Well Written LGBT+ Characters - Who is/what makes a well written homosexual?

LGBT characters in general are hard to write, especially from the prespective of straight writers. It's not only a touchy subject, but if you make them suffer too much you'll get hate from the left, and if you make them not suffer enough you'll get hate from the right.
That being said, I believe the suffering route is the better option. Say what you will about El Goonish Shive, but Justin is unironically one of my favorite gay characters I've seen in fiction so far. He has to go through the pain of falling for a straight guy, and confronts his genuine fears, going so far as turning female to attempt to understand his feelings for the guy. He ends up alone, but that's okay— he understands it's not forever, and there are plenty other fish in the pond.
Aside from his own confrontations with his sexuality, I consider him a genuinely loveable guy— just a normal dude, a bit silly, a bit serious at times, but really just another guy who happens to want a dick in his butt. Or the other way around, I can't tell if he's a top or a bottom. Either way he's a pretty nice character.
As of when I write this, I haven't read EGS past around 2016, so he may or may not have found a partner by now, but if I remember correctly he did have one possibly set up. Good on him if he did get one.
EDIT: To avoid necrobumping, I'm gonna reply to a guy from far earlier in this thread in a spoiler.
sasazuka said:
Tomoko Kuroki, if you're keeping up with the WataMote/No Matter How I Look At It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular manga rather than just remembering what she was like in the anime, which only represented the first half of her first year in high school. (In the manga, it's currently June of Tomoko's third year of high school.)

Whether Tomoko is lesbian or bisexual isn't entirely certain, but her current infatuation is with another girl, Asuka Katou, who is very much interested in Tomoko, though whether or not Asuka's interest in Tomoko is sexual is ambiguous, while there aren't any male characters who seem likely to become potential love interests for Tomoko any time soon.
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Hm. I would definately agree that Tomoko is bisexual to some extent, but it's been shown that she's still awkward around hot guys, and most of her love for Asuka lies in the fact that Asuka actually gives her attention—unlike basically anybody else. She's always done what's she done to Asuka, it's just been passed around from character to character, from Yuu to Ucchi and Nemo. She just likes sexually harassing in general because she finds it funny, likely not because she's actually gay.
Sure sure, call me in denial. But I respectfully disagree and am simply discussing the points that you put forward.
 
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Isaac1jpg (1).png

Isaac from castlevania
Only form of media I've seen where they did a gay guy right.
guy has the hots for dracula and is probably gonna summon him in season 3
 
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catpin said:
View attachment 982141
Isaac from castlevania
Only form of media I've seen where they did a gay guy right.
guy has the hots for dracula and is probably gonna summon him in season 3
Click to expand...
This guy is literally some hair away from being Pucci.

Speaking of Pucci, he's also pretty well written.
 
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I believe Ross Gellar from Friends is a good example of a raging, closeted cockmaster desperately trying to get a beard lest he succumb to the cock carousel.
You can just picture him watching Joey sleep and furiously cranking his pud, using tears as lube. Ross craves dick, and lots of it.
 
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Has anyone seen the the TNT drama 'Animal Kingdom'? It's based off of the Australian film. It has the best portrayal of someone who happens to be gay and doesn't let that define him or feels the need to bring it up incessantly.
 
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Okay, I'm so glad someone mentioned Tales here - even if I don't really think Zelos' interactions were completely gay. I mean you could make the argument sure- a lot of the characters can be argued for gay or bisexual.

I would like to mention MXTX's works - Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (Mo Dao Zhu Shi)/ The Untamed which is the live drama, Heaven Official's Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu) and to a point, The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - I won't even pretend I know or read that series all the way through - and it's considered the most 'cursed' of the series.

The one I'm most familiar with is MDZS (Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) where the main character is literally villianized through the whole damn series. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are both canon gays and are married by the end of the book. What I like about Wei Wuxian (even though he's not my favorite in the book by far), is he's so earnest and determined to do the right thing. He's a prodigy and he likes showing it off BUT it doesn't save him in the end and makes literally most people turn on him. He ends up saving his adopted brother and having to delve into forbidden magic to protect people and ends up being yeeted to his death. (This isn't a spoiler ironically, this is the first episode of the shows and novel). When he's reincarnated, he ends up being snatched up by Lan Wangji, the person who he thought hated him, and they go on to clear up a murder mystery of a disembodied zombie full of rage and clear Wei Wuxian's name 13 years later.

I'm not going to say it's the best book - nor the best series - to be honest I care more for the side characters - but it was a breath of fresh air that walking into a danmei book I'm not going to get weeby woe-is-me-moe types. Plus, it's Chinese so the idea of woke in a book is a bit more far-fetched.

