LGBTQ+ reprentatn Star Wars: The Old Republic is plited but rewardg - Gaymg Magaze

Contents:

• STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC, THE GAY PLA AND THE PROBLEM OF THE STRAIGHT MALE GAZE
• STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC AND S NEW ‘GAY PLA’
• ‘STAR WARS’ GAME SEGREGAT GAY CHARACTERS ON GAY PLA
• THE STAR WARS GAY GHETTO PLA OF MAKEB
• FANS UNHAPPY OVER “GAY PLA” “STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC”

STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC, THE GAY PLA AND THE PROBLEM OF THE STRAIGHT MALE GAZE

Makeb, the gay pla, is the sort of problem that about when a seri of perfectly reasonable cisns tak a velopment team to a very weird place. And the promise is Makeb, the gay pla, available only via download – and the only place the galaxy where relatnships n be formed wh NPCs of the same n see the well-meang thought procs volved tryg to fix this narrow issue.

STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC AND S NEW ‘GAY PLA’

We need to put gay character optns the game. And th: a gay home world, a segregated muny available only to high-level payg players.

It seems strange to be givg a pany cred for makg a pay-to-gay pla, an ostracised world of same-genr romance, but to be fair to SW:TOR, a nicely equal genr spl of romanceable characters is not a bad place to start. There are some gam wh perfunctory romance elements that assume jt don't matter if you're male or female, gay or straight - Skyrim, for stance, has one of the most egalarian (if shallowt) romance systems around. But 's vanishgly rare that a game will assume homosexualy the way that most assume heterosexualy.

‘STAR WARS’ GAME SEGREGAT GAY CHARACTERS ON GAY PLA

When ers began noticg that the terms “gay” and “lbian” were banned om beg ed at all the muny, muny manager Sean Dahlberg rpond that the reason was that the were “terms that do not exist” the Star Wars universe.

This led many to dub Makeb 'The Gay Pla, ' the only place the galaxy where queer love was allowed to exist. Abrams stated that “ seems sanely narrow-md and untertuive to say that there wouldn’t be a homosexual character that world.

But as the quote was wily reported at the time wh headl like “Gay Characters Comg to Star Wars, ” was one which many at the time terpreted as a sign that there was the possibily of a queer love story to e Abrams’ story. She was also very, very gay. The vio game Star Wars Squadrons troduc multiple queer characters, cludg the gay Imperial manr Varko Grey, and the nonbary Mirialan Rebel pilot Keo Venzee.

THE STAR WARS GAY GHETTO PLA OF MAKEB

Jt Simien, the wrer and producer of the upg Lando televisn seri, me out as a gay man himself 2014. Crisp’s young Han Solo trilogy, kept a mistrs to imprs his Imperial lleagu and to hi the fact that he was not terted women, leadg to fandom speculatn that the character was meant to be terpreted as gay. But even if Juhani’s relatnship wh a female Revan was nsired non-non, her sexualy remaed unchanged: part of Juhani’s arc the first game impli that she prevly had a relatnship wh a childhood iend and fellow Jedi iate, Belaya, and briefly fell to the Dark Si part due to her ep feelgs for Belaya gog agast the Jedi Co of would take a few more years for Star Wars to receive s first gay character, but wh would e another important step the anchise’s history: the first queer married uple.

Although Bevi and Vasur were Star Wars’ first gay uple, none of their appearanc the novels explicly noted that they were married. In 2009—years before TOR would release 2011—fom muny manager Sean Dahlberg was forced to apologize after fendg the choice for the game’s fan foms to filter “gay” and “lbian” as banned terms by argug that they are terms “that do not exist Star Wars.

FANS UNHAPPY OVER “GAY PLA” “STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC”

But many felt Makeb was beg treated as “the gay pla, ” and that players terted queer romanc and characters were not beg given equable all s false starts, TOR would eventually improve. Most notably, the trilogy add the “first non” gay characters, the form of ex-Imperial Sjir Rath Vel— who fected om the Empire after the battle of Endor and beme a major pot-of-view character the first book the seri—and his boyiend, a New Republic Slicer named Conr wasn’t jt the new, post-Return of the Jedi timele that the Disney age brought LGBTQ reprentatn to. Abrams went on a whirlwd prs tour to tout the first gay kiss all of Star Wars.

Flix and Orka are a fully nonil gay uple. The game’s 2009 release mak Juhani one of the first openly gay characters (that didn’t get retnned) the Star Wars universe.