Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Nerdificent. I'm if
Speaker 1: you wide away and sitting in the new corner of
Speaker 1: the table kicked out. Yeah, it is I your other
Speaker 1: co host, Danny Fernandez, and today we are joined up
Speaker 1: top by comedian executive producer at Enemies of Dorothy, an
Speaker 1: event coordinator at LAGS, which is the l A Gaming Society,
Speaker 1: Christopher Smith Bryant. Yeah, this is where I talk. Yes,
Speaker 1: I am sitting in my spot. It feels weird. I
Speaker 1: feel weird and I've never been here before. No, I'm
Speaker 1: a incordinator at LAGS, l A Gaming Society, So I'm
Speaker 1: super excited to be on your show and talk about
Speaker 1: gay stuff. Yes, so we have another I know spoiler.
Speaker 1: You already said, what are our episode is? I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: They can see it in the title. And sitting next
Speaker 1: to him is the technical program manager at PlayStation A
Speaker 1: gaming enthusiasts and LGBTQ activist Cannon's backman. Hey, thanks for
Speaker 1: joining us. Thank you so much for having me. I
Speaker 1: wonder how did y'all meet? How do you two know
Speaker 1: each other? Oh my god? We okay, well we did
Speaker 1: go on one day. Okay, I'm sorry I did not
Speaker 1: know this. No, it's it's okay. It didn't go well, um,
Speaker 1: but we're friends now, so it went well enough. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think I think sometimes you meet people, especially being LGBT,
Speaker 1: you meet someone that you have an attraction for, but
Speaker 1: you're like, I'm not sexually at but I'm so attracted
Speaker 1: to this person, and you're like, oh, it's just because
Speaker 1: our souls are like friends souls. We um. We run
Speaker 1: the l A Gaming Society Together, which is one of
Speaker 1: the largest gay video game groups in America, where we
Speaker 1: create these giant parties and programs for LGBT nerds that
Speaker 1: live in Los Angeles to kind of meet up UM.
Speaker 1: And it's just been a really cool way. I mean
Speaker 1: I met Cannon through that and we've met multiple friends
Speaker 1: through that as well. Yeah, you guys actually had the
Speaker 1: Dragon Ball Fighters tournament that I was at that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we had a great time with Funimation, uh doing Dragonball
Speaker 1: Fighters tournament. It's a really great way because I feel like,
Speaker 1: especially LGBT people who moved to l A, they feel lost,
Speaker 1: and especially if they're nerds and they might have, you know,
Speaker 1: some sort of social issues like you know, aspergers or whatever.
Speaker 1: It's a great way for them too. I said that, right, right, Okay,
Speaker 1: it's a great way for them to meet with other nerds.
Speaker 1: I did it to other nerds who can't socialize like
Speaker 1: I can't socialize Christianize. The extent of our friendship is
Speaker 1: sending memes to each other like four times a day.
Speaker 1: That's how we communicate. That's all of my friendships. And
Speaker 1: then that's it. And I'll see Danny like once every
Speaker 1: six months. But I feel closer to her because of
Speaker 1: our memes. That's a millennial friendship. And I need up
Speaker 1: our meme game. We seen them here and there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're we are meme light usually it's just only it's true.
Speaker 1: We spill a lot of tea in our in our chat.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to talk about a little bit canon
Speaker 1: about you work with WITS. Is that what it's called
Speaker 1: Women in Technology? So yeah, yeah, yeah, can you tell
Speaker 1: us a little bit about that group? Sure. So one
Speaker 1: of the really cool things about being at PlayStation now
Speaker 1: is we're experiencing a lot of change for the better.
Speaker 1: We've we weren't from two different companies at Sony that
Speaker 1: we're considered kind of the redheaded stepchild. We were the
Speaker 1: gaming division UM and now since the PlayStation four is launched,
Speaker 1: we've kind of become the crown jewel of the Sony companies,
Speaker 1: and that's ushered in a lot of really positive change.
Speaker 1: So our headquarters moved from Tokyo to san Mateo, and
Speaker 1: we're kind of embracing a lot of modern UM culture
Speaker 1: things and culture changes UM to kind of, I guess,
Speaker 1: invite more people to be a part of what it
Speaker 1: is that we do at Sony. So what has come
Speaker 1: with that has been a lot of diversity initiatives, and
Speaker 1: one of them was m making what we call employee
Speaker 1: resource groups, and we haven't played resource groups. There's five
Speaker 1: at Sony currently. There's Women in Technology at Sony, which
Speaker 1: is our women's group. There's Proud at Sony, which is
Speaker 1: our LGBT group. There's PAN, which is PlayStation African American
Speaker 1: Network at Sony. I think it's PANS, and then there's
Speaker 1: a fourth and fifth one. I don't remember what the
Speaker 1: other on are. But having all those groups that Sony
Speaker 1: has been a really really good experience because it's been
Speaker 1: able to bring people I work with together in a
Speaker 1: really different way, in a really interesting way, and it's
Speaker 1: had a lot of really interesting effects on our work
Speaker 1: culture and on the projects we do and pretty much everything.
Speaker 1: It's been really great well with Cannon and I, especially
Speaker 1: especially because we're running events with the l A Gaming
Speaker 1: Society UM. PlayStation let us hold their first LGBT E
Speaker 1: three party. Oh that's so cool, which was really amazing
Speaker 1: because we we just like put up an event like Okay,
Speaker 1: this will be fine, and luckily we put up an
Speaker 1: event on Facebook because like within a week, I think
Speaker 1: there are two thousand people that clicked interested in it
Speaker 1: and we're like, oh, sorry, were you having this at
Speaker 1: your house? Because we luvely had an event space for it.
Speaker 1: But I remember Cannon's like, I don't know how we're
Speaker 1: gonna fill this, and we're like, oh, we're not going
Speaker 1: to be able to get everyone in. But it was
Speaker 1: kind of a cool moment, especially because I don't think
Speaker 1: anyone realized how many LGBT nerds there are and how
Speaker 1: underrepresented they are as a group, and it was an
Speaker 1: amazing way, especially to get a lot of people who
Speaker 1: worked for PlayStation to kind of be like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: this is a huge, huge, huge group. And especially it
Speaker 1: was awesome because they had the E three presentation from
Speaker 1: PlayStation actually opened up with a lesbian moment, a lesbian
Speaker 1: kiss between two characters for the Last of Us two.
Speaker 1: Uh so it's just a really powerful moment for all
Speaker 1: of us. Also, what it was really cool too, was
Speaker 1: because Ellie being lesbian was alluded to in the DLC
Speaker 1: but not confirmed, and I feel like a lot of
Speaker 1: LGB characters are has have to deal with that with
Speaker 1: the off screen you know representation, where it's like we're
Speaker 1: supposed to assume that or even like you know, uh,
Speaker 1: to take it back to Nickelodeon, Like a few people
Speaker 1: were wishy washy with the end of Legend of Cora
Speaker 1: because it wasn't as strong of it ending to really
Speaker 1: confirm everything. So to kind of just have that kiss
Speaker 1: there and like yep, we're here, it was I even
Speaker 1: thought it was like really cool because you know, I
Speaker 1: think just from the perspective of being like a black
Speaker 1: person and wanting to see you know, representation, it's cool.
Speaker 1: Like it's it's funny how like we can cheer each
Speaker 1: other on, like everyone something. I feel like some people
Speaker 1: in our respective like you know groups, think that it's
Speaker 1: a contest when it really is just we want everybody winning.
Speaker 1: Like I was hyped to see crazy rich agents do well.
Speaker 1: I'm like, yes, it get it, you know, And I
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, it's just like there's room for everyone,
Speaker 1: and it is funny because you know when you do
Speaker 1: have like so many I think white dude bros think like,
Speaker 1: oh man, this is dumb and trying to you know,
Speaker 1: s j W and all this when they don't even know.
Speaker 1: Like I think it's crazier because I feel like lgbt
Speaker 1: Q is a little more invisible, Like you can, like
Speaker 1: someone can be Chris's homeboy and not know that he
Speaker 1: is gay and then be like, what do you think
Speaker 1: of this LGBT You know s j W always clogging
Speaker 1: up trying to ruin my games. You know, they would
Speaker 1: have to be blind to not know that I'm gay,
Speaker 1: but you would actually be surprised though you are. No,
Speaker 1: they just don't sometimes they don't think of it, like
Speaker 1: they just don't what we're gonna say. You are wearing
Speaker 1: a sailor moon necklace with nelace, another very LGBT pro
Speaker 1: you know, I mean all of the sailors. I feel
Speaker 1: like in general, but specifically Neptune and urineus are so
Speaker 1: and I saw that you were posting that you were
Speaker 1: watching it this past weekend. You know what was amazing
Speaker 1: is for a show that was in the nineties, there
Speaker 1: was a character that said that they had they admitted
Speaker 1: of having a crush on Usagi and most animals at
Speaker 1: the time, the main character, if someone of the same
Speaker 1: sex admitted that they were attracted to him, they would
Speaker 1: be like, WHOA gross, So like try to make a
Speaker 1: comedic moment out of it. And the weird thing was Usagi,
Speaker 1: which is like she took care of the person's feelings.
