Gay/ Lesbian Protagonist/ Antagonist???

[phoenixwings]

Hello.

My main character is a teenager, just turning thirteen in my fantasy novel and has had thoughts about relationships with other girls.

This is the plot line. Episkopos, a community of Satanics, rule the City of Dandelion Simes. Their rules forbid others to have relationships with people of the same sex, if broken the punishment consists of torture, amputation and then murdered.

My main character also believs in God as she is a Christian.

Do you think that this could work in the fantasy genre? What are your thoughts?

[danr62]

Sounds more like satire to me.

[Steerpike]

I think you run into trouble having satanists involved, because even though satanist beliefs vary, from what I've read they all more or less agree on the idea that the individual can (and in fact should) pursue any of their physical desires in a vigorous way. Satanists having rules against sex with others of the same sex doesn't make a great deal of sense to me, and then when you have the gay or lesbian character as a Christian (a faith in which many do actively oppose same-sex relationships), danr62 is right - it starts to look a lot more like a satire where you are turning everything on its head. I'm not sure of the purpose behind setting it up that way.

[Reaver]

I agree with both Steerpike and danr62, leave mainstream religion out of it and you've got yourself a very interesting character with a cool storyline. Dandelion Simes law about homosexuality sounds eerily similar to Uganda's don't you think? And they're backed by many "Christian" organizations.

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Nothing wrong with having LGBT characters, although it will make some subset of readers uncomfortable. (Frankly, screw them.)

[Steerpike]

Nothing wrong with having LGBT characters, although it will make some subset of readers uncomfortable. (Frankly, screw them.)

I don't interpret what people have said here as objecting to LGBT characters. I agree with you in that regard, and this has been done before in fantasy works. I think what is problematic is the specific society (and its religious disposition) proposed by the OP. It doesn't work for me; others may differ.

[Reaver]

I don't interpret what people have said here as objecting to LGBT characters. I agree with you in that regard, and this has been done before in fantasy works. I think what is problematic is the specific society (and its religious disposition) proposed by the OP. It doesn't work for me; others may differ.

I have absolutely no objections to LGBT characters, my main point was to leave out any mainstream religion--unless that conflict is the focal point of the story.

[Telcontar]

Steerpike brought up most of my thoughts already. If the protagonist is homosexual and you want that to cause conflict within the story, you'd do better to have a different group in charge. I think it would be more interesting if the 'satanist' group was just find with homosexuality, but the main character was raised in the underground Christian cult, and then her homosexuality causes problems with them.

[Elder the Dwarf]

Another thought: I think it would be more acceptable to the general public (ok, I know this is sexist, but I also think it is true) to have a lesbian/ bi character than a male character who is gay/bi. It can still be done, but for some reason there is (or maybe just seems to be) less of a problem with a female gay character.

[phoenixwings]

Thanks for replying.

I thought satire was related to Erotica (which is something i don't intend to write) :S.

The religion could be scrapped, just recently i've done an overhaul and have questioned many, many times whether it would benefit more by not having her believe in God.

I'm really not sure how to go on from here. Any ideas on how i could turn this idea into more of a fantasy?