at Sony, which
is our women's group. There's Proud at Sony, which is

(04:12):
our LGBT group. There's PAN, which is PlayStation African American
Network at Sony. I think it's PANS, and then there's
a fourth and fifth one. I don't remember what the
other on are. But having all those groups that Sony
has been a really really good experience because it's been
able to bring people I work with together in a
really different way, in a really interesting way, and it's

(04:32):
had a lot of really interesting effects on our work
culture and on the projects we do and pretty much everything.
It's been really great well with Cannon and I, especially
especially because we're running events with the l A Gaming
Society UM. PlayStation let us hold their first LGBT E
three party. Oh that's so cool, which was really amazing
because we we just like put up an event like Okay,

(04:55):
this will be fine, and luckily we put up an
event on Facebook because like within a week, I think
there are two thousand people that clicked interested in it
and we're like, oh, sorry, were you having this at
your house? Because we luvely had an event space for it.
But I remember Cannon's like, I don't know how we're
gonna fill this, and we're like, oh, we're not going

(05:16):
to be able to get everyone in. But it was
kind of a cool moment, especially because I don't think
anyone realized how many LGBT nerds there are and how
underrepresented they are as a group, and it was an
amazing way, especially to get a lot of people who
worked for PlayStation to kind of be like, oh my god,
this is a huge, huge, huge group. And especially it

(05:39):
was awesome because they had the E three presentation from
PlayStation actually opened up with a lesbian moment, a lesbian
kiss between two characters for the Last of Us two.
Uh so it's just a really powerful moment for all
of us. Also, what it was really cool too, was
because Ellie being lesbian was alluded to in the DLC

(06:03):
but not confirmed, and I feel like a lot of
LGB characters are has have to deal with that with
the off screen you know representation, where it's like we're
supposed to assume that or even like you know, uh,
to take it back to Nickelodeon, Like a few people
were wishy washy with the end of Legend of Cora
because it wasn't as strong of it ending to really

(06:24):
confirm everything. So to kind of just have that kiss
there and like yep, we're here, it was I even
thought it was like really cool because you know, I
think just from the perspective of being like a black
person and wanting to see you know, representation, it's cool.
Like it's it's funny how like we can cheer each

(06:45):
other on, like everyone something. I feel like some people
in our respective like you know groups, think that it's
a contest when it really is just we want everybody winning.
Like I was hyped to see crazy rich agents do well.
I'm like, yes, it get it, you know, And I
feel like, you know, it's just like there's room for everyone,

(07:06):
and it is funny because you know when you do
have like so many I think white dude bros think like,
oh man, this is dumb and trying to you know,
s j W and all this when they don't even know.
Like I think it's crazier because I feel like lgbt
Q is a little more invisible, Like you can, like

(07:27):
someone can be Chris's homeboy and not know that he
is gay and then be like, what do you think
of this LGBT You know s j W always clogging
up trying to ruin my games. You know, they would
have to be blind to not know that I'm gay,
but you would actually be surprised though you are. No,

(07:50):
they just don't sometimes they don't think of it, like
they just don't what we're gonna say. You are wearing
a sailor moon necklace with nelace, another very LGBT pro
you know, I mean all of the sailors. I feel
like in general, but specifically Neptune and urineus are so
and I saw that you were posting that you were
watching it this past weekend. You know what was amazing

(08:13):
is for a show that was in the nineties, there
was a character that said that they had they admitted
of having a crush on Usagi and most animals at
the time, the main character, if someone of the same
sex admitted that they were attracted to him, they would
be like, WHOA gross, So like try to make a
comedic moment out of it. And the weird thing was Usagi,

(08:33):
which is like she took care of the person's feelings.
She said, I don't have the same you know, emotions
that you feel towards me. But it was just like
really sweet about it. And it was such a progressive
show in that way for its time that it means
so much to you know, ALGBT nerds for that reason. Well,
I wanted to ask you guys, like what were some
of the characters and shows that you latched onto as

(08:55):
a child, or when did you first feel like you
saw yourself in media were represented. Oh that's a tough one. Um,
this is going to be horrible to say, but I
think it started with fan fiction. Yeah, I really started
with like fan web comics, like even just seeing because

(09:16):
I I mean I remember as far as like, I'm
really into comic books, the as a Marvel fan. The
Young Adventures was kind of like and is it North
Star as well from X Men. Yeah, that were the first,
like big ones from Marvel and then Batwoman, But it
kind of started before then, seeing like web comics on

(09:37):
the Internet. Some of them were very racy, um of different,
like characters that I would ship together like people, you know,
are like fan fiction and sometimes it's just sweet to
see people that I like shipped together. I think that
was actually the first thing I had because there really
as a kid, there wasn't there wasn't really that much

(09:59):
representation as someone who's you know, turning thirty soon. There
really wasn't as a kid any representation, especially in video games.
They're birdel like that was a transgender bird from in
Sailor Moon. That was in Sailor Moon. They changed in

(10:19):
the American version, they changed the lesbian scouts to be cousins.
And I think all of us at the time, we're like,
what type of relationship, like are you having with your cousin?
I mean, my it is just weird. I don't know
if I split my tongue into my cousin's mouth. But
sometimes how people get cannon? What about you like? What

(10:40):
were if not like that you felt represented? What were
some of the characters and shows that you at least
latched onto as a as a kid, like? What characters
did you like? So that's a good question. I grew
up watching He Man, which I think is why I'm gay. No,
I'm just makes sense, makes sense? Um. I think the
earliest video game reference that I can think it was
actually from Dragon Age. I don't know if anyone ever

(11:01):
played Dragon Age, but it was the first game I
played that had gay optional romances, which I played that
game every which way to get all of the gay
romances because I wanted because it was like my first
exposure to that and I was like, holy crap, Like
even replayed it as a female character in romance all
the female characters that you can romance, and it was
just cool to have that option because I've never had

(11:22):
that option before. Yeah, speaking of that, that actually reminds
I now can think the very first video game for
me was The Sims. The Sims because I think I
remember them adding like LGBT relationship and there's a huge
controversy around it, but when you could add, when you
could woo hoo, and the bed like that was my

(11:44):
first gay porn was pixelated woo hoo, and I was
wild too, just just the pixelated like who and then
it would have like almost the fighting smoke, like okay,
I'll own crazy Simsy's. I was like, is this what
it's supposed to be? When you see it's not pixe

(12:06):
laid what um? I I would say fan fiction was
how I explored my sexuality as well. Um and also
just like anime what is it? I forgot the name
of it now when it's not the manga, but it's
like fan made manga. I can't remember tom Anyways, there's
a lot of exploration there. But I was able to be,

(12:30):
I guess the best way to describe it as a
passenger in that experience because my best friend in high
school came out to me in like like the summer
between eighth grade and freshman year, and it was yeah,
I'm I'm a good guy. Guys, I'm one of the
hashtag woke Yeah no, And it's so funny because to me,

(12:52):
that's also kind of been my frustration with bigotry because
it was that simple it's just like you're still the same.
Why would I care like who you love? It was
so too for me to think back and as a
like thirteen year old have no inhibitions and no like,
oh man, this is that or whatever. It's It's like

(13:13):
crazy to see how grown adults will like go back
and forth on this with nothing. And also I'm like
a strong proponent of like my own business, you know,
and if it has nothing to do with you, why
would you even have an opinion on it? But I'm
side tracking a bit, but too But like even him
growing up, it was the same thing. He really kind

(13:33):
of gravitated towards uh sailor Moon because you know, it
was that same thing because they're like the uncut version.
They're lesbians. It's tight and beyond that, I'm trying to
think because we're both hyper nerds, Like we watched DVZ together.
He made DBC has a lot of queers characters. I
remember we I will bring this back. Every is the

(13:58):
gay icon. We've talked about this. It's zarbon so so um.
I remember that you posted like a picture. I think
it was a Dragon ball Z related I think I
was in my underwear next to freezer and we're both
sticking our butts out as you do, as you do
on Instagram, and somebody was like, don't bring your homosexuality

(14:19):
into Dragon ball Z and I'd be like, have you
watched it? Well, my favorite is Danny. Then went off
on this person and she's like, oh you think you
know about Dragon ball Z And I was like this
comment I should say, I thought like I brought the facts. Yeah.
I used to post these like belfies on Instagram and

(14:39):
I just put like, you know, hashtag butt or whatever.
But I think people straight guys would just see a
feminine figure and be turned on by it and then
like then look at the picture and then realize that
there's a guy, and um, I think, yeah, exactly. We've
we've all been there, you know Eusually you're like, oh, like,

(14:59):
I I've done that with your post because so many
boot models that like, I'll see Chris come up, but
you know, I'm not reading the screen. I'm like, oh nice.
But I was like, oh, look it's Chris again. But
you're very supportive. Yeah, yeah, very supportive. But I think
that's what happens is then he got angry and then
try to school me on Dragon ball Z and Danny

(15:21):
was not having it. She was like, no, well, it's
so fascinating to me because anime they don't have necessarily
the same weird religious, extremely structured like homophobia and stuff
that seems to be over here where they made Where
a Cure to Rama made a lot of these characters
kind of gender fluid for a reason and has commented

(15:42):
on this. So it's just frustrating to me that people
are like, no, it's this, when well, that's what's so
funny is all the like super weaves you know, who
want to copy everything about Japan will just skip over
that part, which is the Japan's not having their huge
obsession over masculinity where there is that kind of gender fluidity.

(16:04):
There's so many anime characters that are androgynous that can
go either way. I mean even like Double Man cry Baby,
like you know, spoilers, but I'm gonna give you thirty
seconds to speed past this if you really want to
see it. But at the end, when Satan has like
straight up breast and it's like never addressed, it's never
like a thing. It's like, yeah, no, I I am

(16:25):
a man, I have breast, I am beautiful and this
is in let me destroy the world. You know, japan
culture is very interesting though they because they still have homophobia,
but it's different. And I believe homosexuality is illegal in
Japan for Japanese citizens. Is that correct canon Yeah, so
it's it's an interesting law they have. I I go

(16:48):
to Japan fairly regularly for work, so I have a
little bit of experience with Japanese culture and it's fascinating
and I love going to Japan. But one of the
really interesting things I learned very early on was so
things like institution are illegal between Japanese citizens, but prostitution
between a Japanese citizen and a non Japanese citizen is
not legal. And you'll find a lot of things or

(17:09):
is like I'm sorry, yes, yeah, what about homosexuality in Japan?
So being gay is not illegal in Japan. But if
you ask any Japanese people like are they're gay people here,
they will tell you no. It's a very fascinating thing.
Yet in a lot of their art nor culture, you'll
see a lot of gender nonconforming people. You'll see a
lot of queer people. You'll see people that don't fit
the normal gender spectrum, so they're very comfortable with it

(17:32):
in their art and in their style and in their culture.
But if you ask them straight up, like what is
the l g T community here, they'll say, oh, Japan
doesn't have those. That doesn't happen here. It's bizarre. And
then they'll say, if you do see it here, it's
because foreigners have come here and they've like and I
wonder if the art is that is like their expression
of it, because like, yeah, if we're just looking at

(17:54):
animate and like, it's so not all of it, but
a lot of it is sexual and sexual between them
and women, men and women, man and man, like just
a large spectrum, and so yeah, I find that fascinating. Yeah,
it's it is interesting. And that's just a whole another
deep dive of a whole another culture because that they're

(18:15):
because there's just so many nuanced levels to it. I
don't think this is okay at all, because to me,
the way it sounds on paper is like appropriation. You're
you're willing to make money off of the imagery and
having it in your media, but when it comes time
to actually allow it to happen, to allow certain people

(18:36):
to be free, now we're going to pretend they don't exist.
That's well, that's their kind of way of dealing with
anything in Japanese culture is just they if they don't
like something or if it makes them feel uncomfortable, they
kind of are just shut it down or like this
isn't happening. What are you talking about? I did want
to talk about, Sorry to transition. I wanted to talk
about some queer characters in Ner dumay So. Some of

(18:59):
the ones that I personally love would be zena warrior princess.
I don't know if he watched her. Amazing You and
I Chris have talked extensively about Wonder Woman. So and
who is she? She's officially bisexual, right, which I mean
it's basically been hinted forever but and was then openly confirmed.
But for me, it was it was frustrating to see

(19:22):
people upset about this when it was like, she lives
on an island of all women. Women know how to
pleasure other women. There's no way that these goddesses are
just sleeping alone every night by themselves. I don't think
anyone that's read a Wonder Woman comic was upset by it.
I think it was like a lot of people like
Linda Carter. No, but it's so true. And another thing

(19:48):
I would have to say before I move off of
her is that in the movie with her being with
Steve Trevor and people were like, well, clearly she's not
by I'm like, no, it's just the clock struck straight
this time, might not next time. But that's like, you know,
it's she can still be a bisexual woman and have
relations with a man. That's actually how that works. That's

(20:09):
a problem with bisex, I mean people's opinions on bisexuality
in general, as they don't understand that you can be
with someone that's the opposite sex and still be bisexual. Yeah,
so many people take that away from bisexual people. It's
sad to see that. Oh yeah, no, even to go
even a little further into it. It is funny that
type of nerd, which is basically, you know, for lack

