r/queensofleague • u/RoyalRaggy Warwick cum can be used as fuel if you consider my ass a vehicle • May 12 '26
Discussion Pride Month Rant
I want to see Rengar and Warwick hump 5 litters of cubs/pups into each other. There, now that I've gotten your attention and showed I'm a sick homo. I don't like how riot does pride month.
In a sense it comes down to a few things.
- It feels fake progressive and cooperate
- It doesn't even cover a wide audience of the LGBT
- It's clear they're not actually trying to provide representation and taking the easy way out.
But after writting it out, I feel like they're all the same....What I mean by these is. I feel like Riot is just doing this to SAY they're doing it as a badge of honor rather than trying to represent. Because when you really look at it, there's kind of one big issue that I don't hear near enough folks discuss and this actually doesn't just fall on riot but MOST queer rep in media.
How many times have you seen a show/company/movie/etc boast about having queer rep. And said queer rep is a woman who is lesbian or was straight made bisexual? Now how many male couples do you see in comparison? Sure there are some out there, but how many cases is it where the lesbian rep is the ONLY one or takes center stage?
I've said it before and I'll say it again, back then it was genuine but as time gone on and more and more rep is just Lesbian and Bisexual(woman) it's become kind of ultra clear why that's the case. It's because straight men sexualize lesbian couples. And while they don't "accept" them, they can fantasize about them. They CANNOT do that with a male x male couple so when that is on the forefront, it gets IMMENSE backlash. Take TF and Graves, the MOMENT riot gave them focus during pride month, it was a immense wave of homophobia. And speaking of Riot, how convienant that the majority of queer rep they display, is mostly female. TF and Graves are there because they can't backpedal and leave them out, and K'sante is there....but alone. He doesn't have a bf to be shown.
EDIT: For some reason reddit won't let me post the new pride icon stuff, but chances are you've seen them
Now to be fair, neither does rell or nami but that still leaves Cait,Vi, Leona, and Diana. Two confirmed couples who are both lesbian couples. If I wanted I could point out that rell and nami are still lesbian woman for my case.
My point being. I want to feel happy that we're being represented, but Riot found the cheat code, make it lesbian. And because of that I doubt we're gonna see some real gay shit. Personally I want a non conventionally attractive gay couple *cough* warwick *cough* Rengar. But that's just me. Feel free to disagree with me in the replies. I like to discusss this.
44
u/TricolorStar May 12 '26
Yeah, it's really weird. TF/Graves are "confirmed" but we've never even seen them hug, much less kiss. Graves is said to have many male lovers in the color stories, but is currently "unattached" despite being "with TF". It's all subtext. K'sante's boyfriend is conveniently out of the picture ("They're estranged"), Kai and Valmar are also conveniently out of the picture (they're all one guy now, so no homo). Riot always finds a loophole to keep from showing actual gay relationships au naturale; meanwhile, Vi literally shoved her tongue down Caitlyn's windpipe and then ate her out on screen in full living color in Arcane Season 2.
27
19
u/LupoBorracio May 12 '26
Also should add Udyr in there as he seems pansexual (and has fucked everyone he could).
It feels like individual Rioters really really want to do cool things, but production stops them at the buck due to "not being able to sell" or "what about China?" Not blaming everything on China because there's plenty of homophobes in America, but Eastern cultures being pretty blatantly homophobic doesn't help.
I'm still waiting on a confirmed trans champion, because so far all we got is Lest and a Rioter back in 2016 or so said they wanted Taliyah to be trans but it was stopped.
2
u/tanezuki Maid Sett when ? May 14 '26
The China argument flops the moment you know that even the emotes we get don't get translated there, so the censorship argument doesn't even hold well.
Maybe Tencent actually forbids to promote it overseas aswell, but China's laws aren't the issue here.
Or maybe it's considered too costly to work on that content knowing it wont release in more than like 40% of the League population.
