Happy WBW! It wouldn't be the first WBW of Pride Month if I didn't make it 🌈. Talk to me about queer existence in your world, or specific cities/towns/etc.
urukin (gnomes and orcs):
while different sexualities in gnomish society are generally accepted and normalized, genderqueerness has a bit of a different place in their culture. Their deities, the Sun and Mountain, are very binary male/female (and they do expect more hetero coupling among their group leaders, especially the religious leaders). But they also believe the waters are connected to a group of genderless nature spirits. historically, intersex gnomes were the ones most trusted to gather and purify water for their people. Gnomes are largely nomadic, so this is an important job, and the water spirits are believed to be quite fickle so of course you'd want them dealt with by people that might be able to blend in with their genderless nature. But also because of their association with these fickle spirits, gnomes who don't fit the binary are often looked at with some level of suspicion or simply treated as a separate group.
Over time, the intersex gnomes would mark themselves with extra beads on their prayer pendants to represent the waters, and include these spirits in their own worship practices. And then trans and nonbinary gnomes began to do it too. allies of these gnomes might choose to wear one bead, while genderqueer gnomes wear three or more. they often make their prayer altars out of river rocks, and include some manner of water ritual in their worship practices.
Some trans gnomes will refer to an old name as their "drowned name", though this is very dependent on how old they were when they came out. It's already a normal part of gnomish culture to choose a new name as a coming of age practice, so younger trans gnomes don't always consider their previous name "drowned" at all, it's just their childhood name. Likewise, some older genderqueer gnomes will refer to themselves as "claimed by the waters" to describe their relationship with gender and the water spirits, but the younger generations have begun to look for other terms, because they dislike the connection to drowning/being drowned and view themselves in a different way. Polished, like stones in the current, is one example (I am still looking for other interesting water-themed community terms, as the author)
Some more traditionalist gnomes are less accepting of genderqueer identities and don't really understand why the whole water worship thing is practiced by anyone who wasn't born intersex. But it's become less frowned upon in younger generations, especially among the gnomes who have left the nomadic lifestyle and found more permanent homes. As the nomadic tradition was kind of developed as a way to atone for their ancestors' actions against the centaurs, and gnomes who travel less are more likely to revert to having orcish traits over a few generations, their cultures are becoming divided. Intersex gnomes and trans gnomes who have undergone medical transition options are especially likely to gain orcish traits. So the nomadic gnomes who still view orcs negatively will also tend to view these gnomes in a negative light. embracing the orcish traits and erasing the division between orcs and gnomes actually creates a greater culture of gender equality and queer acceptance as well.
my gnomish protagonist Evarin is a trans woman (and has an orcish grandmother) and she's taken years to even figure out what she wants to do with the medical side of her transition because of the cultural awkwardness around it. She's also got beef with a coworker because traditionalist gnomes believe the best vocal magic is done by biological mothers (it's not just gnomes either, this is a common belief for many people) so in spite of her skills, Evarin is still being pushed away from the job she really wants, which is to be the head chorist of a medical choir.
orcs are usually quite flexible about both gender and sexuality, caring more about someone's skills and how well they get along with their community. But when you go higher in their clan hierarchies, you'll find a lot more heteronormativity. Especially among the leaders of clan houses, who will engage in arranged marriages for political reasons and expect these marriages to produce heirs. In some clans, there are large groups of men who have become convinced that orcish women should not be out hunting or becoming warriors, but they are a loud minority. It is also not uncommon for orcs in arranged marriages to have open-secret lovers, viewing their arranged partner as someone they are legally obligated to, someone they ought to have children with, but not someone they love. Younger generations are working on abolishing their clans' inherited power systems, which will open up leadership positions to a greater range of people. This will also make arranged marriages less useful, which will help remove the heteronormative expectations. (this is happening within my main WIP with an aroace orc prince)
Like most other people also, orcs do believe that women are inherently better at vocal magic, so it's very common for orcish women to end up in important magic-related roles. Interestingly, orcish women who have certain genetic hormone conditions are given even greater importance within their religious and magic culture because it causes the growth of extra vestigial breasts, which is viewed as a blessing from their ancestral matriarchs.