(20:32):
of a better term, just really just only trying to
protect their sexual desires around the character. Like the same
thing with the outrage of Shira. You know, some people
are like, oh, it's just because it's done with. There
is a camp of people who are like, this isn't
the Shira. I remember who you know, it was very sexy,
or whenever they make a character more modest than they

(20:52):
get mad. It's like, you're not even in my eyes,
a real fan of this character. You only like this
care for your sexual pleasure and think that no one
should touch it to make you happy in a way
that the character wasn't even built for in the first place.
Like you know, go to Rule thirty four and get

(21:12):
your rocks off, believe like the actual art and the people,
actual fans of the character, like let them have the
things they want, which is good story progressive styte storytelling,
like leave leave your like weird. You know, I'm not
going to kink shame you, but leave it out of it.
You know. The really funny thing just about Wonder Woman,
real quick, they're really funny about Wonder Woman. So she

(21:34):
has a totally queer origin story. There's actually a movie
about her three creators, and it's a man and two
women that we're in a relationship at the time that
we're super into bondage, and that's why Wonder Woman's power
is the lasso of truth and she would tie people off,
make sense. So there's this whole like all of the
queer undertones of Wonder Woman are absolutely intentional. Yeah, well,

(21:55):
do you remember even in the film in the boat
scene when she was like, oh no, I about you know,
pleasures or whatever with a man and a woman, and
he was like, what did you find out that we
don't really need you? That is a queer like moment
of being like, yeah, no, we've know how to pleasure
each other. We don't actually need you unless we want
to have children. So, like you said, the undertones, but

(22:17):
like if you it's there, it's there. But I wanted
to know some of your favorite queer characters in gaming,
or in television and film, or some of the fandoms
that you are into. That's a great question. Um, I'm
trying to think of It's so weird even thinking about
like gay characters in video games, for instance, there's really

(22:38):
uh so many, Like who who can you think of
who's gay? I was gonna say, Chris, you actually introduced
me to America Chaves, Yeah, the one that did, and
she's a Marvel character. Yeah great, Batwoman's great. Um, there
needs to be a little bit more representation in video

(22:58):
games because I think the sides like the last of
us there. I'm trying to think of a triple A
title right now that has like a main character that
is LGBT, and I can't think of one on the
top of my head. Are very many UM comic books
that's slowly turning around. But I mean, we're even just
fighting to get a woman. I mean it's like we're
finally getting a Captain Marvel movie. Like it's finally just

(23:19):
even getting a woman on screen, or finally getting black
panther on screen. It's it's a it's a it's a
long uphill battle. I would say a character that I've
always enjoyed who I think has some serious like Fizaz
and queer overtones is Bayonetta. Yeah, all of the Bayonetta
games are just super gay. I don't care what anyone says.

(23:40):
She's a drag queen character obviously, and I don't mean
that meaning that she's a man posing as well. I
mean as as far as like the culture goes and
as far as how she uses her sexuality, it is
very and the way that she jokes in the undertones,
it's a lot of almost like drag sona type of stuff. Actually,
the more that you say that when you when you
ask queer nerds who do they find that represents them.

(24:02):
It's usually a lot of female characters because there aren't
they're not many gay characters, especially in video games. I
think there was like the Ballad of Gay Tony Grants
Theft Auto four. That's another big one. It's been very
lacking obviously in in video games and nerd culture. Yeah,
and it's kind of sometimes that way where it is
once again like that off screen type of stuff where

(24:24):
it's like, oh, that person is gay. But the Division
had a lesbian a kind of like your lead point person,
which was Faylal. But once again that was an off
screen stuff. But that one was a little tricky because
that's one of those games where you get story notes
through like pickups and stuff. But I don't think there
was anything that leaned heavily heavily on it. But I

(24:46):
know she and that I mean that game as a whole,
because it took place in New York, had a lot
of uh, a lot of like gay characters in it,
like the first doctor you help references her wife who
died in this and so. But like it would be
nice to have like something like The Last of Us
where it's like someone that people can look at and

(25:07):
be like there there, you go right there and not
have their sexuality. It's it's hard because you don't want
it as a plot device. And since that, it's like,
we're a liberal company, look at us like that. I
think that's why The Last of Us was so perfect.
It's a part of our character. It affects who you are,
it affects how you Your sexuality does affect so much
about your personality, but it's it's hard to get that

(25:27):
where it affects your personality. But it's not a stereotype,
and the company is not using it to make a
statement there like this is just the character and this
kisses because it's it's not a political statement. It's just
we're showing a story, and she romance is part of
the story. I do feel like some of them can
be a little bit of a cop out. I agree
with that, I in a different type of way. In

(25:48):
the Latin X community, they recently had Hernandez that was
named as Magnum p I and then people were like, Okay,
well he's a Mexican man, so are you going to
like address that at all, And they were like not really, no,
It's like okay, but his America just by definition, it's
gonna be a little bit different than the last guy.
Like his experience is, like you said, it's gonna inform,
it's gonna shape is his experience. And so for me,

(26:11):
it's kind of like a cop out to just make
someone brown or make someone queer and then not address
it at all. And so that kind of happened a
little bit. I felt like in two thousand seven with j. K.
Rowling and Harry Potter when she was attended to the
Q and A at Carnegie Hall and she revealed that
Dumbledore was gay, and it's like, this is great, that's awesome.
And then we thought, like in Fantastic Beasts or like

(26:32):
and other stuff, that it was going to be addressed
and it's not. And so I kind of just like okay,
And you know, I feel like they did that a
little bit in Deadpool too, where it's just like you
kind of say, like, oh no, they're like explore their sexuality.
It was like, great, are we going to actually see
them with another man? Like are we gonna actually see
them be physical or something? And then they're not. And
then I'm like, so it feels like you're just using
this to say it. I don't know how you guys

(26:55):
feel about that. They're using it to kind of get
the game market on board, on like Twitter, like they're
getting the Twitter gaze on, you know, like that type
of audience, like people on the Internet on board, but
not enough for the casual movie goers watching it to
be offended. And I feel like that's kind of like
with Dumbledore, that's a huge part of his story and
I don't get I mean, I'm hoping it will be,

(27:16):
you know, eventually explored, but I don't want to judge
because I haven't seen the movie and I understand what
we're saying, like no, that's not his whole entire identity,
but like it does feel a little bit like if
you don't include it, there's a way to You don't
want it to be like where it's shoved down people,
no one wants anything show it's obviously, uh speak for yourself,
but there's a way to include it where it's still

(27:38):
your sexuality is always genuine maybe yeah, And it's always
going to affect some of your your character decisions. It
always will. I think it's it's a really difficult line
to walk, right because you want you want to portray
queer and diverse characters in a way that is that
is heartfelt and that is real, and you also don't
want to lose your core audience that is Middle America.

(27:59):
So it's tough. I think it's my kind of thoughts
on it. Yeah, I know, And that's such an interesting
kind of stance and walk, because are we helping or
hurting by hiding, you know, this from Middle America because
lots of times they in Middle America, you know, I
feel like at times can be cop outs because I

(28:22):
feel like Middle America is the excuse that kept a
movie like Black Panther from being made for so long,
and then we saw how that did move like crazy
rich Asians come up. For so long, we thought how
that did. And you know, I think Moonlight did well.
And I'm sure it didn't make that much money, but
I think that's less because it tackled black gay issues

(28:44):
and more because it was an art house film, you know,
and though there I think, if you were too Simon,
this year did really actually fantastic, speaking of like I mean,
big budget you know movies. I think it, Yeah, it
did fantastic, and so many people watch us and we're like,
I mean, they're so happy that it was an lg
BT film where it wasn't another person dying from the

(29:04):
AIDS epidemic, where it was like just like it was
a happy story and it was just a silly nineteen
eighties style like romance comedy that just featured a guy
looking for another guy and it was just amazingly well
done that people are like, oh, thank god, it wasn't
someone homosexuality. It was part of the movie. They tackled
parts of it, but it wasn't like in a in

(29:25):
a way where it was just a part of it
was just a segment of it, and it was just
part of his character. Yeah. I mean, I think that's
a big part of it too, is we're finally in
the part where we can justify getting better movies made
for those that are not straight and white and cis
gender right, Like in the past, all the Game movies
were really stupid, and Love Simon is like a really
really good movie, Like the production value is good, the

(29:47):
acting is good, the script is good, all of it's
really good. Black Panther another really good example, Like everything
about Black Panther was like triple A quality, Like it
was brilliant, And I think we're finally getting to that
point where it's like, yeah, we can't tell these stories
and they will be interesting. We just have to do
it right. We are going to take a quick break
and then come back and talk a little bit more

(30:08):
about more of our favorite queer characters, and we are back.
I wanted to touch on the c w C there
superhero shows, well several of their shows, but definitely their
superhero shows seem to be really taking initiative as far
as including more queer characters. I know, there's Thunder and

(30:30):
Black Lightning, there's Curtis Holt on Arrow, there's the Flashes,
Captain Sing, there's Alex Danvers and Supergirl Sarah Lance and
Legends of Tomorrow gave a sharp and Ledgends of Tomorrow.
Now we have Ruby Rose as Batwoman. I don't know
if you saw that was announced. That's very exciting. I
think the main character too. You know, bat Woman, here's

(30:50):
one of the most fascinating characters. And you know, if
it was a few years ago and you told me
that they would announce Ruby Rose as Batwoman and she
would be getting tons of hate, I'd be like, Oh,
is it because it's a lesbian character. No, because nerds
are bad. Yeah, and if if they think you don't,
because you know, all nerds are the perfect casting director,

(31:11):
all these great fan casting picks that we see. By
the way, that's what's so funny. It's every time fans
cast something, it's always trash or the budget would be insane,
or that person would not dedicate, like it's like get
out of here, like they were upset with was it
Heath Ledger when he was originally Yes, that's so true,

(31:33):
fantastic um. Yeah, and there's also isn't Voltron have characters?
They just confirmed it at Comic conto. Oh and uh,
thinking of even video games because I forgot this reference.
Tracer from Overwatch the one of the main faces of
over Watching a lesbian. So yeah, I would be remiss
if I didn't mention Stephen universe, which is brilliant, beautiful,

(31:57):
such a positive bright. I mean even they though if
even their fans are bad bad you want to like
hit I want to like roll up a newspaper slash
like spray them. But I also think it's the issue.
I mean, Cannon sometimes deals with this. Working at PlayStation
there is sometimes a huge amount it seems like it's

(32:18):
a large number of people on Twitter. But it's because
it makes people's voices sound bigger than it actually is.
And a lot of times the Internet will freak out
about something. It doesn't necessarily reflect the majority. It doesn't
reflect sales, it doesn't reflect the majority of a fan base.
It doesn't really reflect anything except for Internet. You know,

(32:39):
Twitter height, which sometimes means absolutely nothing. It's it's bizarre. Yeah, no,
that's that's true. I know that you're good friends with
Kelly Marie Tran and she experienced like so much hate
that she got off social media. But the thing is
is that when I was at Comic Con, there were
so many people dressed like Rose Tico that it was
just I mean, what people just love her so much.

(33:01):
But it's hard when like all you've seen, it's a
small minority of Star Wars obsessive harassment. Yeah, and the
majority of Star Wars fans are super lovely, nice people.
I think a lot of it has to do with
two with people will have multiple accounts that the log
into it makes if you you you can have represents

(33:23):
so many different people on Twitter that it it allows
to for a falsehood of what actually is. But it's
also I mean it's why you know, Kelly's not on
you know, Instagram. It's because sometimes you don't need to
read everything all of the negativity. Yeah, and also it's
one thing that's important to know. It may seem like
when you're getting all the notifications and all the people

(33:44):
in your mentions, you know, it may seem like, damn,
this is a huge amount of people who think this,
but only seven percent of Americans are using Twitter. That's
seven percent of Americans are using Twitter accounts. That's a
lot of fake accounts, and that's a lot of like,
that's not a lot of people. So so that and

(34:06):
and you know what it is. I find that to
be true because whenever something big happens on Twitter and
you do kind of step out to the real world
and you're like, have you heard of this? And someone hasn't.
You're like how. But like when you see a number
like that seven percent, you're like, I guess, I guess not,
you know, I guess I guess it isn't as as

(34:27):
big a big a world as we think it is.
It just feels that way. It is people from other
countries and smaller areas as well. I was also going
to say, talking on the thing of online harassment. I
mean it's something that Cannon has had to deal with
working with PlayStation and and everything. I don't know if
you can talk about that at all. You get like
death threats from LinkedIn. They used to be really common,

(34:50):
so back when the PlayStation that was a little bit
less reliable than it is now. Any time we have
an outage, it's totally common for people that have PlayStation
and they're lin to profile to get death rts in
your inbox. Wow, it's fairly common, and it's it's it's
not it's endemic to the whole gaming industry. Like I
have female friends that work at studios and a lot
of them won't even put what the name of the

(35:11):
studio they're working at because the game will get released
and then someone will be like, well, this level, this
thing was misdesigned. So I'll go and find a female
graphic artists and just start sending her death threats and
hate mail, and then everyone just bandwagons. And I remember
that was a huge thing that happened with I believe
Mass Effect, where they were blaming this one woman for

(35:31):
ruining the game, and someone had to come in and
be like, well, she didn't even have that huge a
part of it. There's actually these men, but you guys
are targeting her and it is interesting, and you know,
does PlayStation do anything to protect y'all? Like can you
report these people and you know, get their accounts yanked
or anything. I mean, it depends on the social media using.
I mean, Lincoln has a pretty robust reporting system for

(35:54):
offensive material, so it's not so bad. But eventually saying
that LinkedIn is like the not the thing that you
should be. Like LinkedIn, you can see where they work
and who that person is that doesn't like Twitter, I
understand because you're like a random anime avatar, but like
linked in the fact that someone is oh man. I mean.
But the craziest thing is you would think that Twitter
would have a more robust reporting system than LinkedIn because

(36:18):
LinkedIn at least you're a level of professionals where Twitter
should be doing everything it can. But we're learning more
and more every day, and I'm gonna just leave it
at that, and you know, just leave it at that. Yeah,
I think, um, one thing, and this probably may sound crass,
but you just sort of learned to rise above it
and ignore it because it used to really bother me,
and then I just started saying, you know, none of

(36:40):
this matters, like they're not going to do anything. These
people are hiding behind a keyboard. And all the people
that I went into, like I have a When we
launched the PS four, everyone got jackets that said PS
four Launch Team, and I would just sometimes wear that
out not thinking, and I would have people come up
in grocery stores and in malls and just randomly and
they'd be like, oh my god, you worked on the
PS four. Can I shake your hand? And they just

(37:01):
like the fans are like the best part, right, And
it's I think it's important to remember the good experiences
more than the bad ones, because if we let the
bad ones kind of occupy our mind space, then everything's
gonna just it's so difficult. I feel like for me,
I look at it as a glass of water with
the amount of sexual harassment that I deal with, and
I send it Chris, I feel like you have been
such a positive I just want to take this moment.

(37:23):
You're just you and Iffy have seen so much of
the the harassment that I've dealt with trying to be
in this space, and I just both are very supportive
men in my life. But I wanted to say I
look at it as like a glass of water, and
it fills up, fills up, fills up, fills up, and
then eventually I can't take it anymore and overflows, and
then I kind of spiral from the harassment and I

(37:44):
might take a break, I might step back, and and
it sucks. I agree, because I want to read all
my comments. I want to answer the messages, but that
means I have to see all the really bad ones,
and it's very hard mentally to handle that. I think
the scary thing is how Twitter is like the new
k KK hood. I mean, I do mean that though,
because I mean people. It's so crazy how people who

(38:07):
are hateful, spiteful individuals, they do it in a way
where they can still go to their day jobs. Like
you must morally know deep down inside that you're doing
something wrong and hateful if you're acting that way, but
I think you're It's a lot of people who are
on the Internet, and I think the biggest way that
I've used to combat hatred is with our group meeting

(38:28):
nerds who are positive, whether it's queer, people of color
or just people who are loving. You know, people who
are doing something for the better good, whatever your group is,
it's finding people in person to talk to, because I
think the best way to combat the internet hate is
making a present outside in person is the best way

(38:49):
to combat that. I was just gonna and I want
to get too political, but you know, a big part
of the Trump election for me was processing how kind
of awful it made me feel and how terrible if
everything was. And what I eventually decided after kind of
coming out of that fog, was that, you know, I
can't change anyone's mind, I can't fight the hate directly.
But what I can do is I can spend my time,

(39:11):
my energy, and my money on helping the people in
my community and then building that up. And that's kind
of what made me get into activism. It's why I
volunteer at the center. That's why the Ely Gaming Society
is starting to have fundraisers for the queer youth of
Los Angeles, so that we can get people, you know,
onto a better track, so that they're not homeless or
not alone, or they don't feel so depressed all the

(39:31):
time by all this negativity. And I can say that
by putting my focus towards those kinds of things. My
outlook has approved exponentially, even though the news on a
fairly consistent negative is crazy. Like having a positive outlet
where I can take kind of that nervous negative energy
and work it into something has made a world of
difference for me. Well, I mean you saw, like you

(39:53):
see negative homophobia like Kitako would have like a negative
you know, this homophobic thing happened today. They didn't write
about like our E three party, how we raise so
much money for the we I think we raised I
don't even know how many, like five over five thousand
dollars just for video games for LGBT, you know, youth
to play at the center um, so that they can

(40:15):
have an outlet, which is amazingly enough, by the way,
video games is such a healthy outlet that brings people together.
And and then seeing people being brought together who are
queer nerds who are thirty to forty years old, you know,
who never had that outlet and in an adult space.
I think they're positive things that are happening by us
focusing on our community. I'm hoping that maybe the news

(40:38):
can eventually pick up on some of those positive articles.
To quote a great movie by the name of Nightcrawler.
If it leads, it leads, you know, and that's the
that's what the news is in the business of the
moment the news became the business. It's less about you know,
sharing the news and more so what can we do
that's going to you know, activate people and get a

(41:02):
reaction out of them and get them sharing our stuff. So, yeah,
it does. I find that in multiple communities and multiple
things throughout the new scope, everything positive kind of gets
swept under the rug because they'd rather get someone mad
who's going to retweet it and then say something snark
and then someone's gonna add their snark. Me usually I'm

(41:23):
involved in that snark. But yeah, so it is. And
I think that is a great advice to anyone in
their communities is if you are feeling hopeless, are feeling like,
how do I make a change? Everyone thinks that, you know,
I find that a lot of people believe that you
need a million dollars to make meaningful change, and that's

(41:46):
just not the case. You know, meaningful change could just
be as simple as mentoring you know, someone who is
you know just like you, or someone who you think
needs it. You know, Like I was thinking about the
whole middle, whole America. Excuse that we were talking about earlier,
and I was like, to say that you don't think

(42:07):
this movie will do well because of Middle America is
to say that you don't believe that there's a young
gay kid in Middle America, That there isn't a young
Asian kid in Middle America. There there isn't a young
black kid in Middle America, or that there's no one
in Middle America that has the empathy to take in
this story and and enjoy it and understand it and

(42:28):
like it because, like Chris said, it's you know, Simon
being gay is a part of the story, but in
the end, it's still a great story. And I feel
like it's unfair to kind of scapegoat Middle America. We
often based on the excuse that Hollywood likes to get
away with this Middle America. You're saying they are dumb,
that they are all bigoted. It's all white, and it's

(42:51):
all white males in Middle America, and that's why you
can never do it. When I wouldn't care if only
one little black kid in Oklahoma got to see Black Panther,
that would have made it work there, Or one gay
kid in you know, Oklahoma who got to see love
Simon like that, that to me is more powerful than

(43:12):
you know, a thousand kids who who are in a
coastal city that you know, can eventually hopefully find a community.
You know. But I think the problem is I think
people just want good stories. And the problem is like
there will be a movie with a black superhero or
a woman superhero that, for whatever reason the development cycle

(43:33):
someone doesn't believe in. They're like, they won't like this,
they don't put the right resources into it. The actual movie,
video game, whatever media format it is isn't good because
they didn't believe in it, and then it fails in
like see, I told you it wouldn't do well because
people don't want women as superheroes. And they're like, no,
it's because Catwoman was an awful, awful, like it just

(43:54):
wasn't a good movie. But then you can, I know,
for the wrong reasons. But then you see wonder Woman,
which was a well written movie with the right cast
and everything. It's like, as long as something is well written,
people will watch it. People will by the Last of
Us too, because it's a well written video game. They
don't care that, you know what, I mean whatnot. So yeah,

(44:18):
I did want to go over a couple of more
queer characters before we moved on. One of them, Valkyrie
Tessa Thompson real life couple Tessa Thompson and Janelle Monet.
H I'm so glad they found each other because no
one else deserves them. I don't know if you guys
watched Luke Cage this season, but Shades, that was very

(44:39):
exciting to have them openly I guess kind of openly
confirmed at least I think the show runner did confirmed
that that he's queer and they actually had a moment
of development for his character, so that was really nice.
The Walking Dead. My friend Ross Markwan plays Aaron on there,
um and I believe that they also have Tara and
very LGBT. Yeah, TVs. I think TV is the first

(45:02):
format that's enough power Gaze have gone and involved with
TV ad you know, but we have shown that, like
like with anything, all that matters is a good is
good writing, good story, good you know, direction and it
and everything else, that it should be different characters and yeah,
oh uh, Negasonic teenage Warhead, she's so badass. I mean,

(45:25):
I wish that they had done more to develop their
like her relationship and Deadpool to like even she kind
of was pretty much just a side character, which again
we see we keep seeing, but I do think she's
so cool. She actually sorry for it, but she actually
requested that is I believe pan sexual or bisexual, and

(45:45):
she was like, you could make my character lesbian, but
I don't want it to be a thing in the movie. Yeah,
and again I get that, like we keep going back
and forth of like I wish that they would address
it more, but then and maybe it's not necessarily that
it needs to be addressed with her, but just because
it's not addressed enough. Off, well, I think they actually
addressed it pretty well because it's like here's me and
my girlfriend. That's it. That's it, and that's all they
had to do, as long as it's not like some

(46:07):
like the Deadpool two director two years later coming out
saying that she was a lesbian the whole time, and
then there's are It's like, okay, you know what I mean,
like they dressed as long as you mean I mean
not that necessarily, I mean having character development, like being
able to have a character growth with your romantic part.
I mean I just missed her in the movie in general,
like I just wanted more of her general. Yeah. Yeah.

(46:28):
And then two other just main points that I want
to say. Stephen Universe had the first cartoon lesbian wedding.
Um yeah, that's really cool, Like, you know, it's not
something that they'd probably be able to do even five
years ago, I don't know, Cartoon Network. And then Batgirl
in the comics had the first transgender wedding in the comics.
I believe that was when Gayl Simone was still writing. Yeah,

(46:49):
and North I think The North Star had a wedding
issue as well. Well. There's um Sin of Grace, who
I got to meet on a DC shoot that I did.
He is doing Iceman. I don't know if you follow
that at all, but that is he had a coming
out moment in the comics, and then it's kind of
his development as a superhero, but also having to deal
with with coming out, which is great because especially as

(47:11):
if nerds are from you know, a community where their
parents are you know, probably homophobic or whatever, they can
just like sneak in an Iceman and their parents are
gonna say it's a comic book, and their parents are
gonna they're like, oh, it's this masculine looking character. They're
not gonna say anything, so they're writing something I think
more than what's needed, more than they probably know by

(47:32):
doing that. Yeah, I think we need to take a
quick break, but when you get back, we're going to
jump into the rest of this and keep it spicy.
Oh right, what's up is your boy? You know who

(47:54):
it is if he's still here with Danny and our
wonderful guests Christopher and Cannon, and we're talking about I
feel like it's a real open discussion about you know,
lgbt Q and nerd um and I think it's real cool.
Thank you for joining us and letting us Yeah, thank
you for having I will say, I'm really excited too
for the nerd fam that's going to check this out,

(48:17):
because I've seen nerd fam tweed net of me and
they'll have the rainbow flag in their screen name, and
you know that's how we know. I'd like that we've
have made our for lack of a better description, planted
our flags and our Twitter where it's like, you know,
Nigerians will throw the Nigerian fat. Dominicans love putting that
Dominican flag in their joint. You know, the LGBTQ community

(48:41):
has the rainbow flag. We all know where we at
just so you know who you're talking to. Well, it's
cool because even like PlayStation changed their icon during Pride Month,
symbol Nation did too, and I was it's funny because
you had like a lot of bitter people and sometimes
a few of them were straight. So I was like,
chill that. We're like, oh the consumerism and this, and

(49:03):
Guy Brandham did a real funny joke of being like, oh,
I'm sorry that for once, we're being accepted and not
burned at the stake and you feel bitter, Like it
was really great. Of course I'm not doing it as
great as Guy, because well, people would tweet up Funimation
and they would just reply with gay anime gifts and
I loved it so much because they have they also

(49:25):
owned that like volleyball. The volleyball boys one and the
swim team were at that event right where they just
had like a bunch of boys and petos and then
girls were young. I was like, what is Oh, yeah,
it was my family. I love them so much. I
remember one and something you can get in there. I

(49:46):
remember once um I was announced as like a host
on something and someone like, I'm sorry, but do you
even know anything about Dragon Ball? And someone one of
the Funimation people want on the account and was like, oh,
she knows, and like tweeted it out to everybody. I
else have to say they been very supportive because Danny
has put us in contact with Funimation, and just as
a gay video game you know group, Funimation is donated

(50:09):
so so much, especially when we had our E three
after party just to shout out. Fundimation gave us stuff,
Square Enix gave us a ton of stuff, and of
course PlayStation, you know, gave us all these free PlayStations
to give out. So it's great that you know, they've
been PlayStations. Huh. The weird thing is we still get

(50:29):
like we had, like Nintendo nerds show up and they're like,
where's our switch, and we're like, well, I mean, yeah,
it's a PlayStation events, it's PlayStation, and yeah, good luck
with getting Nintendo. Yeah sponsored anything LGBT. Alright, well, speaking
of speaking of finding your space, let's talk about the

(50:50):
first gay space on the Internet. It was called s
oc dot M O T S S yeah, and basically
anticipated how we use social networks today. Right in Programmer
Steveder started a discussion for him called net months later
sock Moths on the used net news group system. Fun fact,

(51:14):
So I had this super hyper nerd who I went
to high school with. I forget his name, but I
remember he was very practical and he told me and
it's so funny because I'm mad. I was mad then
and now I'm even more mad because he was right
because I used to do art and uh, I would
like do the art and then I would tell him

(51:34):
like the whole story behind, like the comic I was
trying to make and all this stuff, and he straight
up to my face was like, yeah, your art is
not good, but you'll probably be an amazing writer. And
I remember being like this dude, and like I'm a
professional writer now kin, yeah, I'm mad about that. Your

(51:57):
gay friend that a friend, You'll be a great writer.
He uh. He was this other dude. He was like
almost stopped. He was like a Jehovah's witness, and I like,
so maybe, but he was really into building computers. And

(52:22):
this was like back when I was a freshman, so
this was hella new to me. And he had this
guy who was like his kind of mentor and was
teaching him about building computers, and he was like, you
gotta check out this thing called newsgroups, newsgroups or where
it's at. You gotta go on newsgroups. Uh. And he
kind of told me how to do it, but I
never figured out how to work. I had like the

(52:43):
client to launch into newsgroups, but like, it's crazy reading
about his news groups was like early Internet stuff. But anyway,
we'll suck. So suck is it suck? MOTS just we're
gonna just someone will correct us probably what I want
to say. MOTS stood for members of the same set, yes,
and so it was a way for it was essentially
had threads and it was a way for people to

(53:04):
to talk and members to talk. And it was actually
one of the biggest membership communities of the early Internet.
And it's really interesting because you can still go U
search on sock mats and see all of these forums
from the eighties and see the first almost like the
first time of like gay communication then and especially during

(53:26):
a you know, troublesome time of the AIDS epidemic and
everything it was as a gay person. It's it's really
hard because it's not like you know, when you have
a Latino family or a black family behind you. You
have people to kind of give your your culture, not
just do are we not born from obviously gay parents,
but a lot of people from the eighties died, and
a lot of these amazing innovative LGBT people are dead

(53:49):
now and we will never really will get their stories
told to us. It's great to see the conversation still
there in print talking about dealing with some of the
same things that our community still faces, and and seeing
that in print just made me feel like just I
got really emotional reading some of it because I was like, wow,

(54:09):
this is what and also how little things have changed.
You can kind of see how the early development of
internet talked like it was very much like reading a
gay reddit threat of people just back and forth, just
talking about I think there was even just like a
huge debate on speedos or something. It was like a
weird like Speedo colors, and I was like, this is

(54:32):
something that would still just be on my Facebook feed. Now.
I know that is wild because it is because there's
one thing when you look at movies that portray a
time and like, you know, especially like if you for
lack of a better movie, even though this movie it
was problematic a f but like, um, it was about
the riots. Um, but like you have had all weight,

(54:57):
all white gay cast no, which I mean black trans
women are what They've really laid the groundwork for the
LGBT movement. They did so much for us, and to
see them just being completely underrepresented when they did so
much work, and then just to see white gay men

(55:17):
in the front of this movie was it's so sad. No,
I mean they still do. It's it's crazy. We're finally
getting I mean we're getting what's the show, uh pope,
finally giving black trans women, I mean just trans women
in general, the most underrepresented group in this country, just
a voice that they need. I think that's so cool

(55:38):
about members of the same sex as um, this this
group is that Like also, you hear movies, there's so
many movies about the AIDS epidemic, and to finally actually
see what the conversations were just like there's no, it
wasn't a published article, It wasn't It was just like
people conversing about AIDS, a lot of misinformation, a lot

(56:00):
out of people that just had no idea what it
was happening. And just see those conversations just typed up
is something that if it wasn't for this, we would
not be able to experience anything like And that's what
That's what the point I was making is like when
you see that portrayed in movies, you're getting this kind
of dramatized, kind of assumed idea of what's going on,

(56:20):
and this is just cold hard facts. These are what
the people at the time we're talking about. Like imagine
if you can go back to like the civil rights
movement and see, like, you know, the sneak shots that
Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were shooting at each
other on the forums, Like you're getting a very real representation,
and that I think is something that's going to be

(56:40):
cool about the future, is like when we move from now,
people are going to be able to pull the things
that we've said and it's not going to be a
question of you know, this is kind of like what
the general idea was it you have it right there.
It's also I think the it's why there are so
many LGBT nerds is because most people, I mean, Cannon

(57:02):
and I came from both very homophobic backgrounds, and I
think we both latched onto video games and nerd culture
because that was our safe space, that was our favor
space for figuring out what being gay is. That my
first the first person I ever told that I was
gay too was an internet friend that I've still did
this day. I've never you know, met, but someone that

(57:24):
I would do. That was the first part, because that
was safe to me, was telling someone on the on
the internet when I was you know, you know, young enough.
That was the only safe space for us. That's the
only way to find information, That was the only way,
especially in small rural towns. That that's it. I mean,
that's so interesting to me, if you don't mind elaborating,
what was that experience? Like? How how? What was the reaction?

(57:47):
You know, when I first came out to my parents
was one of the most difficult times ever. I I
didn't talk to my mom for like months afterwards, and um,
it kind of makes me feel sad and a little
empty that the only loving and reporting um relationship that
I could have to tell someone with someone on the
internet that I would never get that comfort from, is

(58:08):
a straight guy on the internet that I played an
online game with. But that was the only person I
felt comfortable with and the only person that I had
and it's kind of why I mean Cannon and I
both gravitated towards finding this. You know, l A Gaming
society is so that we could get people who are
queer nerds to actually be able to meet up and

(58:30):
to actually feel like they have a support group because
even especially in even though LA is very liberal, there's
so many places outside of l A, California that are
very very homophobic. People that don't have homes, and it's
hard enough for someone that's young and charismatic to move
to I mean that to move to l A and
be beautiful for people who it's difficult for them to

(58:51):
talk to, we have we have to give them a
safe space because I feel like no one's fighting for them,
and no one really fought for us. So we kind
of had to do something to kind of create a space.
And that's why I mean Cannon's family to me, you know,
because we had to create our own family. And I
don't know, the Internet, the Internet, we would have never
had LAGS if it wasn't for Reddit, for you know,

(59:12):
the gay forms. I mean you can talk about that
a little bit. Yeah, I mean that there's there's a
lot there, but I think, um, you're exactly right. I think.
You know, gaming for so many people is their outlet
because a lot of people live in a situation or
a circumstance that is dire, or is frustrating or is sad.
So the nice thing about gaming is you know that

(59:35):
that can be an outlet and escape for everyone. The
downside of that is a lot of people take that
negativity with them from whatever suffering it is that they have,
and they bring it into that space. And that's why
you have the homophobia and the misogyny and the racism
and all the ugly parts, right, And a lot of people,
I think don't realize that that they're bringing that with them.

(59:55):
So when you're when you're queer like we are, and
you you want to have you want to have your outlet, right,
You want to have that thing you grew up with
where you bonded, and you want to have that safe
space where you can play those games and just enjoy yourself. Right. So,
and to kind of bounce off with you said, I'm
a big proponent of creating your own family. It's something
that a lot of queer people have to do because

(01:00:16):
we don't have we we don't really have another option.
So creating that queer family around something like gaming has
been a really really great experience, and I think it
is something we fought really hard for over the past
few years, but it's it's worth it. Like we we
just had a meet up last weekend on right, We
just took a bunch of nerds to the beach, and

(01:00:37):
it's like every time we have a new meet up,
we always meet new people from different countries and different
counties and different places, like from all over and they're
just like, yeah, my friend you know, told me about
this group because I didn't have any friends when I
moved here, and my family doesn't talk to me when
I came out, And this is really cool. Like I've
never met this many gay people before, and most of
the time they're connected from meeting someone from the Internet. Yeah,

(01:01:00):
that's why nerd curl culture is so important and why
internet culture is so important for us, because I mean,
I just can't imagine what it would be like our
where I would be without the Internet and being able
to meet people and find people that were like me.
You know. I think a lot of people can relate
to their internet friends almost being closer than in real

(01:01:22):
life people that they know I know, I see that
a lot in discord if you and I used to
host at a channel called hyper RPG, which is a
very positive channel, but they had a very positive discord
of people that could talk about their problems and issues
in a way that they wouldn't be able to around
their family. And I found that. So I would pop
in there and and be talking about things and and

(01:01:42):
harassment and stuff that I was dealing with, and they
would all come to my aid. But it was just
so nice to see the positive parts of of nerd dum,
like you were saying, and to remind ourselves of that, yeah,
that it's not all gamer gait and crazy, just death
threats toward that's a small and there. And at the
same time, they're trying to find a movement that they

(01:02:06):
can latch onto that makes them feel like they're a
part of something and they're angry about other things besides
just But that is just being projected the wrong way.
All we can do is create positive movements and hopefully
get people that that might be a part of this.
You know, there are a lot of people, for instance,
that are in gamer Gate that are really really great
people that are just have a lot of misinformation that

(01:02:28):
just want to be a part of something and they
want to change the gaming industry and they wanted things
to be positive, but they have a lot of mislead
information and they start taking out um or they might
not even take things out on women, but they support
other people that do. And I think all we can
do is create positive groups where they feel like people
who feel like they need to be a part of

(01:02:49):
something can latch onto those positive groups and create something positive.
If he was going to say, I think that we
might have to take in landing, I know I wanted
to touch on Star Trek, but I think that Danny
was like, I'm scared someone's gonna, you know, be mad
that we didn't talk about l T things because Star
Trek was a huge part of what I'm gonna say
is I wanted to I did want to address it,

(01:03:10):
but I'll address it on us our Star Trek episode. Actually,
um so, Kenny might have to have you back for that,
because that's something that you would love that, yes, you
talk about gay Star Trek exactly, Well, we need to
talk about the lack of it for a huge part
and then how it just kind of came in. But anyways, Um,

(01:03:30):
where can everyone find you? And if people want to
join any of your organizations, if you could let us know. Yeah,
you can type up lags that's lags, l A Gaming Society,
g a y gaming uh Society on Facebook. We have
a Facebook group. Would love to add you on there.
My name is at Tinder Chris on Instagram and Twitter.

(01:03:53):
Also just as a plug, check out Cooking on High
on Netflix. That's a show I'm on. We need a
season two so I needed money, So please watch Clicking
on High on Netflix and get me a job. Um
Canon h Yeah, I feel free to add me on
Facebook if you're so inclined. If you're into more nerdy
fun stuff and video games. I love expanding my online family.

(01:04:16):
Also fund my Instagram at Canon dot gift. Yeah, reach
out to Yeah Tinder Chris and Cannon dot gift on Instagram.
We love helping out, Like, by the way, is there
any young queer listeners or anyone that needs help or
any advice. You can reach out to us and we
would love to give you advice and help you guys out. Yes,
and I also love the anime post that you have

(01:04:37):
the funniest Instagram stories Chris, I go through all of them.
It's all sailor Moon and Drag. Yeah in there too.
I am at MS Danny Fernandez. Um, yeah, what what?
Please check out our tea public. Everyone's been loving those shirts.
We did a get away, will probably do one again

(01:04:58):
in the future, but in the meantime, go grab some shirts.
I'm going to get the Batman one. I'm really excited
as hell. Oh I will be at New York Comic Con,
so I get to announce my Yes, I'm so excited
to share some news with y'all. But yes, if you're
going to be at New York Comic Con, I will
also be there. This is my first time, so tell
me what to do and and uh yeah, and and

(01:05:21):
I have a panel on Friday that I get to
announced in a little bit. So okay, I was waiting
for you to announce it and you didn't say anything.
I have a pass. I'll probably be hanging out. You know,
you might see me there, you might not pay attention.
Catch me at I F Y N W A D
I D E on Twitter and Instagram. If these on Twitch.

(01:05:43):
Thank you all the nerd fan coming through dropping those
Twitch Prime subs. And here is your regular reminder that
if you twitch prime sub you gotta do what every
month it does an auto renew. I need them bucks, babe,
thank you so much. I love y'all and as always, wait,
I wanted to say, um, please tweet at us your
favorite queer characters are like when you first filed yourself
representing anything that we might have missed. We'd need any

(01:06:06):
references to we probably missed a lot to help us out.
Definitely do that tweet it. We're gonna retweet you, share
the love. Really want y'all feeling nice and represented, because,
like our motto says, it's a nerdy deep dive for everyone. Uh,
don't make me. Don't make me do the tweet where
retweet you. Then I drag you. Then I go to

(01:06:30):
the part where it says a nerdy deep dive for
everyone and zoom in on everyone. You know what I'm
talking about. You know what I'm asking you not to do,
so don't do it. But on that note, stay nerdy everyone,

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Episode 24: Queer Representation In Geek Culture