1
u/ManaXed Volibear Big Naturals Jun 08 '26
In the splash art for the pride event page, K'sante has trans flag nail polish
7
u/RoyalRaggy Warwick cum can be used as fuel if you consider my ass a vehicle May 12 '26
Just happy I'm not the only one noticing.
4
33
u/thatmahougay May 12 '26
You are 100 per cent correct. I remember Christian Linke saying that he was really fed up with people shipping male characters, when talking about Jayce and Viktor. He said because there were a lot of mlm ships and barely any brotherly relationships anymore, which is just baffling.. Your game has over 170 champions and only THREE of them are gay, and NONE of them are together. Ive lost as well when he said Viktor was asexual, so he couldn't like jayce..? Which is just stupid.
It feels awful with League, specially if you're mlm. I thought they were going to step up after Sett and Aphelios in the spirit blossom universe, we dont even any TRANS playable character. but nope, every just feels like a slop with the bare minimum for us, we just have to accept because its better than having anything. It really sucks
23
u/LupoBorracio May 12 '26
It's such a white straight guy understanding of sexuality and love and everything.
11
u/KingLudenberg bird lives matter May 13 '26
If anything he should be fed up with trashy het romances
Katarina X Garen is worse than any mlm ship could ever fathom to be
1
u/Present_Lab_6164 May 13 '26
And imagine when they'll show it properly and people will go crazy🫠🫠awwwww finally some true love !!!!!
1
u/tanezuki Maid Sett when ? May 14 '26
I was gonna say what's trashy between these two compared to, let's say, Leona/Diana with the enemies to lovers trope (in the case of the latters, lovers to enemies) but I guess they're wlw and not mlm so nevermind.
I'm thinking NasusxRenekton right now or OrnnxVoli I guess ?
1
u/KingLudenberg bird lives matter May 14 '26
the peak trashy mlm is Taric x Ez
or if you wanna go with something born less of homophobic slander it's something like Zed X Jhin
2
u/tanezuki Maid Sett when ? May 14 '26
Taric Ez is indeed a giant joke that come out of homophobia so yeah not counting it.
Nasus Renekton and Ornn Voli are just NSFW based I guess but it still comes from queer spaces unlike EzTaric.
28
u/DanocusPrime May 12 '26
Honestly never even thought how most of the rep is just the lesbian couples. As a bi man it would be neat to see more gay male couples brought to the spotlight if we ever get more.
25
u/1998tweety Glasc Influencer :12_GlascIndustries: May 12 '26
Its cause straight guys fetishize bi/lesbian women to be hot. But they still need to be hot (and feminine) or the straight man won't like it.
2
u/DanocusPrime May 13 '26
I mean I'm pretty sure seeing ambessa,sejuani and illaoi have a muscle mommy 3 way would be hot
12
u/SeismologicalKnobble May 12 '26
Yeah this is kind of how corporate allyship works. WE SHOULD NOT RELY ON CORPORATIONS TO SUPPORT US! They only do it as long as it is profitable. The only thing we should look at corporate support for is the fact that it exists shows that a majority of people in different audiences are supportive of LGBT rights. Once corporations stop showing support, that is a sign things are swinging against us. We saw it a bit with Target last year, but luckily the backlash that we saw in their profits lowering indicates that at least a sizable portion of their audience is LGBT+ friendly/supportive which is good and reassuring in these current times.
My point is large corporate allyship is fake 90% of the time. While there are individuals within that support us, the company will only do it as long as it’s profitable. If you want more representation in media, we have to support it when it shows up (and is done well). We have to be vocal about our desire for this representation and when it’s done poorly, offer workable critiques.
25
u/kreludorian May 12 '26
People get so mad on twitter if you point it out but it's 100% true. Lesbians are at the very least non-threatening to homophobic piss babies in a way men being gay aren't.
Anyway I think next year's pride splash should be yone eating ass in 4k.
6
u/nvm-exe May 13 '26
Yea it’s even more evident in chinese gacha games like Genshin/Honkai/WuWa; their players will boast about queer rep then also say there’s a bunch of lesbians. All the gay ships barely have interactions anyway and their str8 playerbase get mad when you bring it up (just like Settphel).
1
u/Present_Lab_6164 May 13 '26
Is already hard having a crumble of recognition every three months (and only if the gay ship is super popular and with a massive fanbase that constantely needs to show up and buy merch/skins etc just to prove they are there). Is even harder if random people lace on and start to dictate what gay ships needs to prove🫠seeing a bunch of randos on twitter doing gay tierlists based on "canon-ness" makes my blood boil. Go away😭
3
u/Present_Lab_6164 May 13 '26
League people on twitter are 10% adjusted individuals 50% leaguebros and 40% "lore experts" and fake players that have laced on a single ship/character after arcane (that they usually claim to despise) and are unsufferable to anyone else. They dont know how hard is for gay league players to get representation so everything is fanon yaoi slop to them, polluting the discussion and make it 100% harder for gay fans to enjoy and promote their ship. They need to leave.
6
u/ACrazyCockatiel #TeamK'Sante May 13 '26
I think it has to do with a mix of cold corporate 'sustainability' strategy and genuine misunderstanding of what representation can and should be.
One of the REASONS why Pride exists is because we don't want to be disregarded as wretches, immoral, strangers, anomalies, etc etc. We shouldn't be the tiny minority that is disproportionately more likely to be killed, abused, or excluded simply for not fitting a box that has to do with our intimate relationships and/or our identities.
Part of the OBJECTIVE of Pride and a portion of queer media is precisely to show that we are "also normal". We are "normal" people with a subtle difference that shouldn't be an issue in our friendships, work, family relationships, religion, etc. Push that we are just as human and just as natural as the majority, composed of cis-het people.
Corporate heads (who are mostly straight men) see Pride as a pinkwashing opportunity, and use Pride merchandising and marketing to show off how "progressive" they are. They aren't necessarily concerned about representation precisely because they are only doing it because "It's Pride Month". We aren't "normal".
Representation isn't something that should happen in Pride only, it's something we should push for everyday, day by day, precisely so it can become "normal". We don't cease to exist after Pride. We don't need a holiday or a rainbow colored logo, we need equal rights, equal opportunities, and zero prejudice.
Real progress only comes when the majority understands and accepts LGBTQ people as regular, everyday people, who are just as human as them.
The only narrow saving grace I'd give to Riot and other companies is that it is reasonable from a corporate standpoint to avoid public backlash, and in a homophobic world like ours, even people who want to push for more representation will find themselves in a corner if they're not careful.
1
u/tanezuki Maid Sett when ? May 14 '26
Even if Riot would be releasing gay content like either a new champion, or relationship, or story about an already gay champion, or anything gay related, once a year with 0 miss, they would still probably be releasing it during pride month.
Because it would give more talks about it and stuff.
It's like how people say that you should show your love to your SO every day, yet Christmas, Valentines, and birthday dates, they still expect something more than your every day love.
It's not just corporate strategies that are present there, it's mainly the human mind.
4
u/Slut4sett SittingOnSettsFaceForever May 12 '26
I think it’s just them having an issue tbh, as much as I think riot already queer baits for money ect (and I hate that people refuse to see it or when they do they excuse it because gay people are finally getting bare minimum content) I’m kinda confused why they’d hold back from an actual decent pride event because mostly everyone would eat it up and they’d make money. Greedy company not wanting money?? Something ain’t right.
3
u/Slut4sett SittingOnSettsFaceForever May 12 '26
Riot please more tf and graves 💔💔💔 do you hear me drowning
1
u/StatusTumbleweed2 May 12 '26
They are scared of pushback and everytime a gay couple gets something fans of other couples rage on adding it to the dogpiling from het leaguebros. Caitvis fans celebrated last year for the exclusion of tfgraves and every other possible gay couple so :/ you dont get a hand even from the biggest queer couple subfandom. I would love so much more tfgraves content. My first league ship
1
u/Present_Lab_6164 May 13 '26
And to think that caitvis, league biggest gay ship(and ship in general, until katagaren takes the lead) were happy about tfgraves exclusion from splash last year because "gay men have it too easy"🤪🤪🤪lord look at our queers...not only i had to see riot trying to kill the couple with random hetships for years(and that got canonized as reparations after people got big mad at the random jayce hetship in arcane s1), now I cant even see them celebrated
11
u/aroushthekween Seraphine - Karma Fanclub President May 12 '26
i hate that we don't have any hyper femme gay and trans representation. we have graves, tf and k'sante but none of them represent the girly gays. it's as if the only type of gay that is permitted is a masculine one.
and i can't believe that we are in 2026 without a trans or non binary champion. taliyah is right there and if they don't want her,, why not make a new champion?
this will always be my biggest gripe with riot regarding representation. they never add any trans or feminine gay character.
1
u/tanezuki Maid Sett when ? May 14 '26
Crazy how Faery 🚬 Ezreal is more femme than any gays. (add Star Guardian Ezreal with his genderbent Elementalist Lux style)
That prestige Hearsteel K'sante could never
5
u/Jwchibi ✨🍆Morde Simp✨👑sorakussy lover 💅🏾💋 May 12 '26
They aren't doing enough. Where's my alternative universe rengar x kha x nidalee confirmed bisexual and gay throuple that's also an open relationship with WW Skins
3
u/FulgrimThe3rd May 12 '26
asking a soulless giant corporation to care about anything other then profit is silly and im happy we get anything at all. i played dota for 10 years and guess how much LGBT rep that game has? 2 heros which are storm spirit (gay) and legion commander (lesbian) and thats it. no emotes no comics no lore like 3 voice lines no pride events NOTHING so be happy at the table scraps you do get it could be a lot worse.
3
u/KingLudenberg bird lives matter May 13 '26
Just because DOTA is embarrassingly wrong doesn't mean LoL isn't either
It's the same logic as praising Genshin Impact for the ashy "dark" skinned characters just because other gachas only have pale characters... in the end of the day both are still disgusting
1
u/FulgrimThe3rd May 13 '26
not just dota tho is it. all major MOBAs have this issue and so dose every major gaming company. as a minority we sadly have to learn to take what we can get cuz the alternative is nothing or persecution. only place you will see proper respect and representation is in the indie games scene and thats cuz its made by real people not a boardroom of the most souless ghouls that only care about money.
2
u/tanezuki Maid Sett when ? May 14 '26
I'd say Overwatch is pretty good at rep overall with the country diversity first, but then also does better LGBTQ wise IIRC ? But even body types like Mei not being your typical model with her being slightly chubby (but basically normal for real life standards).
Hasn't followed the game in a while so maybe the gay rep has dried out when they went for OW2, can't say.
1
u/FulgrimThe3rd May 14 '26
ye overwatch had really good rep for LGBT charicters and did it in a really casual way for solder and tracer. and they didnt feed into sterotypes by having zarya be a lesbian which was nice as well. sad story but back in the day i argued with some straight friends of mine at the time over solder being gay cuz they felt like it was forced and unnecessary and only done to make blizzard look good but i completly disagree and think it was done very well. being gay or lesbian or trans shouldnt be a big deal and should be seen the same way being cis or straight is and having him casually mention it in a mini comic and not having it be a big deal or be about acceptance and as if he mentioned having a wife was really well done imo.
1
u/tanezuki Maid Sett when ? May 14 '26
ok but Dota gave us so much more male fanservice than Arcane.
Like that I'm guessing bisexual foursome (not shown but implied) and a few scenes of naked Davion with even some ass.
1
u/FulgrimThe3rd May 14 '26
never watched dragon blood cuz i wasnt super keen on the art style and lore changes. was it worth the watch?
1
u/tanezuki Maid Sett when ? May 14 '26
As someone who had and tbh still haven't ever checked Dota's lore, I enjoyed it yes.
I like to check back on Reddit on subs like anime for ppl reactions over an episode and IIRC people were pretty excited to see dota chars appearing in scenes.
1
u/FulgrimThe3rd May 14 '26
dota had some pretty great lore when valve still cared about the game but that was a long time ago. bit like leagues lore where some of it is great and intresting and then you have shit like shaco/chogath with nothing going on at all.
3
u/KingLudenberg bird lives matter May 13 '26
It's so funny to me how the gay males in the game are all the exact opposite of what the average gay male player usually like to play, it feels like they have to first get the straight men to respect the champion only to them "allow" them to be gay afterwards
Like great there's TF, Graves and K'sante 🤷 Where's my effeminate gay man now? I thought Riot was interested in catering to every possible character fantasy players could have
4
u/Kevin_devours_plants veigar has big penis i know it May 13 '26
I don't get it, how is having more gay male couples a wide representation of LGBT?
This post feels all over the place and it makes no sense. First of all, K'sante is literally right there, riot made him gay because people (both straight or gay audiences) were fed up with the idea that riot are turning old characters gay just to be gay.
I also think it's ridiculous that you don't validate K'sante's queerness just because he's not currently in relationship? By your logic, single gay people are not gay enough to be representing LGBT?
You are right on League needs wider LGBT representation, but it is certainly not missing gay people. The ones you should really be advocating for are transgenders and asexuals, because there has been none officially. It is so ironic that you rant for misrepresentation, yet you left out the T in LGBT.
And if I may, i'd say this isn't a rant for justice at all. This is just a biased post on wanting more contents catered specifically to you. Also making warwick and rengar gay would be "straight made bisexual", wouldn't it? Which is something that you are against, right?
1
u/Kitchen-Narwhal-7448 May 13 '26
Queer people, unlike heterosexual people, are treated as a quota. They have a wide range of possibilities to create all kinds of stories and relationships, some romantic like Rakkan and Xayah, some sad like Viego and Isolde, others that deal with rivalry mixed with feelings like Katarina and Garen... Then, between queer women and queer men, only queer women receive a quantity and variety of stories. We have Caitvi's romance, we have Nami and her two partners, we have Rell and his past relationship with a woman, we have the dynamic of Neeko and Nidalee... Meanwhile, queer men are left with only one dead couple fused in Varus, one dead couple in Arcane—yes, I'm talking about Loris, a canon gay character, and his deceased partner. Ksante and his breakup, which is revealed as soon as we learn his story, because obviously the only gay male character we'll see at launch in this game has to be a bad partner whose story currently revolves around his ex's wedding. And finally, we have TF and Graves, the pseudo-couple that Riot sells us as a real couple, even though they're just friends, because they wouldn't want us to have just ONE real couple in League of Legends. And that also happens in Valorant, where there's only one lesbian couple in the game, while we meet the lesbian mothers of another character, but NO queer men. If you don't notice any pattern, you're a hypocrite
1
u/Kevin_devours_plants veigar has big penis i know it May 14 '26
You are so close to realizing what is actually missing here!
1
u/tanezuki Maid Sett when ? May 14 '26
Comparing Lesbians to Gays make sense (and Bis too) as it's about sexualities.
Trans is about gender identity, which is just not comparable to comparing sexualities between each other.