To be honest, I wasn't even drawn to the series for anything but the animation but the characters are more fleshed out - even if it's told by a unreliable narrator (Wei Wuxian) but a friend was really into the series so I did sit down and watch the unfinished animated series, and was interested enough to go read the translation of the novel - which is high ranks coming from me cause I just watch utter trash for amusement, I'm not actually interested.
 
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RejectedLynx said:
Okay, I'm so glad someone mentioned Tales here - even if I don't really think Zelos' interactions were completely gay. I mean you could make the argument sure- a lot of the characters can be argued for gay or bisexual.

I would like to mention MXTX's works - Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (Mo Dao Zhu Shi)/ The Untamed which is the live drama, Heaven Official's Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu) and to a point, The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - I won't even pretend I know or read that series all the way through - and it's considered the most 'cursed' of the series.

The one I'm most familiar with is MDZS (Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) where the main character is literally villianized through the whole damn series. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are both canon gays and are married by the end of the book. What I like about Wei Wuxian (even though he's not my favorite in the book by far), is he's so earnest and determined to do the right thing. He's a prodigy and he likes showing it off BUT it doesn't save him in the end and makes literally most people turn on him. He ends up saving his adopted brother and having to delve into forbidden magic to protect people and ends up being yeeted to his death. (This isn't a spoiler ironically, this is the first episode of the shows and novel). When he's reincarnated, he ends up being snatched up by Lan Wangji, the person who he thought hated him, and they go on to clear up a murder mystery of a disembodied zombie full of rage and clear Wei Wuxian's name 13 years later.

I'm not going to say it's the best book - nor the best series - to be honest I care more for the side characters - but it was a breath of fresh air that walking into a danmei book I'm not going to get weeby woe-is-me-moe types. Plus, it's Chinese so the idea of woke in a book is a bit more far-fetched.

To be honest, I wasn't even drawn to the series for anything but the animation but the characters are more fleshed out - even if it's told by a unreliable narrator (Wei Wuxian) but a friend was really into the series so I did sit down and watch the unfinished animated series, and was interested enough to go read the translation of the novel - which is high ranks coming from me cause I just watch utter trash for amusement, I'm not actually interested.
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Roastie detected.
 
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One that comes to mind is Lafayette from True Blood (the TV series, I haven’t read the books). When I first started watching the show I rolled my eyes when he was introduced since he’s one of the most excessively gay looking characters I’ve ever seen. As the show wears on though it doesn’t play too much into his personality apart from the fact he gets away with calling women hookers a lot.

He gets a lot of actual development as a character and faces real problems like the rest of the cast. Even when he’s trying to just be alone other characters lean on him for support he’s not immediately willing to give. When he finally gets into a serious relationship it’s not treated as catty or flamboyant. It’s just treated like any other relationship on the show.

You especially come to recognize how good of a character he is when another major character magically becomes a lesbian in-between seasons and it suddenly becomes the entire crux of their personality.

Such a shame the show had to shit on Lafayette by not even featuring him in the final episode.
 
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RejectedLynx said:
Okay, I'm so glad someone mentioned Tales here - even if I don't really think Zelos' interactions were completely gay. I mean you could make the argument sure- a lot of the characters can be argued for gay or bisexual.

I would like to mention MXTX's works - Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (Mo Dao Zhu Shi)/ The Untamed which is the live drama, Heaven Official's Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu) and to a point, The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - I won't even pretend I know or read that series all the way through - and it's considered the most 'cursed' of the series.

The one I'm most familiar with is MDZS (Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) where the main character is literally villianized through the whole damn series. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are both canon gays and are married by the end of the book. What I like about Wei Wuxian (even though he's not my favorite in the book by far), is he's so earnest and determined to do the right thing. He's a prodigy and he likes showing it off BUT it doesn't save him in the end and makes literally most people turn on him. He ends up saving his adopted brother and having to delve into forbidden magic to protect people and ends up being yeeted to his death. (This isn't a spoiler ironically, this is the first episode of the shows and novel). When he's reincarnated, he ends up being snatched up by Lan Wangji, the person who he thought hated him, and they go on to clear up a murder mystery of a disembodied zombie full of rage and clear Wei Wuxian's name 13 years later.

I'm not going to say it's the best book - nor the best series - to be honest I care more for the side characters - but it was a breath of fresh air that walking into a danmei book I'm not going to get weeby woe-is-me-moe types. Plus, it's Chinese so the idea of woke in a book is a bit more far-fetched.

To be honest, I wasn't even drawn to the series for anything but the animation but the characters are more fleshed out - even if it's told by a unreliable narrator (Wei Wuxian) but a friend was really into the series so I did sit down and watch the unfinished animated series, and was interested enough to go read the translation of the novel - which is high ranks coming from me cause I just watch utter trash for amusement, I'm not actually interested.
Click to expand...
Evil roastie detected....
 
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