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PERSONA 4: GOLN MOD RTOR GAY ROMANCE OPTN
Inially, Kanji appears gay and Naoto seems to be transgenr. By clearly raisg the ia the player's md that Kanji is gay and then rejectg that ia, Persona 4 sends the msage that homosexualy is shameful and should not be 's start wh Kanji. Here, I hoped, I would get a plex portrayal of a gay character, one who has sadly but unrstandably reprsed his sexualy rponse to societal prsure, who felt that he uld not be accepted as a tough guy if people knew he was also gay.
By clearly raisg the ia the player's md that Kanji is gay and then rejectg that ia, Persona 4 sends the msage that homosexualy is shameful and should not be accepted.
Yose's attus about Kanji are problematic, and so is the game's way of handlg the story progrs, we're perdilly remd that, had he been gay, Kanji would not have been fully accepted by the other members of the vtigatn team, and, fact, some anxiety lgers later on about whether or not Kanji is tly straight.
IS PERSONA 4‘S KANJI GAY OR NOT?
" suggtg that Yose's md, if Kanji had been gay, he would also be prone to behave appropriately. Rather than addrsg Yose's negative perceptns of homosexualy, perhaps wh a character arc which his prejudic are challenged and he be more open-md over time, Persona 4 lets his view of homosexualy as somethg to be feared stand unchallenged and unremarked upon, treatg as normal and acceptable.
" he says, suggtg that if he were gay, he would not really be a man. By troducg the ia that Kanji is gay and that Naoto is transgenr and then backg away om embracg those characterizatns, Persona 4 reprents a betrayal of s central theme about people learng to accept themselv and each other for who they are, and sends the msage that such sexual orientatns and genr inti are too sry to accept. While Persona 2: Innocent S was ahead of the curve, cludg a gay romance optn all the way back 1999, recent history has been more spotty, wh Persona 5 drawg cricism om LGBT+ groups for the cln of two particularly stereotypil gay characters who pop up ocsnally as a nng gag, to the pot of havg their l rewrten the English release of Persona 5: Royal.