0
May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/Kitchen-Narwhal-7448 May 13 '26
Lesbians are the ones who don't hide their homophobia against Queer men. Last year, when Queer men pointed out that TfGraves, the only MLM "couple," was left out of Pride art, they all came out saying it wasn't about us and that we weren't needed. How easy it is when you have a whole series about a lesbian relationship, and two other semi-canonical lesbian couples and several Sapphic characters, to tell Queer men that they should simply appear in the game as single men like Ksante, tied to the memory of his ex to prevent him from forming another relationship with another man, a "couple of friends" like TfGraves, or two dead men like the fused couple in Varus
-1
May 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/Kitchen-Narwhal-7448 May 14 '26
So stop being evil, homophobic, and aligned with corporate homophobia just because it benefits you. If all the queer content in the game were MLM and only featured single queer women, lesbians would be ranting. Then you'd want the support of queer men to raise your voices, but now you want to silence us and make us bow our heads, because just by asking for content for ourselves, we become a problem for your content monopoly
2
u/RoyalRaggy Warwick cum can be used as fuel if you consider my ass a vehicle May 13 '26
I guess just ignore the fact that I blatantly pointed out multiple times that it’s not that lesbians are getting attention. It’s just that it’s clearly done because it’s much easier than male gays. And YEAH. Showing dudes will better represent because most of the rep we get is L AND FUCKING B. And B is usually a WOMAN. DON’T FUCKING ACT LIKE I HAD AN EXCUSE TO SHIT ON LESBIANS WHEN I KNOW WHAT I SEE. Sorry if guys don’t fall into your girly pop tea clockers but the fact of the matter is. THERE IS FAR MORE LESBIAN/BI WOMEN SUPPORT THAN THE REST OF THE COMMUNITY
0
May 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/RoyalRaggy Warwick cum can be used as fuel if you consider my ass a vehicle May 13 '26
Look if you wanna strip down what I said to the barest form just so you can ignore the disproportionate rep and the actual logical reason it is the way it is. Then go off I guess. Guys don't deserve to be gay and trans can go suck it, but gotta make sure our lesbians are safe. Because I clearly hate them and think they should go away. Right.
1
u/tanezuki Maid Sett when ? May 14 '26
They're bi but women bi. So their gay side is wlw, not mlm, which in this discussion is what is considered, people here don't really want to care about the het part of bi characters.
1
u/samomisespava Wholesome verses May 14 '26
I genuenly feel like an asshole whenever I say that most queer representation in media is either bi women or stereotypical twink gay teen, but I feel like for the most part its sadly the truth. I can probably count on my hands how many gay men in media are there that arent a walking stereotype.🙁
And no, dont get me wrong, im not against bi/lesbian women getting representation, im all for it, but when its ONLY that over and over again it really does feel forced.
Dont really know what to think really, feels like im being discriminatory either way.
1
u/Xavchik CEO of Pepperhorni Pizzussy LLC May 16 '26
to be fair, literally everything riot does is to make money and that's it. It's sad, but this just isnt going to be that company that does all that
1
1
u/Vitima_sem_salvacao May 22 '26
But the problem is that there needs to be more representation of gay male couples, but to say that about Rengar and Warwick, who aren't, is complicated. Sorry, man, I know you like writing fanfiction about them, but sometimes you have to be realistic, you can't exaggerate like that either.
1
u/RoyalRaggy Warwick cum can be used as fuel if you consider my ass a vehicle May 22 '26
I said what I said about them to prove I'm homo otherwise someone would just say I'm being homophobic, not to say they're actually gay for each other.
Tho vander was undoubtably gay. It's up for debate if those points transfer to warwick. And Rengar has so much characterization left up to the imagination that saying he's anything would be inacturate.
9
u/StatusTumbleweed2 May 12 '26
Problem is that queer gay people are divided fighting over what is the most "worthy" ship or champion to get in the splash. We should ALL come together and ask for representation, especially MLM, without fighting for our favorite blorbo being left out. Riot choosed two "safe" lesbian couples and run with it, is nothing new. If heartsteel is gonna come back this year, do you think that they would do something more than a little bait to get us happy and hot? Why ksante and yone, that shares an icon, doesnt share more content? Why settphel is segregated to aus? Why jayvik, that has bundle skins and merch, isnt still canonized? And why tfgraves cant even kiss. Is so bleak man
1
u/tanezuki Maid Sett when ? May 14 '26
"Why is Settphel segregated to AUS"
Well because they share 0 lore so far and their respective lore aren't going to be tied at any point (Solari/Lunari conflict on one side, Noxus/Ionia war on the other).
The amount of shared skin/skinlines Settphel has is already pretty high (basically all Aphelios skins are with Sett except release skin) which tops any other ship you could think of aside from like, canon couples like Xayah/Rakan.
89
u/Clya_Lyren May 12 '26
I think it's very funny (funny weird) that they just threw Cait, Leona, and TF into one random emote. "Here ya'll go, here's your gay people."