The Rainbow Connection

Lightning Round

For the final day of pride, I'm going to quickly go through some final works that either I don't have as much to say about or the representation in it is not a major part of the plot.

Background Representation: It's there but it's not huge

Be More Chill: A musical that came out several years ago but has recently seen a resurgence in popularity. The song Michael in the Bathroom recently blew up leading to the musical getting a new cast with some familiar faces and eventually making its way to Broadway. It is based on the book of the same name although the musical has more in the way of representation. That being said, the two versions are different enough that I'd recommend checking out both. Anyway. The representation in question is one of the characters, Rich, realising that he's bi at the end of the musical. The newest cast recording of the song More than Survive also mentions that Michael has two moms.

Heroes of Olympus/Magnus Chase/Trials of Apollo: Rick Riordan does an excellent job with representation in every book he writes. Not only did the idea for Percy Jackson come from him wanting to give his son a story featuring a protag with ADHD and dyslexia, but he also then went on to include as much representation as possible. He's got characters off all different races and religions. There is also a gay couple that meets in Heroes of Olympus and gets together by Trials of Apollo. Trials of Apollo sees none other than Apollo, of course, and he is unapologetically pan. Or should I say, un-Apollo-getically.  Not to mention the adorable old lesbian couple and Magnus Chase also features a badass genderfluid child of Loki.

Undertale: Hella minor but I love the game so worth mentioning that Alphys and Undyne are both disaster lesbians who eventually end up together.

Few Words: The main plot is lgbtq+ based and, while that's lovely, I don't have a lot of explaining to do

Love, Simon: Recently got a movie which was huge. Pretty exciting to have a big movie studio releasing a gay rom-com. The book is also really good and, much like Be More Chill, is super different from the movie so I'd highly recommend both.

Gracefully Grayson: A little known book about a kid in middle(?) school discovering that she is trans. Very well written and very cute ending.

Dream Daddy: A game that got a lot of attention last year. It was made by the game grumps and is a comedic dating sim about single dads trying to find love.

One Day At a Time: A very good show that can be found on Netflix about a family that tackles relevant issues related to race, gender and sexuality. It, unfortunately, got its next season cancelled but what is there is pretty good. I'll admit the first couple of episodes try too hard and the laugh track takes some getting used to but I promise it's worth it. Trust me.

Honorary Mention: I can't not talk about Homestuck but let's face it, when am I not talking about Homestuck

Homestuck: There is an alien species where pan is the default because anatomically they're all the same anyway and also none of them can get pregnant so who even cares. Okay so there's more too it but I swear it only makes less sense from there. So, just go read it? The first bit's a slog but it's still really funny and stuff.

And that's all for this month! I hope you all had a good pride month and stay tuned for actual fanfiction!