After three lesbians, two bisexual women, an asexual man (plus another lesbian and an asexual woman who are very minor characters) I finally have a gay man in my universe. About time! (And another asexual woman, to boot.)
I let these things happen naturally during the writing/world building process, and, although I've left many characters' sexualities a blank slate, none of them felt right as gay men. Until now!
Ontaz, the co-founder of the Vincaran Federation and its longtime president, has a son, but that son's mother never had a name or a backstory at all.
Well, my muse informs me that Ontaz is gay and his wife, Meriza, was aro/ace. They were longtime friends who were both being pressured into heterosexual marriages by their patriarchal culture and dreading it. They ended up marrying each other, conceived their son quickly with their eyes closed while trying not to think about it, and then lived platonically ever after. They were close friends and loved co-parenting together. She wanted him to be happy and supported the relationships he secretly had through the years, even if none of them turned into true love. They had 35 pleasant years together before she passed away from natural causes in her 70s.
None of this is in the current manuscript, and probably won't be just because it's not relevant to the plot, plus only Ontaz and Meriza knew the true nature of their relationship. Still, I'm messing around with ideas for a prequel, and if I end up writing about the Great Civil War both of them would be alive and in their mid 40s/early 50s. Regardless, world building is always good.
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P.S. I just realized I never Googled her name to check for unfortunate implications. Based on Tumblr tag suggestions, there are some famous(?) people with that name, but I'm going to assume it doesn't mean something embarrassing in an obscure language or anything. [ETA: And I changed the spelling since then anyway.]
P.P.S. I have a character who's a trans man in the Super Self Indulgent Mini Sequel, and if I write that prequel I have a trans woman character planned. (She doesn't have a name or description yet, just the fact that she's the personal doctor for a member of the royal family.) I still want to add more disability representation. As I said, though, I don't shoehorn in diversity for its own sake. When it clicks, it clicks.
