Immediately after the episode aired, Cruz, GLAAD, and the showrunners released reassuring statements intimating that the character's death may not be final, with specific reference to avoiding this trope. In 2018, Star Trek: Discovery aired an episode in which a gay character played by Wilson Cruz was killed.
Increasing awareness and criticism of the trope has made creators attempt to avoid it. Fans call this trope "bury your gays" or more specifically "dead lesbian syndrome". television and other media, gay or lesbian characters tend to die or meet another unhappy ending, such as becoming insane, more often than other characters. Two men kissing, celebrating Pride on a tree in June 2019 This page examines gay characters in fictional works as a whole, focusing on characters and tropes in cinema and fantasy.įor more information about fictional characters in other parts of the LGBTQ community, see the corresponding pages about pansexual, and non-binary and intersex characters in fiction. The extent to which these usages still retain connotations of homosexuality has been debated and harshly criticized. Among younger speakers, the word has a meaning ranging from derision (e.g., equivalent to rubbish or stupid) to a light-hearted mockery or ridicule (e.g., equivalent to weak, unmanly, or lame). At about the same time, a new, pejorative use became prevalent in some parts of the world. By the end of the 20th century, the word gay was recommended by major LGBT groups and style guides to describe people attracted to members of the same sex, although it is more commonly used to refer specifically to men. In the 1960s, gay became the word favored by homosexual men to describe their sexual orientation. In modern English, gay has come to be used as an adjective, and as a noun, referring to the community, practices and cultures associated with homosexuality. The term's use as a reference to male homosexuality may date as early as the late 19th century, but its use gradually increased in the mid-20th century. Gay is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. People at the 2008 gay marriage rally, including a protester who's sign says "THE GAY AGENDA: 1.