Thread:Trigger009/@comment-16581186-20151129134033/@comment-995426-20151215062306

Oh, for the love of... I'm tired of this argument.

Maybe that's not how he's being portrayed anymore, but he sent out a lot more signals in earlier seasons&mdash;stuff that we could relate to us as a demographic; stuff that appealed deeply to our life's experiences and common wisdom as gay people. I didn't have a close gay friend who was a TMNT fan who didn't seriously think this version of him was gay. And seeing as we still often feel like such an invisible minority in so much popular entertainment for general audiences, impressions like these are still a big deal.

The issue now is less about whether the impression was made, but instead what the signals ultimately meant&mdash;how serious the production actually was about them. We didn't want to think Nick would just brush it under the carpet or treat it like a gag anymore, especially after what happened after Legend of Korra's finale. But the gaydar-tripping signals started to completely disappear during TMNT season 3, and Raphael's character in general became much, much more bland in the process.

One of the things worse than feeling constantly invisible, is to be made to feel more visible and then be made to feel invisible all over again, because it makes us feel betrayed and treated like we have no value. In this day and age, it's all the harder to forgive writers who appear to backpedal on this kind of thing.

So please, even if you can't agree, at the very least show some respect and sensitivity.