Sylvanids: (elves, drow, stroi)
The foundation of the queer community among all the sylvanid people was built by the varlet drow. They are male drow who wander outside the caverns instead of bonding with a Matriarch to become chamberlains. This is an actual biological thing, but they are still treated as outsiders and scoundrels. Their role in the species is to spread their genetics around to avoid bottlenecks, while the chamberlains' role is to protect and care for their bonded partner's family. Varlets are allowed to have their dalliances with the Matriarchs, but they are chased out afterwards.
the varlet drow have embraced their outcast identity. They take pride in it. They have their own culture separate from that of other drow, and this culture is very accepting of any fellow traveler regardless of species or origin. They have their own pronouns (all drow use non-gendered pronouns more tied to their role in the eusocial hierarchy than to any other part of their identity) and they take a lot of odd jobs while traveling around. Entertainment, especially sexual entertainment, is one of the jobs they take most frequently. They've created robust workers' guild systems to help protect themselves and anyone else who works while traveling, or who take jobs in fields that are more prone to exploitation.
Their open pride in their identity and the easy way they welcome fellow travelers and outcasts into their communities has allowed many others to find solidarity and friendship when they thought they were alone. Many elves, stroi, and other drow have begun to use varlet pronouns and consider themselves part of the varlet community. Though being queer as we define it may not be required to join the varlet community, many of them are. The one connecting trait is that all these people have been outcasts in some way. They're as likely to just be neurodivergent as they are to be queer. Many are sex workers. Lots of sylvanid hybrids of different sorts as well.
It's also part of varlet drow culture to choose a new name when leaving the caverns. This new name can take some time to work out, and it's not unusual to change that name again later. It is always based on something in the outside world that brings the individual great joy. Something that embodies hope for their new life, and allows them to take joy in their own identity. Genderqueer elves and stroi, especially those who are trans, have obviously found this tradition quite helpful. Though it's not at all limited to gender transition.
A few examples of varlet names:
Trout (the persistence of fish swimming against the current, the way their scales gleam with color in the sunlight, but somehow they still manage to seem almost invisible in the water)
Rain (comfort in the cold, dust washed away, life thriving after a storm even if it caused damage in other ways)
Doodle (imperfection without critique, intentional mess, freedom of expression)
Campfire (warmth in the darkness, community, conversation and gossip)
Admittedly I haven't spent as much time fleshing out the queer cultures of most of the other people species lol. The genderqueer gnome community and the varlet sylvanid community are the most detailed ones I have right now.
Goblins, pixies, and quetzalin are a few groups that kind of inherently have such different relationships with the concept of gender and sexuality that it's tricky to define what they might consider "queer" because what's normal and common for them might seem very queer to anyone else. Goblins change between egg-layers and egg-fertilizers based entirely on environmental factors around their breeding season, and they just have a big group orgy about it and then care for the eggs and eventual tadpoles as a collective.
Quetzalin are all basically agender and asexual for half the year, and then in their courting season they identify by their preferred role of dancer, watcher, or someone who likes to switch it up. polyamory and seasonal hookups are very common for them, with long term partner bonds being built outside the courting season. It's also normal for them to use surrogates when they want kids, because not every partnership is actually capable of having their own fertilized eggs.
pixies are giant sapient wasp-bees with very ant-like social structures. they do not know what a gender is. sexuality whomst? they are born into a job and they do that job and their minds are all tied together like a giant group chat with the memories of every generation that came before them. I don't know what they would define as "queer" within their culture.
The only universally queer thing within my worldbuilding is interspecies attraction, beyond the boundaries of closely related species. Gnomes and orcs are so closely related, the gnomes are likely to just become orcs again rather than becoming a properly separate species, but culturally there's still enough prejudice between their groups that it's considered odd for them to couple up. the sylvanid people look similar enough, but they do have more genetic differences that often lead to infertile hybrids depending on the how they pair up. But while it might not be as queer to get into a relationship with a related species, it sure the hell is queer to find someone attractive when they're from a totally separate species. there's no logic behind it, it's just something that happens. A goblin and an elf are not just separate species, that's an amphibian and a mammal. Pixies don't really develop sexual or romantic attraction, but it's not unheard of for them to take a curious interest in sexual behaviors amongst the vertebrate people. And a vertebrate person finding a pixie sexy is certainly queer no matter how you look at it.
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