i’m getting a little weary of seeing posts talking about how it’s homophobic that shiro has suffered in the show, because i feel like y’all really aren’t seeing the big picture here. this is not the example of “bury or torture your gays” that you guys believe it to be.
for one, i think it’s really important to remember that shiro is not the only character that has suffered. he is not the only character who has been ‘brutalized’ as so many posts have described it. have his issues been more overt lately? yes, of course. because that was a plot arc. but remember that the others have suffered, even if perhaps not AS MUCH as shiro.
allura has lost her entire civilization, her father died at the hands of a former friend, she literally woke up from a 10,000 year sleep still reaching out for him. she thought she had found an ally and companion in lotor, only to realize that he had brutalized what few remained of her people for CENTURIES.
coran lost everyone he loved, he watched a family he’d loved perish, he watched as the sole surviving daughter suffered that loss. he has suffered and stayed strong through it all.
keith has lived a life of solitude without his family, losing his father at a young age (and as someone who lost their father at about the same age as keith, i can tell you that this is absolutely emotionally brutal). he believed his mother had abandoned him. and he’s had to see the person he cares for and loves most suffer through a war. he literally had to fight the person he cares for and loves most in hand to hand combat. he literally accepted that he was going to die too if shiro was going to die, and was okay with that. if that isn’t suffering, i don’t know what is.
they’ve come near death - lance practically died until allura brought him back (as she did for shiro as well!).
pidge lost her father and brother for years, and was the only person who believed they were alive. also she’s a CHILD in the middle of a fucking intergalactic war. sam and matt holt SUFFERED at the hands of the galra too. they were brutalized too. matt became a rebel fighter, in tons of dangerous situations, because of this. but we don’t see as much of the suffering because they aren’t our protags.
hunk’s family too! hunk’s family was imprisoned by the galra, and he couldn’t do anything about it! he came home, and his family was gone. he came home expecting to see them, and they weren’t there because his enemy had gotten to them first. that’s suffering.
look, i get it, the last couple seasons have had a lot of focus on shiro and what he has gone through, but that is mostly because it’s been relevant to the primary plot.
you guys are also so focused on the fact that adam died that you can’t see the bigger picture. adam died along side tons of other fighters, straight, lgbt, or otherwise. but adam was never meant to be the rep. it was shiro. shiro is the rep. and before you scream at me that well, he’s gay and he’s suffered, i want you to remember what that suffering means in the bigger context of the show. it’s not pointless suffering, and he’s not the only one suffering.
has shiro suffered? of course. as have all the paladins. but you know what shiro has also done that is literally REVOLUTIONARY to LGBT characters in mainstream media? HE HAS SURVIVED. just last week, happy posts were going around about how there should be a reversal of the ‘bury your gays’ post, where a gay character is just impossible to kill, and shiro was always mentioned. because YES. that’s IT. he’s literally flipped ‘bury your gays’ on its head! why are y’all forgetting that now??
he has suffered and he has made it through EVERY FUCKING TIME. he has endured trials and tribulations, while always coming through those trials, always surviving, always coming out stronger, always excelling.
y’all are so so focused on his hardships that you forget that they have written him, not to suffer, but to SURVIVE.
this is not “bury your gays”, this is “your gays will not be fucking stopped”
i really had to get that off my chest. thanks for coming to my ted talk.
THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS