There is a stunning lack of LGBT characters in this game

A Liberal·8/5/2016, 1:10:15 AM·10 votes·3,680 views

Riot has come so far in champion design in regards to body types, race, and stereotypes, but we are still lacking an LGBT character. There was a Rioter comment somewhere, although for the life of me I can't find it right now, that basically said that they do not want to force a character to be LGBT, which is a great thing, except we have plenty of characters that already could be something other than heterosexual.

Take for example Ahri.

Ahri's entire schtick is that she seduces men and then eats their souls. Why would she care if it was a woman or a man? Other characters that would make sense would be MissFortune Caitlyn Illaoi Jayce Gangplank and Vi. It is not hard to make an LGBT character who is something other then the token "gay character" In much the same way, neither Lucian or Ekko is the "token black character", because while being black is part of their character, it is not the entirety of their character.

Personally, although I think there are some opportunities that were missed to create a LGBT character given the set we already have, I think it would be better to make a completely new character that is an LGBT person, so as to not disrupt the canon we already have. I would really really like to see Riot release a LGBT character in the near futures, for both the diversification of the universe, and the representation benefits that it would have.

166 Comments

Valaran Nara8/5/2016, 1:19:23 AM17 votes

Just to let you know, most of your downvotes are from the fact that this is a topic that's been beaten with a dead horse.

So, most people are just sick of the topic. Eventually rito might make one, but until then, what happens happens. If any of the current cast comes out as something other than straight, I am sure Rito is going to try and downplay the "OH YEAH, he's definitely" a lot. And I mean that as in outright saying it. The 13-15 yr olds might rage about it though. shrugs

Fasmodey8/5/2016, 1:27:20 AM9 votes

We don't need LGBT characters, neither Graves' cigarette, Shyvana's crush on Jarvan IV, Katarina x Garen, Azir's harem.

God I love this argument. Never gets old.

GreenLore8/5/2016, 9:42:03 AM7 votes

I think the reason why we have no homosexual champs(or bisexuals) is that LoL is played in a lot of countries and some countries aren't that open about homosexuality and would cause the game some trouble in these countries(and nowadays they want the same version of the game in every country,so they can't just censor it in the problematic ones)

MavenSong8/5/2016, 1:22:08 AM7 votes

On most champions their sexuality makes no difference to Lore.

MissFortune while her previous flirtatiousness use to be the forefront of her personality, she seems far more concerned with the goings on of Bildgewater to care about such things now that we know who she really is.

As for Ahri its far easier to seduce men because most men prefer women. (Though I could see her being Bisexual, so ill give you that)

The rest honestly dont have any connections to lore.

And the problem is, if riot does, people will probably make it the core personality. Just look at Taric. People always said he was really gay just because of the way he was and thats mostly what people thought of him. His VGU helped mitigate some of that but its still a common thing.

Vistha Kai8/5/2016, 3:03:42 PM6 votes

Because making a LGBT character for the sake of making them a LGBT character, would be insulting to LGBT people.

Ultimately all champions, unless stated otherwise - for example Kassadin, Lucian, Varus who are known for being being married and or having kids - doesn't have their sexual preference specified.

And that's it. That's the end of the thread.

kitcat3008/5/2016, 2:05:24 AM5 votes

Because a characters gender, skin color, race are just physical traits that you see and, well that's it. Not more to ask about that.

That's why you cant make a character gay/bi/trans just for the heck of it because unlike physical traits, these have metal and social implications that come with the character, and in today's world anyways, there will be questions that readers/player will want answered.

How does it affect their personality? Pride? Indifferent? Ashamed? How do the people around them feel about it? Have they been persecuted for it?

I realize in an ideal world people would just gloss over such things, but that's the thing about controversies, there are things that people don't understand and will want answers.

Pandemic Punch8/5/2016, 7:02:07 AM5 votes

WOOOA WOA WOAAAAAA Slow down. Let's worry about more important issues first like Graves' cigar.

A Liberal8/5/2016, 1:32:12 AM4 votes

I think I just set a personal record for the most commented on thread with the most downvotes.

Friendly Ram8/5/2016, 1:54:58 AM4 votes

Ok does nobody notice vi and cait?

Scaythe8/5/2016, 1:21:50 AM4 votes

Ahri can still charm women XD

Furor Nexis8/5/2016, 1:16:13 AM3 votes

Does there need to be an LGBT-esque character? Sure, it's great and all posting it for diversity standards but League has never really vilified nor forced sexual orientation-based roles onto their characters, it was more about their story than anything else. People want to know about that champion, and what deeds they did that dignified and set in motion of them as a champion within the world of RuneTerra over what type of person they prefer.

VoidStaresBack8/5/2016, 9:49:55 PM3 votes

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TenshouSNK8/6/2016, 12:42:35 AM2 votes

What does lgbt mean? And lgbtq?

Tahyana8/5/2016, 8:17:44 PM2 votes

Why do we need to inject political issues into a game? Can't we just play and not worry about whether a champ is gay or not. It isn't going to change their mechanics one way are another. It's like saying Vi will miss more skillshots if Cait struts in front of her.

For love of gaming, leave politics out of it.

Edit: I down voted because I get enough politics and political debates in my social media. Also, I am not against LGBTQ, but this discussion really isn't needed here, imho.

Hige8/5/2016, 10:45:31 PM1 votes

you see, it's pretty obvious you're blinded by your own agenda here buddy.

Ahri's entire schtick is that she seduces men and then eats their souls.

Ahri seduces PEOPLE, she happens to be female so obviously guys will follow her the most but girls could fall for her charms as well, do you really think she cares if the soul comes with a Peen or a Vag? IT'S A SOUL.

Now on the topic of an LBGT character, there's plenty of those in game, do they wave a rainbow flag? no, because there's no such thing in runeterra, as a matter of fact sexual orientation in runeterra might be so open and normalized that there's no kind of movement to be shouting about.