Lady Business

his death should help us understand

Who is "us" in this sentence? Because it's not me. I already understand how abhorrent it is when someone thinks I don't deserve to live my life freely and openly the way I choose--or thinks I don't deserve to live, period.

This is the heart of it, right here, this ostensible "us", the unspoken truth that this is a book written not only by a straight person but for straight people. When authors do shitty things to marginalized characters--there's only one fill-in-the-blank, the black guy dies, the gay guy dies, the lesbian is locked in an asylum, the mentally ill person is evil and deserves their eventual terrible demise, etc. etc. etc. etc.--they're telling marginalized people, "You're not part of this book's 'us'. This book isn't for you."

I sure am glad you got to learn some important moral truths because a gay character died (in a "positive" way!) to show you them. Oh wait, no, actually that sounds like a terrible bargain to me. For my "us" that is all loss and no gain. But you go take your "positive" statement (fuck, I cannot even write that without my face twisting into a snarl) and enjoy your increased understanding that somehow still has not led you to actually understand any fucking thing about why some of us are really, really angry.