Speaker 1: She said, I don't have the same you know, emotions
Speaker 1: that you feel towards me. But it was just like
Speaker 1: really sweet about it. And it was such a progressive
Speaker 1: show in that way for its time that it means
Speaker 1: so much to you know, ALGBT nerds for that reason. Well,
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you guys, like what were some
Speaker 1: of the characters and shows that you latched onto as
Speaker 1: a child, or when did you first feel like you
Speaker 1: saw yourself in media were represented. Oh that's a tough one. Um,
Speaker 1: this is going to be horrible to say, but I
Speaker 1: think it started with fan fiction. Yeah, I really started
Speaker 1: with like fan web comics, like even just seeing because
Speaker 1: I I mean I remember as far as like, I'm
Speaker 1: really into comic books, the as a Marvel fan. The
Speaker 1: Young Adventures was kind of like and is it North
Speaker 1: Star as well from X Men. Yeah, that were the first,
Speaker 1: like big ones from Marvel and then Batwoman, But it
Speaker 1: kind of started before then, seeing like web comics on
Speaker 1: the Internet. Some of them were very racy, um of different,
Speaker 1: like characters that I would ship together like people, you know,
Speaker 1: are like fan fiction and sometimes it's just sweet to
Speaker 1: see people that I like shipped together. I think that
Speaker 1: was actually the first thing I had because there really
Speaker 1: as a kid, there wasn't there wasn't really that much
Speaker 1: representation as someone who's you know, turning thirty soon. There
Speaker 1: really wasn't as a kid any representation, especially in video games.
Speaker 1: They're birdel like that was a transgender bird from in
Speaker 1: Sailor Moon. That was in Sailor Moon. They changed in
Speaker 1: the American version, they changed the lesbian scouts to be cousins.
Speaker 1: And I think all of us at the time, we're like,
Speaker 1: what type of relationship, like are you having with your cousin?
Speaker 1: I mean, my it is just weird. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I split my tongue into my cousin's mouth. But
Speaker 1: sometimes how people get cannon? What about you like? What
Speaker 1: were if not like that you felt represented? What were
Speaker 1: some of the characters and shows that you at least
Speaker 1: latched onto as a as a kid, like? What characters
Speaker 1: did you like? So that's a good question. I grew
Speaker 1: up watching He Man, which I think is why I'm gay. No,
Speaker 1: I'm just makes sense, makes sense? Um. I think the
Speaker 1: earliest video game reference that I can think it was
Speaker 1: actually from Dragon Age. I don't know if anyone ever
Speaker 1: played Dragon Age, but it was the first game I
Speaker 1: played that had gay optional romances, which I played that
Speaker 1: game every which way to get all of the gay
Speaker 1: romances because I wanted because it was like my first
Speaker 1: exposure to that and I was like, holy crap, Like
Speaker 1: even replayed it as a female character in romance all
Speaker 1: the female characters that you can romance, and it was
Speaker 1: just cool to have that option because I've never had
Speaker 1: that option before. Yeah, speaking of that, that actually reminds
Speaker 1: I now can think the very first video game for
Speaker 1: me was The Sims. The Sims because I think I
Speaker 1: remember them adding like LGBT relationship and there's a huge
Speaker 1: controversy around it, but when you could add, when you
Speaker 1: could woo hoo, and the bed like that was my
Speaker 1: first gay porn was pixelated woo hoo, and I was
Speaker 1: wild too, just just the pixelated like who and then
Speaker 1: it would have like almost the fighting smoke, like okay,
Speaker 1: I'll own crazy Simsy's. I was like, is this what
Speaker 1: it's supposed to be? When you see it's not pixe
Speaker 1: laid what um? I I would say fan fiction was
Speaker 1: how I explored my sexuality as well. Um and also
Speaker 1: just like anime what is it? I forgot the name
Speaker 1: of it now when it's not the manga, but it's
Speaker 1: like fan made manga. I can't remember tom Anyways, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of exploration there. But I was able to be,
Speaker 1: I guess the best way to describe it as a
Speaker 1: passenger in that experience because my best friend in high
Speaker 1: school came out to me in like like the summer
Speaker 1: between eighth grade and freshman year, and it was yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a good guy. Guys, I'm one of the
Speaker 1: hashtag woke Yeah no, And it's so funny because to me,
Speaker 1: that's also kind of been my frustration with bigotry because
Speaker 1: it was that simple it's just like you're still the same.
Speaker 1: Why would I care like who you love? It was
Speaker 1: so too for me to think back and as a
Speaker 1: like thirteen year old have no inhibitions and no like,
Speaker 1: oh man, this is that or whatever. It's It's like
Speaker 1: crazy to see how grown adults will like go back
Speaker 1: and forth on this with nothing. And also I'm like
Speaker 1: a strong proponent of like my own business, you know,
Speaker 1: and if it has nothing to do with you, why
Speaker 1: would you even have an opinion on it? But I'm
Speaker 1: side tracking a bit, but too But like even him
Speaker 1: growing up, it was the same thing. He really kind
Speaker 1: of gravitated towards uh sailor Moon because you know, it
Speaker 1: was that same thing because they're like the uncut version.
Speaker 1: They're lesbians. It's tight and beyond that, I'm trying to
Speaker 1: think because we're both hyper nerds, Like we watched DVZ together.
Speaker 1: He made DBC has a lot of queers characters. I
Speaker 1: remember we I will bring this back. Every is the
Speaker 1: gay icon. We've talked about this. It's zarbon so so um.
Speaker 1: I remember that you posted like a picture. I think
Speaker 1: it was a Dragon ball Z related I think I
Speaker 1: was in my underwear next to freezer and we're both
Speaker 1: sticking our butts out as you do, as you do
Speaker 1: on Instagram, and somebody was like, don't bring your homosexuality
Speaker 1: into Dragon ball Z and I'd be like, have you
Speaker 1: watched it? Well, my favorite is Danny. Then went off
Speaker 1: on this person and she's like, oh you think you
Speaker 1: know about Dragon ball Z And I was like this
Speaker 1: comment I should say, I thought like I brought the facts. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I used to post these like belfies on Instagram and
Speaker 1: I just put like, you know, hashtag butt or whatever.
Speaker 1: But I think people straight guys would just see a
Speaker 1: feminine figure and be turned on by it and then
Speaker 1: like then look at the picture and then realize that
Speaker 1: there's a guy, and um, I think, yeah, exactly. We've
Speaker 1: we've all been there, you know Eusually you're like, oh, like,
Speaker 1: I I've done that with your post because so many
Speaker 1: boot models that like, I'll see Chris come up, but
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not reading the screen. I'm like, oh nice.
Speaker 1: But I was like, oh, look it's Chris again. But
Speaker 1: you're very supportive. Yeah, yeah, very supportive. But I think
Speaker 1: that's what happens is then he got angry and then
Speaker 1: try to school me on Dragon ball Z and Danny
Speaker 1: was not having it. She was like, no, well, it's
Speaker 1: so fascinating to me because anime they don't have necessarily
Speaker 1: the same weird religious, extremely structured like homophobia and stuff
Speaker 1: that seems to be over here where they made Where
Speaker 1: a Cure to Rama made a lot of these characters
Speaker 1: kind of gender fluid for a reason and has commented
Speaker 1: on this. So it's just frustrating to me that people
Speaker 1: are like, no, it's this, when well, that's what's so
Speaker 1: funny is all the like super weaves you know, who
Speaker 1: want to copy everything about Japan will just skip over
Speaker 1: that part, which is the Japan's not having their huge
Speaker 1: obsession over masculinity where there is that kind of gender fluidity.
Speaker 1: There's so many anime characters that are androgynous that can
Speaker 1: go either way. I mean even like Double Man cry Baby,
Speaker 1: like you know, spoilers, but I'm gonna give you thirty
Speaker 1: seconds to speed past this if you really want to
Speaker 1: see it. But at the end, when Satan has like
Speaker 1: straight up breast and it's like never addressed, it's never
Speaker 1: like a thing. It's like, yeah, no, I I am
Speaker 1: a man, I have breast, I am beautiful and this
Speaker 1: is in let me destroy the world. You know, japan
Speaker 1: culture is very interesting though they because they still have homophobia,
Speaker 1: but it's different. And I believe homosexuality is illegal in
Speaker 1: Japan for Japanese citizens. Is that correct canon Yeah, so
Speaker 1: it's it's an interesting law they have. I I go
Speaker 1: to Japan fairly regularly for work, so I have a
Speaker 1: little bit of experience with Japanese culture and it's fascinating
Speaker 1: and I love going to Japan. But one of the
Speaker 1: really interesting things I learned very early on was so
Speaker 1: things like institution are illegal between Japanese citizens, but prostitution
Speaker 1: between a Japanese citizen and a non Japanese citizen is
Speaker 1: not legal. And you'll find a lot of things or
Speaker 1: is like I'm sorry, yes, yeah, what about homosexuality in Japan?
Speaker 1: So being gay is not illegal in Japan. But if
Speaker 1: you ask any Japanese people like are they're gay people here,
Speaker 1: they will tell you no. It's a very fascinating thing.
