07-15-2013, 03:43 PM
(07-12-2013, 08:57 PM)Bolty Wrote: As I read this, I thought "that's pretty much a microcosm of the gay-rights movement in American culture over the time the Lounge was in existence (1999-today)." While the LL has international participation, I think the majority of the posters here are US/Canada, so you're seeing a direct reflection of those changing times archived right here at the site. Back in 1999, coming out on an online gaming forum would have most likely gotten you shunned by at least half the readership.
That fact certainly didn't escape me. It's fascinating, but it's a little sad in some ways. One of the things in gaming that I felt gave it great strength is that gaming united players of very different backgrounds. You might know a player's nationality (important for timezone) and gender (important for pronouns), but political alignment and ethnic background and other elements were just unimportant. My very early impression of online gamers was that gamers were a really open bunch because they were generally blind to anything but abject idiocy.
As far as LGBT gamers go, I was not really aware of anyone until '05 when "Virgil Tibbs" aka Joslyn came out as trans on the DSF Community board. Coming out trans is particularly important as it directly relates to gender (pronouns). Coming out LGB generally seemed less important, and the big life milestones "I'm getting married!" or "I'm having a baby!" were extremely unlikely announcements. So, that could have contributed to LGB invisibility. There was also a prevailing attitude at the time of "Why do queers have to flaunt their private business in everyone's faces?" which provided disincentive to even casually mention having a non-heterosexual orientation. That attitude has definitely changed, but even if being out on a forum was risky, it never seemed to matter to individual friendships. Gamers were my only friend group for a long time and gaming buds were the first people I was ever out to. Those friendships have lasted in ways RL ones haven't.
The shift in attitudes IRL has been really interesting too, and not just in how the tide of public opinion has shifted. One place where change was very pronounced was in the gay-straight alliance I was in. Usually, support groups (like GSAs) tend to draw people who are very isolated and needing to make friends and need help dealing with life, but there has been a huge shift in that demographic. It really seems to be marked by a line in the sand separating folks born before the 1990 and folks born after 1990. Queers born in the '80s generally had a lot more trouble with rejection by family, friends, and community and they were at least moderately activist. Queers born in the '90s have so little gayngst and they're most interested in just making a big group of friends. GSA participation also exploded (at least five times as many attendees) when those '90s kids showed up. That being said, these still tend to be people who have nothing to lose at being seen at such a meeting ("unaffiliated weirdos"). You don't see usually the folks who easily fit in with other social groups: frat boys, sorority girls, athletes. I don't know if it's okay to be "one of them" and also be queer, but from what I understand of bro shooters, it ain't okay to be Takei.
To contrast with LGBT acceptance, I've heard female gamers see a lot of misogyny from male gamers. I don't remember seeing those kinds of attitudes in gaming communities I was in (although I could have just been unobservant), so I don't know if this is a trend on the rise of it's just being talked about now.
-Lem