So Your Favorite Show Buried Its Gay(s): Tips for Straight Fans on Not Being A Dick About It

You have a show you like a lot. Or a comic series, or a book, or a movie, or some piece of media you enjoy. One of its characters is at some point revealed to be into people of the same gender. Hey, that's pretty cool. That character might even have a significant other! They might even appear on screen together once or twice! And while you, yourself, are straight, you're totally fine with this. Heck, you've even written some well-received slash fic/drawn some well-received art/etc. at some point! You're not one of those straight fans! Certainly not! You are a good straight fan and you are totally fine with this and happy for your fellow fans who aren't straight! They've got representation! This is a good thing!

But then one or both of the characters in question just... up and gets killed off.

Usually shortly after they're confirmed to be a couple. Sometimes under questionable circumstances, and/or as the result of weirdly OOC decisions made by one or both.

Well, you think, that sure sucks but characters get killed off all the time, right? And the show goes on, and it's a useful way to demonstrate how high the stakes are for these people, and that's just how it goes in stories like this sometimes.

But then you log on to your online fandom gathering spot of choice and... people are unhappy? Very unhappy? Angry, even? Really angry? Ragequitting the the show/game/movie/whatever angry? And you oh-so-helpfully try to explain that you understand people getting attached to characters and even ships but really, is this amount of angry even called for?

And that... that is not well-received by your fellow fans who aren't straight. At all.

What the hell just happened here?
( long )