Speaker 1: Yet in a lot of their art nor culture, you'll
Speaker 1: see a lot of gender nonconforming people. You'll see a
Speaker 1: lot of queer people. You'll see people that don't fit
Speaker 1: the normal gender spectrum, so they're very comfortable with it
Speaker 1: in their art and in their style and in their culture.
Speaker 1: But if you ask them straight up, like what is
Speaker 1: the l g T community here, they'll say, oh, Japan
Speaker 1: doesn't have those. That doesn't happen here. It's bizarre. And
Speaker 1: then they'll say, if you do see it here, it's
Speaker 1: because foreigners have come here and they've like and I
Speaker 1: wonder if the art is that is like their expression
Speaker 1: of it, because like, yeah, if we're just looking at
Speaker 1: animate and like, it's so not all of it, but
Speaker 1: a lot of it is sexual and sexual between them
Speaker 1: and women, men and women, man and man, like just
Speaker 1: a large spectrum, and so yeah, I find that fascinating. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it is interesting. And that's just a whole another
Speaker 1: deep dive of a whole another culture because that they're
Speaker 1: because there's just so many nuanced levels to it. I
Speaker 1: don't think this is okay at all, because to me,
Speaker 1: the way it sounds on paper is like appropriation. You're
Speaker 1: you're willing to make money off of the imagery and
Speaker 1: having it in your media, but when it comes time
Speaker 1: to actually allow it to happen, to allow certain people
Speaker 1: to be free, now we're going to pretend they don't exist.
Speaker 1: That's well, that's their kind of way of dealing with
Speaker 1: anything in Japanese culture is just they if they don't
Speaker 1: like something or if it makes them feel uncomfortable, they
Speaker 1: kind of are just shut it down or like this
Speaker 1: isn't happening. What are you talking about? I did want
Speaker 1: to talk about, Sorry to transition. I wanted to talk
Speaker 1: about some queer characters in Ner dumay So. Some of
Speaker 1: the ones that I personally love would be zena warrior princess.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he watched her. Amazing You and
Speaker 1: I Chris have talked extensively about Wonder Woman. So and
Speaker 1: who is she? She's officially bisexual, right, which I mean
Speaker 1: it's basically been hinted forever but and was then openly confirmed.
Speaker 1: But for me, it was it was frustrating to see
Speaker 1: people upset about this when it was like, she lives
Speaker 1: on an island of all women. Women know how to
Speaker 1: pleasure other women. There's no way that these goddesses are
Speaker 1: just sleeping alone every night by themselves. I don't think
Speaker 1: anyone that's read a Wonder Woman comic was upset by it.
Speaker 1: I think it was like a lot of people like
Speaker 1: Linda Carter. No, but it's so true. And another thing
Speaker 1: I would have to say before I move off of
Speaker 1: her is that in the movie with her being with
Speaker 1: Steve Trevor and people were like, well, clearly she's not
Speaker 1: by I'm like, no, it's just the clock struck straight
Speaker 1: this time, might not next time. But that's like, you know,
Speaker 1: it's she can still be a bisexual woman and have
Speaker 1: relations with a man. That's actually how that works. That's
Speaker 1: a problem with bisex, I mean people's opinions on bisexuality
Speaker 1: in general, as they don't understand that you can be
Speaker 1: with someone that's the opposite sex and still be bisexual. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so many people take that away from bisexual people. It's
Speaker 1: sad to see that. Oh yeah, no, even to go
Speaker 1: even a little further into it. It is funny that
Speaker 1: type of nerd, which is basically, you know, for lack
Speaker 1: of a better term, just really just only trying to
Speaker 1: protect their sexual desires around the character. Like the same
Speaker 1: thing with the outrage of Shira. You know, some people
Speaker 1: are like, oh, it's just because it's done with. There
Speaker 1: is a camp of people who are like, this isn't
Speaker 1: the Shira. I remember who you know, it was very sexy,
Speaker 1: or whenever they make a character more modest than they
Speaker 1: get mad. It's like, you're not even in my eyes,
Speaker 1: a real fan of this character. You only like this
Speaker 1: care for your sexual pleasure and think that no one
Speaker 1: should touch it to make you happy in a way
Speaker 1: that the character wasn't even built for in the first place.
Speaker 1: Like you know, go to Rule thirty four and get
Speaker 1: your rocks off, believe like the actual art and the people,
Speaker 1: actual fans of the character, like let them have the
Speaker 1: things they want, which is good story progressive styte storytelling,
Speaker 1: like leave leave your like weird. You know, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to kink shame you, but leave it out of it.
Speaker 1: You know. The really funny thing just about Wonder Woman,
Speaker 1: real quick, they're really funny about Wonder Woman. So she
Speaker 1: has a totally queer origin story. There's actually a movie
Speaker 1: about her three creators, and it's a man and two
Speaker 1: women that we're in a relationship at the time that
Speaker 1: we're super into bondage, and that's why Wonder Woman's power
Speaker 1: is the lasso of truth and she would tie people off,
Speaker 1: make sense. So there's this whole like all of the
Speaker 1: queer undertones of Wonder Woman are absolutely intentional. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: do you remember even in the film in the boat
Speaker 1: scene when she was like, oh no, I about you know,
Speaker 1: pleasures or whatever with a man and a woman, and
Speaker 1: he was like, what did you find out that we
Speaker 1: don't really need you? That is a queer like moment
Speaker 1: of being like, yeah, no, we've know how to pleasure
Speaker 1: each other. We don't actually need you unless we want
Speaker 1: to have children. So, like you said, the undertones, but
Speaker 1: like if you it's there, it's there. But I wanted
Speaker 1: to know some of your favorite queer characters in gaming,
Speaker 1: or in television and film, or some of the fandoms
Speaker 1: that you are into. That's a great question. Um, I'm
Speaker 1: trying to think of It's so weird even thinking about
Speaker 1: like gay characters in video games, for instance, there's really
Speaker 1: uh so many, Like who who can you think of
Speaker 1: who's gay? I was gonna say, Chris, you actually introduced
Speaker 1: me to America Chaves, Yeah, the one that did, and
Speaker 1: she's a Marvel character. Yeah great, Batwoman's great. Um, there
Speaker 1: needs to be a little bit more representation in video
Speaker 1: games because I think the sides like the last of
Speaker 1: us there. I'm trying to think of a triple A
Speaker 1: title right now that has like a main character that
Speaker 1: is LGBT, and I can't think of one on the
Speaker 1: top of my head. Are very many UM comic books
Speaker 1: that's slowly turning around. But I mean, we're even just
Speaker 1: fighting to get a woman. I mean it's like we're
Speaker 1: finally getting a Captain Marvel movie. Like it's finally just
Speaker 1: even getting a woman on screen, or finally getting black
Speaker 1: panther on screen. It's it's a it's a it's a
Speaker 1: long uphill battle. I would say a character that I've
Speaker 1: always enjoyed who I think has some serious like Fizaz
Speaker 1: and queer overtones is Bayonetta. Yeah, all of the Bayonetta
Speaker 1: games are just super gay. I don't care what anyone says.
Speaker 1: She's a drag queen character obviously, and I don't mean
Speaker 1: that meaning that she's a man posing as well. I
Speaker 1: mean as as far as like the culture goes and
Speaker 1: as far as how she uses her sexuality, it is
Speaker 1: very and the way that she jokes in the undertones,
Speaker 1: it's a lot of almost like drag sona type of stuff. Actually,
Speaker 1: the more that you say that when you when you
Speaker 1: ask queer nerds who do they find that represents them.
Speaker 1: It's usually a lot of female characters because there aren't
Speaker 1: they're not many gay characters, especially in video games. I
Speaker 1: think there was like the Ballad of Gay Tony Grants
Speaker 1: Theft Auto four. That's another big one. It's been very
Speaker 1: lacking obviously in in video games and nerd culture. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's kind of sometimes that way where it is
Speaker 1: once again like that off screen type of stuff where
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, that person is gay. But the Division
Speaker 1: had a lesbian a kind of like your lead point person,
Speaker 1: which was Faylal. But once again that was an off
Speaker 1: screen stuff. But that one was a little tricky because
Speaker 1: that's one of those games where you get story notes
Speaker 1: through like pickups and stuff. But I don't think there
Speaker 1: was anything that leaned heavily heavily on it. But I
Speaker 1: know she and that I mean that game as a whole,
Speaker 1: because it took place in New York, had a lot
Speaker 1: of uh, a lot of like gay characters in it,
Speaker 1: like the first doctor you help references her wife who
Speaker 1: died in this and so. But like it would be
Speaker 1: nice to have like something like The Last of Us
Speaker 1: where it's like someone that people can look at and
Speaker 1: be like there there, you go right there and not
Speaker 1: have their sexuality. It's it's hard because you don't want
Speaker 1: it as a plot device. And since that, it's like,
Speaker 1: we're a liberal company, look at us like that. I
Speaker 1: think that's why The Last of Us was so perfect.
Speaker 1: It's a part of our character. It affects who you are,
Speaker 1: it affects how you Your sexuality does affect so much
Speaker 1: about your personality, but it's it's hard to get that
Speaker 1: where it affects your personality. But it's not a stereotype,
Speaker 1: and the company is not using it to make a
Speaker 1: statement there like this is just the character and this
Speaker 1: kisses because it's it's not a political statement. It's just
Speaker 1: we're showing a story, and she romance is part of
Speaker 1: the story. I do feel like some of them can
Speaker 1: be a little bit of a cop out. I agree
Speaker 1: with that, I in a different type of way. In
Speaker 1: the Latin X community, they recently had Hernandez that was
Speaker 1: named as Magnum p I and then people were like, Okay,
Speaker 1: well he's a Mexican man, so are you going to
Speaker 1: like address that at all, And they were like not really, no,
Speaker 1: It's like okay, but his America just by definition, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a little bit different than the last guy.
Speaker 1: Like his experience is, like you said, it's gonna inform,
Speaker 1: it's gonna shape is his experience. And so for me,
Speaker 1: it's kind of like a cop out to just make
Speaker 1: someone brown or make someone queer and then not address
Speaker 1: it at all. And so that kind of happened a
Speaker 1: little bit. I felt like in two thousand seven with j. K.
Speaker 1: Rowling and Harry Potter when she was attended to the
Speaker 1: Q and A at Carnegie Hall and she revealed that
Speaker 1: Dumbledore was gay, and it's like, this is great, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: And then we thought, like in Fantastic Beasts or like
Speaker 1: and other stuff, that it was going to be addressed
Speaker 1: and it's not. And so I kind of just like okay,
Speaker 1: And you know, I feel like they did that a
Speaker 1: little bit in Deadpool too, where it's just like you
Speaker 1: kind of say, like, oh no, they're like explore their sexuality.
Speaker 1: It was like, great, are we going to actually see
Speaker 1: them with another man? Like are we gonna actually see
Speaker 1: them be physical or something? And then they're not. And
Speaker 1: then I'm like, so it feels like you're just using
Speaker 1: this to say it. I don't know how you guys
Speaker 1: feel about that. They're using it to kind of get
Speaker 1: the game market on board, on like Twitter, like they're
Speaker 1: getting the Twitter gaze on, you know, like that type
Speaker 1: of audience, like people on the Internet on board, but
Speaker 1: not enough for the casual movie goers watching it to
Speaker 1: be offended. And I feel like that's kind of like
Speaker 1: with Dumbledore, that's a huge part of his story and
Speaker 1: I don't get I mean, I'm hoping it will be,
Speaker 1: you know, eventually explored, but I don't want to judge
Speaker 1: because I haven't seen the movie and I understand what
Speaker 1: we're saying, like no, that's not his whole entire identity,
Speaker 1: but like it does feel a little bit like if
Speaker 1: you don't include it, there's a way to You don't
Speaker 1: want it to be like where it's shoved down people,
Speaker 1: no one wants anything show it's obviously, uh speak for yourself,
Speaker 1: but there's a way to include it where it's still
Speaker 1: your sexuality is always genuine maybe yeah, And it's always
Speaker 1: going to affect some of your your character decisions. It
Speaker 1: always will. I think it's it's a really difficult line
Speaker 1: to walk, right because you want you want to portray
Speaker 1: queer and diverse characters in a way that is that
Speaker 1: is heartfelt and that is real, and you also don't
Speaker 1: want to lose your core audience that is Middle America.
Speaker 1: So it's tough. I think it's my kind of thoughts
Speaker 1: on it. Yeah, I know, And that's such an interesting
Speaker 1: kind of stance and walk, because are we helping or
Speaker 1: hurting by hiding, you know, this from Middle America because
Speaker 1: lots of times they in Middle America, you know, I
Speaker 1: feel like at times can be cop outs because I
Speaker 1: feel like Middle America is the excuse that kept a
Speaker 1: movie like Black Panther from being made for so long,
Speaker 1: and then we saw how that did move like crazy
Speaker 1: rich Asians come up. For so long, we thought how
Speaker 1: that did. And you know, I think Moonlight did well.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure it didn't make that much money, but
Speaker 1: I think that's less because it tackled black gay issues
Speaker 1: and more because it was an art house film, you know,
Speaker 1: and though there I think, if you were too Simon,
Speaker 1: this year did really actually fantastic, speaking of like I mean,
Speaker 1: big budget you know movies. I think it, Yeah, it
Speaker 1: did fantastic, and so many people watch us and we're like,
Speaker 1: I mean, they're so happy that it was an lg
Speaker 1: BT film where it wasn't another person dying from the
Speaker 1: AIDS epidemic, where it was like just like it was
Speaker 1: a happy story and it was just a silly nineteen
Speaker 1: eighties style like romance comedy that just featured a guy
Speaker 1: looking for another guy and it was just amazingly well
Speaker 1: done that people are like, oh, thank god, it wasn't
Speaker 1: someone homosexuality. It was part of the movie. They tackled
Speaker 1: parts of it, but it wasn't like in a in
Speaker 1: a way where it was just a part of it
Speaker 1: was just a segment of it, and it was just
Speaker 1: part of his character. Yeah. I mean, I think that's
Speaker 1: a big part of it too, is we're finally in
Speaker 1: the part where we can justify getting better movies made
Speaker 1: for those that are not straight and white and cis
Speaker 1: gender right, Like in the past, all the Game movies
Speaker 1: were really stupid, and Love Simon is like a really
Speaker 1: really good movie, Like the production value is good, the
Speaker 1: acting is good, the script is good, all of it's
Speaker 1: really good. Black Panther another really good example, Like everything
Speaker 1: about Black Panther was like triple A quality, Like it
Speaker 1: was brilliant, And I think we're finally getting to that
Speaker 1: point where it's like, yeah, we can't tell these stories
Speaker 1: and they will be interesting. We just have to do
Speaker 1: it right. We are going to take a quick break
Speaker 1: and then come back and talk a little bit more
Speaker 1: about more of our favorite queer characters, and we are back.
Speaker 1: I wanted to touch on the c w C there
Speaker 1: superhero shows, well several of their shows, but definitely their
Speaker 1: superhero shows seem to be really taking initiative as far
Speaker 1: as including more queer characters. I know, there's Thunder and
Speaker 1: Black Lightning, there's Curtis Holt on Arrow, there's the Flashes,
Speaker 1: Captain Sing, there's Alex Danvers and Supergirl Sarah Lance and
Speaker 1: Legends of Tomorrow gave a sharp and Ledgends of Tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Now we have Ruby Rose as Batwoman. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you saw that was announced. That's very exciting. I
Speaker 1: think the main character too. You know, bat Woman, here's
Speaker 1: one of the most fascinating characters. And you know, if
Speaker 1: it was a few years ago and you told me
Speaker 1: that they would announce Ruby Rose as Batwoman and she
Speaker 1: would be getting tons of hate, I'd be like, Oh,
Speaker 1: is it because it's a lesbian character. No, because nerds
Speaker 1: are bad. Yeah, and if if they think you don't,
Speaker 1: because you know, all nerds are the perfect casting director,
Speaker 1: all these great fan casting picks that we see. By
Speaker 1: the way, that's what's so funny. It's every time fans
Speaker 1: cast something, it's always trash or the budget would be insane,
Speaker 1: or that person would not dedicate, like it's like get
Speaker 1: out of here, like they were upset with was it
Speaker 1: Heath Ledger when he was originally Yes, that's so true,
Speaker 1: fantastic um. Yeah, and there's also isn't Voltron have characters?
Speaker 1: They just confirmed it at Comic conto. Oh and uh,
Speaker 1: thinking of even video games because I forgot this reference.
Speaker 1: Tracer from Overwatch the one of the main faces of
Speaker 1: over Watching a lesbian. So yeah, I would be remiss
Speaker 1: if I didn't mention Stephen universe, which is brilliant, beautiful,
Speaker 1: such a positive bright. I mean even they though if
Speaker 1: even their fans are bad bad you want to like
Speaker 1: hit I want to like roll up a newspaper slash
Speaker 1: like spray them. But I also think it's the issue.
Speaker 1: I mean, Cannon sometimes deals with this. Working at PlayStation
Speaker 1: there is sometimes a huge amount it seems like it's
Speaker 1: a large number of people on Twitter. But it's because
Speaker 1: it makes people's voices sound bigger than it actually is.
Speaker 1: And a lot of times the Internet will freak out
Speaker 1: about something. It doesn't necessarily reflect the majority. It doesn't
Speaker 1: reflect sales, it doesn't reflect the majority of a fan base.
Speaker 1: It doesn't really reflect anything except for Internet. You know,
Speaker 1: Twitter height, which sometimes means absolutely nothing. It's it's bizarre. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: that's that's true. I know that you're good friends with
Speaker 1: Kelly Marie Tran and she experienced like so much hate
Speaker 1: that she got off social media. But the thing is
Speaker 1: is that when I was at Comic Con, there were
Speaker 1: so many people dressed like Rose Tico that it was
Speaker 1: just I mean, what people just love her so much.
Speaker 1: But it's hard when like all you've seen, it's a
Speaker 1: small minority of Star Wars obsessive harassment. Yeah, and the
Speaker 1: majority of Star Wars fans are super lovely, nice people.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of it has to do with
Speaker 1: two with people will have multiple accounts that the log
Speaker 1: into it makes if you you you can have represents
Speaker 1: so many different people on Twitter that it it allows
Speaker 1: to for a falsehood of what actually is. But it's
Speaker 1: also I mean it's why you know, Kelly's not on
Speaker 1: you know, Instagram. It's because sometimes you don't need to
Speaker 1: read everything all of the negativity. Yeah, and also it's
Speaker 1: one thing that's important to know. It may seem like
Speaker 1: when you're getting all the notifications and all the people
Speaker 1: in your mentions, you know, it may seem like, damn,
Speaker 1: this is a huge amount of people who think this,
Speaker 1: but only seven percent of Americans are using Twitter. That's
Speaker 1: seven percent of Americans are using Twitter accounts. That's a
Speaker 1: lot of fake accounts, and that's a lot of like,
Speaker 1: that's not a lot of people. So so that and
Speaker 1: and you know what it is. I find that to
Speaker 1: be true because whenever something big happens on Twitter and
Speaker 1: you do kind of step out to the real world
Speaker 1: and you're like, have you heard of this? And someone hasn't.
Speaker 1: You're like how. But like when you see a number
Speaker 1: like that seven percent, you're like, I guess, I guess not,
Speaker 1: you know, I guess I guess it isn't as as
Speaker 1: big a big a world as we think it is.
Speaker 1: It just feels that way. It is people from other
Speaker 1: countries and smaller areas as well. I was also going
Speaker 1: to say, talking on the thing of online harassment. I
Speaker 1: mean it's something that Cannon has had to deal with
Speaker 1: working with PlayStation and and everything. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you can talk about that at all. You get like
Speaker 1: death threats from LinkedIn. They used to be really common,
Speaker 1: so back when the PlayStation that was a little bit
Speaker 1: less reliable than it is now. Any time we have
Speaker 1: an outage, it's totally common for people that have PlayStation
Speaker 1: and they're lin to profile to get death rts in
Speaker 1: your inbox. Wow, it's fairly common, and it's it's it's
Speaker 1: not it's endemic to the whole gaming industry. Like I
Speaker 1: have female friends that work at studios and a lot
Speaker 1: of them won't even put what the name of the
Speaker 1: studio they're working at because the game will get released
Speaker 1: and then someone will be like, well, this level, this
Speaker 1: thing was misdesigned. So I'll go and find a female
Speaker 1: graphic artists and just start sending her death threats and
Speaker 1: hate mail, and then everyone just bandwagons. And I remember
Speaker 1: that was a huge thing that happened with I believe
Speaker 1: Mass Effect, where they were blaming this one woman for
Speaker 1: ruining the game, and someone had to come in and
Speaker 1: be like, well, she didn't even have that huge a
Speaker 1: part of it. There's actually these men, but you guys
Speaker 1: are targeting her and it is interesting, and you know,
Speaker 1: does PlayStation do anything to protect y'all? Like can you
Speaker 1: report these people and you know, get their accounts yanked
Speaker 1: or anything. I mean, it depends on the social media using.
Speaker 1: I mean, Lincoln has a pretty robust reporting system for
Speaker 1: offensive material, so it's not so bad. But eventually saying
Speaker 1: that LinkedIn is like the not the thing that you
Speaker 1: should be. Like LinkedIn, you can see where they work
Speaker 1: and who that person is that doesn't like Twitter, I
Speaker 1: understand because you're like a random anime avatar, but like
Speaker 1: linked in the fact that someone is oh man. I mean.
Speaker 1: But the craziest thing is you would think that Twitter
Speaker 1: would have a more robust reporting system than LinkedIn because
Speaker 1: LinkedIn at least you're a level of professionals where Twitter
Speaker 1: should be doing everything it can. But we're learning more
Speaker 1: and more every day, and I'm gonna just leave it
Speaker 1: at that, and you know, just leave it at that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think, um, one thing, and this probably may sound crass,
Speaker 1: but you just sort of learned to rise above it
Speaker 1: and ignore it because it used to really bother me,
Speaker 1: and then I just started saying, you know, none of
Speaker 1: this matters, like they're not going to do anything. These
Speaker 1: people are hiding behind a keyboard. And all the people
Speaker 1: that I went into, like I have a When we
Speaker 1: launched the PS four, everyone got jackets that said PS
Speaker 1: four Launch Team, and I would just sometimes wear that
Speaker 1: out not thinking, and I would have people come up
Speaker 1: in grocery stores and in malls and just randomly and
Speaker 1: they'd be like, oh my god, you worked on the
Speaker 1: PS four. Can I shake your hand? And they just
Speaker 1: like the fans are like the best part, right, And
Speaker 1: it's I think it's important to remember the good experiences
Speaker 1: more than the bad ones, because if we let the
Speaker 1: bad ones kind of occupy our mind space, then everything's
Speaker 1: gonna just it's so difficult. I feel like for me,
Speaker 1: I look at it as a glass of water with
Speaker 1: the amount of sexual harassment that I deal with, and
Speaker 1: I send it Chris, I feel like you have been
Speaker 1: such a positive I just want to take this moment.
Speaker 1: You're just you and Iffy have seen so much of
Speaker 1: the the harassment that I've dealt with trying to be
Speaker 1: in this space, and I just both are very supportive
Speaker 1: men in my life. But I wanted to say I
Speaker 1: look at it as like a glass of water, and
Speaker 1: it fills up, fills up, fills up, fills up, and
Speaker 1: then eventually I can't take it anymore and overflows, and
Speaker 1: then I kind of spiral from the harassment and I
Speaker 1: might take a break, I might step back, and and
Speaker 1: it sucks. I agree, because I want to read all
Speaker 1: my comments. I want to answer the messages, but that
Speaker 1: means I have to see all the really bad ones,
Speaker 1: and it's very hard mentally to handle that. I think
Speaker 1: the scary thing is how Twitter is like the new
Speaker 1: k KK hood. I mean, I do mean that though,
Speaker 1: because I mean people. It's so crazy how people who
Speaker 1: are hateful, spiteful individuals, they do it in a way
Speaker 1: where they can still go to their day jobs. Like
Speaker 1: you must morally know deep down inside that you're doing
Speaker 1: something wrong and hateful if you're acting that way, but
Speaker 1: I think you're It's a lot of people who are
Speaker 1: on the Internet, and I think the biggest way that
Speaker 1: I've used to combat hatred is with our group meeting
Speaker 1: nerds who are positive, whether it's queer, people of color
Speaker 1: or just people who are loving. You know, people who
Speaker 1: are doing something for the better good, whatever your group is,
Speaker 1: it's finding people in person to talk to, because I
Speaker 1: think the best way to combat the internet hate is
Speaker 1: making a present outside in person is the best way
Speaker 1: to combat that. I was just gonna and I want
Speaker 1: to get too political, but you know, a big part
Speaker 1: of the Trump election for me was processing how kind
Speaker 1: of awful it made me feel and how terrible if
Speaker 1: everything was. And what I eventually decided after kind of
Speaker 1: coming out of that fog, was that, you know, I
Speaker 1: can't change anyone's mind, I can't fight the hate directly.
Speaker 1: But what I can do is I can spend my time,
Speaker 1: my energy, and my money on helping the people in
Speaker 1: my community and then building that up. And that's kind
Speaker 1: of what made me get into activism. It's why I
Speaker 1: volunteer at the center. That's why the Ely Gaming Society
Speaker 1: is starting to have fundraisers for the queer youth of
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, so that we can get people, you know,
Speaker 1: onto a better track, so that they're not homeless or
Speaker 1: not alone, or they don't feel so depressed all the
Speaker 1: time by all this negativity. And I can say that
Speaker 1: by putting my focus towards those kinds of things. My
Speaker 1: outlook has approved exponentially, even though the news on a
Speaker 1: fairly consistent negative is crazy. Like having a positive outlet
Speaker 1: where I can take kind of that nervous negative energy
Speaker 1: and work it into something has made a world of
Speaker 1: difference for me. Well, I mean you saw, like you
Speaker 1: see negative homophobia like Kitako would have like a negative
Speaker 1: you know, this homophobic thing happened today. They didn't write
Speaker 1: about like our E three party, how we raise so
Speaker 1: much money for the we I think we raised I
Speaker 1: don't even know how many, like five over five thousand
Speaker 1: dollars just for video games for LGBT, you know, youth
Speaker 1: to play at the center um, so that they can
Speaker 1: have an outlet, which is amazingly enough, by the way,
Speaker 1: video games is such a healthy outlet that brings people together.
Speaker 1: And and then seeing people being brought together who are
Speaker 1: queer nerds who are thirty to forty years old, you know,
Speaker 1: who never had that outlet and in an adult space.
Speaker 1: I think they're positive things that are happening by us
Speaker 1: focusing on our community. I'm hoping that maybe the news
Speaker 1: can eventually pick up on some of those positive articles.
Speaker 1: To quote a great movie by the name of Nightcrawler.
Speaker 1: If it leads, it leads, you know, and that's the
Speaker 1: that's what the news is in the business of the
Speaker 1: moment the news became the business. It's less about you know,
Speaker 1: sharing the news and more so what can we do
Speaker 1: that's going to you know, activate people and get a
Speaker 1: reaction out of them and get them sharing our stuff. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: it does. I find that in multiple communities and multiple
Speaker 1: things throughout the new scope, everything positive kind of gets
Speaker 1: swept under the rug because they'd rather get someone mad
Speaker 1: who's going to retweet it and then say something snark
Speaker 1: and then someone's gonna add their snark. Me usually I'm
Speaker 1: involved in that snark. But yeah, so it is. And
Speaker 1: I think that is a great advice to anyone in
Speaker 1: their communities is if you are feeling hopeless, are feeling like,
Speaker 1: how do I make a change? Everyone thinks that, you know,
Speaker 1: I find that a lot of people believe that you
Speaker 1: need a million dollars to make meaningful change, and that's
Speaker 1: just not the case. You know, meaningful change could just
Speaker 1: be as simple as mentoring you know, someone who is
Speaker 1: you know just like you, or someone who you think
Speaker 1: needs it. You know, Like I was thinking about the
Speaker 1: whole middle, whole America. Excuse that we were talking about earlier,
Speaker 1: and I was like, to say that you don't think
Speaker 1: this movie will do well because of Middle America is
Speaker 1: to say that you don't believe that there's a young
Speaker 1: gay kid in Middle America, That there isn't a young
Speaker 1: Asian kid in Middle America. There there isn't a young
Speaker 1: black kid in Middle America, or that there's no one
Speaker 1: in Middle America that has the empathy to take in
Speaker 1: this story and and enjoy it and understand it and
Speaker 1: like it because, like Chris said, it's you know, Simon
Speaker 1: being gay is a part of the story, but in
Speaker 1: the end, it's still a great story. And I feel
Speaker 1: like it's unfair to kind of scapegoat Middle America. We
Speaker 1: often based on the excuse that Hollywood likes to get
Speaker 1: away with this Middle America. You're saying they are dumb,
Speaker 1: that they are all bigoted. It's all white, and it's
Speaker 1: all white males in Middle America, and that's why you
Speaker 1: can never do it. When I wouldn't care if only
Speaker 1: one little black kid in Oklahoma got to see Black Panther,
Speaker 1: that would have made it work there, Or one gay
Speaker 1: kid in you know, Oklahoma who got to see love
Speaker 1: Simon like that, that to me is more powerful than
Speaker 1: you know, a thousand kids who who are in a
Speaker 1: coastal city that you know, can eventually hopefully find a community.
Speaker 1: You know. But I think the problem is I think
Speaker 1: people just want good stories. And the problem is like
Speaker 1: there will be a movie with a black superhero or
Speaker 1: a woman superhero that, for whatever reason the development cycle
Speaker 1: someone doesn't believe in. They're like, they won't like this,
Speaker 1: they don't put the right resources into it. The actual movie,
Speaker 1: video game, whatever media format it is isn't good because
Speaker 1: they didn't believe in it, and then it fails in
Speaker 1: like see, I told you it wouldn't do well because
Speaker 1: people don't want women as superheroes. And they're like, no,
Speaker 1: it's because Catwoman was an awful, awful, like it just
Speaker 1: wasn't a good movie. But then you can, I know,
Speaker 1: for the wrong reasons. But then you see wonder Woman,
Speaker 1: which was a well written movie with the right cast
Speaker 1: and everything. It's like, as long as something is well written,
Speaker 1: people will watch it. People will by the Last of
Speaker 1: Us too, because it's a well written video game. They
Speaker 1: don't care that, you know what, I mean whatnot. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I did want to go over a couple of more
Speaker 1: queer characters before we moved on. One of them, Valkyrie
Speaker 1: Tessa Thompson real life couple Tessa Thompson and Janelle Monet.
Speaker 1: H I'm so glad they found each other because no
Speaker 1: one else deserves them. I don't know if you guys
Speaker 1: watched Luke Cage this season, but Shades, that was very
Speaker 1: exciting to have them openly I guess kind of openly
Speaker 1: confirmed at least I think the show runner did confirmed
Speaker 1: that that he's queer and they actually had a moment
Speaker 1: of development for his character, so that was really nice.
Speaker 1: The Walking Dead. My friend Ross Markwan plays Aaron on there,
Speaker 1: um and I believe that they also have Tara and
Speaker 1: very LGBT. Yeah, TVs. I think TV is the first
Speaker 1: format that's enough power Gaze have gone and involved with
Speaker 1: TV ad you know, but we have shown that, like
Speaker 1: like with anything, all that matters is a good is
Speaker 1: good writing, good story, good you know, direction and it
Speaker 1: and everything else, that it should be different characters and yeah,
Speaker 1: oh uh, Negasonic teenage Warhead, she's so badass. I mean,
Speaker 1: I wish that they had done more to develop their
Speaker 1: like her relationship and Deadpool to like even she kind
Speaker 1: of was pretty much just a side character, which again
Speaker 1: we see we keep seeing, but I do think she's
Speaker 1: so cool. She actually sorry for it, but she actually
Speaker 1: requested that is I believe pan sexual or bisexual, and
Speaker 1: she was like, you could make my character lesbian, but
Speaker 1: I don't want it to be a thing in the movie. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and again I get that, like we keep going back
Speaker 1: and forth of like I wish that they would address
Speaker 1: it more, but then and maybe it's not necessarily that
Speaker 1: it needs to be addressed with her, but just because
Speaker 1: it's not addressed enough. Off, well, I think they actually
Speaker 1: addressed it pretty well because it's like here's me and
Speaker 1: my girlfriend. That's it. That's it, and that's all they
Speaker 1: had to do, as long as it's not like some
Speaker 1: like the Deadpool two director two years later coming out
Speaker 1: saying that she was a lesbian the whole time, and
Speaker 1: then there's are It's like, okay, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: like they dressed as long as you mean I mean
Speaker 1: not that necessarily, I mean having character development, like being
Speaker 1: able to have a character growth with your romantic part.
Speaker 1: I mean I just missed her in the movie in general,
Speaker 1: like I just wanted more of her general. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then two other just main points that I want
Speaker 1: to say. Stephen Universe had the first cartoon lesbian wedding.
Speaker 1: Um yeah, that's really cool, Like, you know, it's not
Speaker 1: something that they'd probably be able to do even five
Speaker 1: years ago, I don't know, Cartoon Network. And then Batgirl
Speaker 1: in the comics had the first transgender wedding in the comics.
Speaker 1: I believe that was when Gayl Simone was still writing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and North I think The North Star had a wedding
Speaker 1: issue as well. Well. There's um Sin of Grace, who
Speaker 1: I got to meet on a DC shoot that I did.
Speaker 1: He is doing Iceman. I don't know if you follow
Speaker 1: that at all, but that is he had a coming
Speaker 1: out moment in the comics, and then it's kind of
Speaker 1: his development as a superhero, but also having to deal
Speaker 1: with with coming out, which is great because especially as
Speaker 1: if nerds are from you know, a community where their
Speaker 1: parents are you know, probably homophobic or whatever, they can
Speaker 1: just like sneak in an Iceman and their parents are
Speaker 1: gonna say it's a comic book, and their parents are
Speaker 1: gonna they're like, oh, it's this masculine looking character. They're
Speaker 1: not gonna say anything, so they're writing something I think
Speaker 1: more than what's needed, more than they probably know by
Speaker 1: doing that. Yeah, I think we need to take a
Speaker 1: quick break, but when you get back, we're going to
Speaker 1: jump into the rest of this and keep it spicy.
