I love the ships in wings fire but I don’t think it was really ok to have same sex couples (sunlow and jamapple.) it is a kids series and I do like sunlow but tui is really just throwing out mlm and wlw ships. my sibling is constantly asking about why sunlow is a thing and she asks about why it’s expectable for this to be in a 8yo book.
I respect your cautiousness for the younger audience that reads these books. Same-sex couples have been a controversy throughout all of our history, so it's not something new. It just so happens that it has gotten really popular in modern media, and I agree, media that includes LGBTQ makes understanding others more cumbersome for youth. It's kind of a problem to be told your whole life that males only get with females and have your core values changed by a children's book so suddenly. As a parent or older sibling, it's really difficult to speak with your child about these things, and I get it because I have a younger sibling who looks up to me.
Your viewpoint is valid, but mine differs. I personally think that including LGBTQ themes in children's media can be a good thing because it helps children determine things for themselves and gives them a head start on figuring out their philosophy and view on the world. As a child myself, I was exposed to many adult concepts, and that turned me into the intelligent person I am today. It depends on the path you want to take in life what you make of controversies, and children who want to endure the difficult understanding go down a much more rewarding and thorny path than others who prefer to ignore it. And to keep prejudice from arising within our society again, I think Tui's demonstration of these relationships is tolerable, even for people who don't think LGBTQ people are valid. Children should decide for themselves what they make of these relationships, and it's better through a book than a possibly biased parent.
Opinions aside, you've got to respect Tui's boldness and desire for change. She clearly strived to do something different, all the while knowing how some people would receive this, and I really admire that 'true' demonstration of courage.
Now I totally see your other concern, the fact that Tui might be cashing in on LGBTQ. She's throwing all these LGBTQ characters into her books to feed and fuel the desires of her fanbase, and from a certain point of view, it would appear that Tui is exhausting that category of character and cashing in on it. Too many LGBTQ characters can be a bad thing, and my personal opinion is that Tui doesn't have too many yet; we will see what happens in the future with that.
If you are searching for advice to explain this to your sibling, you came to the right guy. If I were you, I would tell them that times are changing and that people are changing with those times. LGBTQ people aren't bad people, neither are furries, stans or any of those other silly types of people you hear of on the internet. A person is defined by their actions, not by their sex, color of skin or mental conditions. You should never hate a person, only the bad actions a person does, because all people are allowed to change but not what has already been done. Sunlow is a thing because Tui decided to represent one of those kinds of people, and that's acceptable because the sexuality is depicted fairly and not misleadingly. There are many different kinds of people in this world, and it's up to you to decide who you accept and who you do not.