Speaker 1: Oh right, what's up is your boy? You know who
Speaker 1: it is if he's still here with Danny and our
Speaker 1: wonderful guests Christopher and Cannon, and we're talking about I
Speaker 1: feel like it's a real open discussion about you know,
Speaker 1: lgbt Q and nerd um and I think it's real cool.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us and letting us Yeah, thank
Speaker 1: you for having I will say, I'm really excited too
Speaker 1: for the nerd fam that's going to check this out,
Speaker 1: because I've seen nerd fam tweed net of me and
Speaker 1: they'll have the rainbow flag in their screen name, and
Speaker 1: you know that's how we know. I'd like that we've
Speaker 1: have made our for lack of a better description, planted
Speaker 1: our flags and our Twitter where it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: Nigerians will throw the Nigerian fat. Dominicans love putting that
Speaker 1: Dominican flag in their joint. You know, the LGBTQ community
Speaker 1: has the rainbow flag. We all know where we at
Speaker 1: just so you know who you're talking to. Well, it's
Speaker 1: cool because even like PlayStation changed their icon during Pride Month,
Speaker 1: symbol Nation did too, and I was it's funny because
Speaker 1: you had like a lot of bitter people and sometimes
Speaker 1: a few of them were straight. So I was like,
Speaker 1: chill that. We're like, oh the consumerism and this, and
Speaker 1: Guy Brandham did a real funny joke of being like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry that for once, we're being accepted and not
Speaker 1: burned at the stake and you feel bitter, Like it
Speaker 1: was really great. Of course I'm not doing it as
Speaker 1: great as Guy, because well, people would tweet up Funimation
Speaker 1: and they would just reply with gay anime gifts and
Speaker 1: I loved it so much because they have they also
Speaker 1: owned that like volleyball. The volleyball boys one and the
Speaker 1: swim team were at that event right where they just
Speaker 1: had like a bunch of boys and petos and then
Speaker 1: girls were young. I was like, what is Oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was my family. I love them so much. I
Speaker 1: remember one and something you can get in there. I
Speaker 1: remember once um I was announced as like a host
Speaker 1: on something and someone like, I'm sorry, but do you
Speaker 1: even know anything about Dragon Ball? And someone one of
Speaker 1: the Funimation people want on the account and was like, oh,
Speaker 1: she knows, and like tweeted it out to everybody. I
Speaker 1: else have to say they been very supportive because Danny
Speaker 1: has put us in contact with Funimation, and just as
Speaker 1: a gay video game you know group, Funimation is donated
Speaker 1: so so much, especially when we had our E three
Speaker 1: after party just to shout out. Fundimation gave us stuff,
Speaker 1: Square Enix gave us a ton of stuff, and of
Speaker 1: course PlayStation, you know, gave us all these free PlayStations
Speaker 1: to give out. So it's great that you know, they've
Speaker 1: been PlayStations. Huh. The weird thing is we still get
Speaker 1: like we had, like Nintendo nerds show up and they're like,
Speaker 1: where's our switch, and we're like, well, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a PlayStation events, it's PlayStation, and yeah, good luck
Speaker 1: with getting Nintendo. Yeah sponsored anything LGBT. Alright, well, speaking
Speaker 1: of speaking of finding your space, let's talk about the
Speaker 1: first gay space on the Internet. It was called s
Speaker 1: oc dot M O T S S yeah, and basically
Speaker 1: anticipated how we use social networks today. Right in Programmer
Speaker 1: Steveder started a discussion for him called net months later
Speaker 1: sock Moths on the used net news group system. Fun fact,
Speaker 1: So I had this super hyper nerd who I went
Speaker 1: to high school with. I forget his name, but I
Speaker 1: remember he was very practical and he told me and
Speaker 1: it's so funny because I'm mad. I was mad then
Speaker 1: and now I'm even more mad because he was right
Speaker 1: because I used to do art and uh, I would
Speaker 1: like do the art and then I would tell him
Speaker 1: like the whole story behind, like the comic I was
Speaker 1: trying to make and all this stuff, and he straight
Speaker 1: up to my face was like, yeah, your art is
Speaker 1: not good, but you'll probably be an amazing writer. And
Speaker 1: I remember being like this dude, and like I'm a
Speaker 1: professional writer now kin, yeah, I'm mad about that. Your
Speaker 1: gay friend that a friend, You'll be a great writer.
Speaker 1: He uh. He was this other dude. He was like
Speaker 1: almost stopped. He was like a Jehovah's witness, and I like,
Speaker 1: so maybe, but he was really into building computers. And
Speaker 1: this was like back when I was a freshman, so
Speaker 1: this was hella new to me. And he had this
Speaker 1: guy who was like his kind of mentor and was
Speaker 1: teaching him about building computers, and he was like, you
Speaker 1: gotta check out this thing called newsgroups, newsgroups or where
Speaker 1: it's at. You gotta go on newsgroups. Uh. And he
Speaker 1: kind of told me how to do it, but I
Speaker 1: never figured out how to work. I had like the
Speaker 1: client to launch into newsgroups, but like, it's crazy reading
Speaker 1: about his news groups was like early Internet stuff. But anyway,
Speaker 1: we'll suck. So suck is it suck? MOTS just we're
Speaker 1: gonna just someone will correct us probably what I want
Speaker 1: to say. MOTS stood for members of the same set, yes,
Speaker 1: and so it was a way for it was essentially
Speaker 1: had threads and it was a way for people to
Speaker 1: to talk and members to talk. And it was actually
Speaker 1: one of the biggest membership communities of the early Internet.
Speaker 1: And it's really interesting because you can still go U
Speaker 1: search on sock mats and see all of these forums
Speaker 1: from the eighties and see the first almost like the
Speaker 1: first time of like gay communication then and especially during
Speaker 1: a you know, troublesome time of the AIDS epidemic and
Speaker 1: everything it was as a gay person. It's it's really
Speaker 1: hard because it's not like you know, when you have
Speaker 1: a Latino family or a black family behind you. You
Speaker 1: have people to kind of give your your culture, not
Speaker 1: just do are we not born from obviously gay parents,
Speaker 1: but a lot of people from the eighties died, and
Speaker 1: a lot of these amazing innovative LGBT people are dead
Speaker 1: now and we will never really will get their stories
Speaker 1: told to us. It's great to see the conversation still
Speaker 1: there in print talking about dealing with some of the
Speaker 1: same things that our community still faces, and and seeing
Speaker 1: that in print just made me feel like just I
Speaker 1: got really emotional reading some of it because I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: this is what and also how little things have changed.
Speaker 1: You can kind of see how the early development of
Speaker 1: internet talked like it was very much like reading a
Speaker 1: gay reddit threat of people just back and forth, just
Speaker 1: talking about I think there was even just like a
Speaker 1: huge debate on speedos or something. It was like a
Speaker 1: weird like Speedo colors, and I was like, this is
Speaker 1: something that would still just be on my Facebook feed. Now.
Speaker 1: I know that is wild because it is because there's
Speaker 1: one thing when you look at movies that portray a
Speaker 1: time and like, you know, especially like if you for
Speaker 1: lack of a better movie, even though this movie it
Speaker 1: was problematic a f but like, um, it was about
Speaker 1: the riots. Um, but like you have had all weight,
Speaker 1: all white gay cast no, which I mean black trans
Speaker 1: women are what They've really laid the groundwork for the
Speaker 1: LGBT movement. They did so much for us, and to
Speaker 1: see them just being completely underrepresented when they did so
Speaker 1: much work, and then just to see white gay men
Speaker 1: in the front of this movie was it's so sad. No,
Speaker 1: I mean they still do. It's it's crazy. We're finally
Speaker 1: getting I mean we're getting what's the show, uh pope,
Speaker 1: finally giving black trans women, I mean just trans women
Speaker 1: in general, the most underrepresented group in this country, just
Speaker 1: a voice that they need. I think that's so cool
Speaker 1: about members of the same sex as um, this this
Speaker 1: group is that Like also, you hear movies, there's so
Speaker 1: many movies about the AIDS epidemic, and to finally actually
Speaker 1: see what the conversations were just like there's no, it
Speaker 1: wasn't a published article, It wasn't It was just like
Speaker 1: people conversing about AIDS, a lot of misinformation, a lot
Speaker 1: out of people that just had no idea what it
Speaker 1: was happening. And just see those conversations just typed up
Speaker 1: is something that if it wasn't for this, we would
Speaker 1: not be able to experience anything like And that's what
Speaker 1: That's what the point I was making is like when
Speaker 1: you see that portrayed in movies, you're getting this kind
Speaker 1: of dramatized, kind of assumed idea of what's going on,
Speaker 1: and this is just cold hard facts. These are what
Speaker 1: the people at the time we're talking about. Like imagine
Speaker 1: if you can go back to like the civil rights
Speaker 1: movement and see, like, you know, the sneak shots that
Speaker 1: Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were shooting at each
Speaker 1: other on the forums, Like you're getting a very real representation,
Speaker 1: and that I think is something that's going to be
Speaker 1: cool about the future, is like when we move from now,
Speaker 1: people are going to be able to pull the things
Speaker 1: that we've said and it's not going to be a
Speaker 1: question of you know, this is kind of like what
Speaker 1: the general idea was it you have it right there.
Speaker 1: It's also I think the it's why there are so
Speaker 1: many LGBT nerds is because most people, I mean, Cannon
Speaker 1: and I came from both very homophobic backgrounds, and I
Speaker 1: think we both latched onto video games and nerd culture
Speaker 1: because that was our safe space, that was our favor
Speaker 1: space for figuring out what being gay is. That my
Speaker 1: first the first person I ever told that I was
Speaker 1: gay too was an internet friend that I've still did
Speaker 1: this day. I've never you know, met, but someone that
Speaker 1: I would do. That was the first part, because that
Speaker 1: was safe to me, was telling someone on the on
Speaker 1: the internet when I was you know, you know, young enough.
Speaker 1: That was the only safe space for us. That's the
Speaker 1: only way to find information, That was the only way,
Speaker 1: especially in small rural towns. That that's it. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's so interesting to me, if you don't mind elaborating,
Speaker 1: what was that experience? Like? How how? What was the reaction?
Speaker 1: You know, when I first came out to my parents
Speaker 1: was one of the most difficult times ever. I I
Speaker 1: didn't talk to my mom for like months afterwards, and um,
Speaker 1: it kind of makes me feel sad and a little
Speaker 1: empty that the only loving and reporting um relationship that
Speaker 1: I could have to tell someone with someone on the
Speaker 1: internet that I would never get that comfort from, is
Speaker 1: a straight guy on the internet that I played an
Speaker 1: online game with. But that was the only person I
Speaker 1: felt comfortable with and the only person that I had
Speaker 1: and it's kind of why I mean Cannon and I
Speaker 1: both gravitated towards finding this. You know, l A Gaming
Speaker 1: society is so that we could get people who are
Speaker 1: queer nerds to actually be able to meet up and
Speaker 1: to actually feel like they have a support group because
Speaker 1: even especially in even though LA is very liberal, there's
Speaker 1: so many places outside of l A, California that are
Speaker 1: very very homophobic. People that don't have homes, and it's
Speaker 1: hard enough for someone that's young and charismatic to move
Speaker 1: to I mean that to move to l A and
Speaker 1: be beautiful for people who it's difficult for them to
Speaker 1: talk to, we have we have to give them a
Speaker 1: safe space because I feel like no one's fighting for them,
Speaker 1: and no one really fought for us. So we kind
Speaker 1: of had to do something to kind of create a space.
Speaker 1: And that's why I mean Cannon's family to me, you know,
Speaker 1: because we had to create our own family. And I
Speaker 1: don't know, the Internet, the Internet, we would have never
Speaker 1: had LAGS if it wasn't for Reddit, for you know,
Speaker 1: the gay forms. I mean you can talk about that
Speaker 1: a little bit. Yeah, I mean that there's there's a
Speaker 1: lot there, but I think, um, you're exactly right. I think.
Speaker 1: You know, gaming for so many people is their outlet
Speaker 1: because a lot of people live in a situation or
Speaker 1: a circumstance that is dire, or is frustrating or is sad.
Speaker 1: So the nice thing about gaming is you know that
Speaker 1: that can be an outlet and escape for everyone. The
Speaker 1: downside of that is a lot of people take that
Speaker 1: negativity with them from whatever suffering it is that they have,
Speaker 1: and they bring it into that space. And that's why
Speaker 1: you have the homophobia and the misogyny and the racism
Speaker 1: and all the ugly parts, right, And a lot of people,
Speaker 1: I think don't realize that that they're bringing that with them.
Speaker 1: So when you're when you're queer like we are, and
Speaker 1: you you want to have you want to have your outlet, right,
Speaker 1: You want to have that thing you grew up with
Speaker 1: where you bonded, and you want to have that safe
Speaker 1: space where you can play those games and just enjoy yourself. Right. So,
Speaker 1: and to kind of bounce off with you said, I'm
Speaker 1: a big proponent of creating your own family. It's something
Speaker 1: that a lot of queer people have to do because
Speaker 1: we don't have we we don't really have another option.
Speaker 1: So creating that queer family around something like gaming has
Speaker 1: been a really really great experience, and I think it
Speaker 1: is something we fought really hard for over the past
Speaker 1: few years, but it's it's worth it. Like we we
Speaker 1: just had a meet up last weekend on right, We
Speaker 1: just took a bunch of nerds to the beach, and
Speaker 1: it's like every time we have a new meet up,
Speaker 1: we always meet new people from different countries and different
Speaker 1: counties and different places, like from all over and they're
Speaker 1: just like, yeah, my friend you know, told me about
Speaker 1: this group because I didn't have any friends when I
Speaker 1: moved here, and my family doesn't talk to me when
Speaker 1: I came out, And this is really cool. Like I've
Speaker 1: never met this many gay people before, and most of
Speaker 1: the time they're connected from meeting someone from the Internet. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's why nerd curl culture is so important and why
Speaker 1: internet culture is so important for us, because I mean,
Speaker 1: I just can't imagine what it would be like our
Speaker 1: where I would be without the Internet and being able
Speaker 1: to meet people and find people that were like me.
Speaker 1: You know. I think a lot of people can relate
Speaker 1: to their internet friends almost being closer than in real
Speaker 1: life people that they know I know, I see that
Speaker 1: a lot in discord if you and I used to
Speaker 1: host at a channel called hyper RPG, which is a
Speaker 1: very positive channel, but they had a very positive discord
Speaker 1: of people that could talk about their problems and issues
Speaker 1: in a way that they wouldn't be able to around
Speaker 1: their family. And I found that. So I would pop
Speaker 1: in there and and be talking about things and and
Speaker 1: harassment and stuff that I was dealing with, and they
Speaker 1: would all come to my aid. But it was just
Speaker 1: so nice to see the positive parts of of nerd dum,
Speaker 1: like you were saying, and to remind ourselves of that, yeah,
Speaker 1: that it's not all gamer gait and crazy, just death
Speaker 1: threats toward that's a small and there. And at the
Speaker 1: same time, they're trying to find a movement that they
Speaker 1: can latch onto that makes them feel like they're a
Speaker 1: part of something and they're angry about other things besides
Speaker 1: just But that is just being projected the wrong way.
Speaker 1: All we can do is create positive movements and hopefully
Speaker 1: get people that that might be a part of this.
Speaker 1: You know, there are a lot of people, for instance,
Speaker 1: that are in gamer Gate that are really really great
Speaker 1: people that are just have a lot of misinformation that
Speaker 1: just want to be a part of something and they
Speaker 1: want to change the gaming industry and they wanted things
Speaker 1: to be positive, but they have a lot of mislead
Speaker 1: information and they start taking out um or they might
Speaker 1: not even take things out on women, but they support
Speaker 1: other people that do. And I think all we can
Speaker 1: do is create positive groups where they feel like people
Speaker 1: who feel like they need to be a part of
Speaker 1: something can latch onto those positive groups and create something positive.
Speaker 1: If he was going to say, I think that we
Speaker 1: might have to take in landing, I know I wanted
Speaker 1: to touch on Star Trek, but I think that Danny
Speaker 1: was like, I'm scared someone's gonna, you know, be mad
Speaker 1: that we didn't talk about l T things because Star
Speaker 1: Trek was a huge part of what I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: is I wanted to I did want to address it,
Speaker 1: but I'll address it on us our Star Trek episode. Actually,
Speaker 1: um so, Kenny might have to have you back for that,
Speaker 1: because that's something that you would love that, yes, you
Speaker 1: talk about gay Star Trek exactly, Well, we need to
Speaker 1: talk about the lack of it for a huge part
Speaker 1: and then how it just kind of came in. But anyways, Um,
Speaker 1: where can everyone find you? And if people want to
Speaker 1: join any of your organizations, if you could let us know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can type up lags that's lags, l A Gaming Society,
Speaker 1: g a y gaming uh Society on Facebook. We have
Speaker 1: a Facebook group. Would love to add you on there.
Speaker 1: My name is at Tinder Chris on Instagram and Twitter.
Speaker 1: Also just as a plug, check out Cooking on High
Speaker 1: on Netflix. That's a show I'm on. We need a
Speaker 1: season two so I needed money, So please watch Clicking
Speaker 1: on High on Netflix and get me a job. Um
Speaker 1: Canon h Yeah, I feel free to add me on
Speaker 1: Facebook if you're so inclined. If you're into more nerdy
Speaker 1: fun stuff and video games. I love expanding my online family.
Speaker 1: Also fund my Instagram at Canon dot gift. Yeah, reach
Speaker 1: out to Yeah Tinder Chris and Cannon dot gift on Instagram.
Speaker 1: We love helping out, Like, by the way, is there
Speaker 1: any young queer listeners or anyone that needs help or
Speaker 1: any advice. You can reach out to us and we
Speaker 1: would love to give you advice and help you guys out. Yes,
Speaker 1: and I also love the anime post that you have
Speaker 1: the funniest Instagram stories Chris, I go through all of them.
Speaker 1: It's all sailor Moon and Drag. Yeah in there too.
Speaker 1: I am at MS Danny Fernandez. Um, yeah, what what?
Speaker 1: Please check out our tea public. Everyone's been loving those shirts.
Speaker 1: We did a get away, will probably do one again
Speaker 1: in the future, but in the meantime, go grab some shirts.
Speaker 1: I'm going to get the Batman one. I'm really excited
Speaker 1: as hell. Oh I will be at New York Comic Con,
Speaker 1: so I get to announce my Yes, I'm so excited
Speaker 1: to share some news with y'all. But yes, if you're
Speaker 1: going to be at New York Comic Con, I will
Speaker 1: also be there. This is my first time, so tell
Speaker 1: me what to do and and uh yeah, and and
Speaker 1: I have a panel on Friday that I get to
Speaker 1: announced in a little bit. So okay, I was waiting
Speaker 1: for you to announce it and you didn't say anything.
Speaker 1: I have a pass. I'll probably be hanging out. You know,
Speaker 1: you might see me there, you might not pay attention.
Speaker 1: Catch me at I F Y N W A D
Speaker 1: I D E on Twitter and Instagram. If these on Twitch.
Speaker 1: Thank you all the nerd fan coming through dropping those
Speaker 1: Twitch Prime subs. And here is your regular reminder that
Speaker 1: if you twitch prime sub you gotta do what every
Speaker 1: month it does an auto renew. I need them bucks, babe,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. I love y'all and as always, wait,
Speaker 1: I wanted to say, um, please tweet at us your
Speaker 1: favorite queer characters are like when you first filed yourself
Speaker 1: representing anything that we might have missed. We'd need any
Speaker 1: references to we probably missed a lot to help us out.
Speaker 1: Definitely do that tweet it. We're gonna retweet you, share
Speaker 1: the love. Really want y'all feeling nice and represented, because,
Speaker 1: like our motto says, it's a nerdy deep dive for everyone. Uh,
Speaker 1: don't make me. Don't make me do the tweet where
Speaker 1: retweet you. Then I drag you. Then I go to
Speaker 1: the part where it says a nerdy deep dive for
Speaker 1: everyone and zoom in on everyone. You know what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about. You know what I'm asking you not to do,
Speaker 1: so don't do it. But on that note, stay nerdy everyone,