[Queer characters in video games] are a reminder that queer people exist, deserve representation, and deserve equity, especially when it comes down to games that are based in historical fiction. As Rick Riordan once tweeted:
”If the reader is wondering why I put gender fluidity in a Norse Mythology story...that reader does not know much about Norse Mythology”.  

Long before its modern-day borders and its independence from colonial occupiers, warring groups have fought over the tiny strip of land that forms Lebanon today. A never-ending series of power struggles has had catastrophic consequences for the country, and today more than ever, many talented Lebanese are forced to take the difficult decision to leave.

It didn’t matter that I had lived in a Shia neighborhood till I was fourteen, where the residents shared their principles, or that my school had several Muslim students. In their opinion, I was living in sin, because I wasn’t going to a Muslim school or mostly engaging with ‘jnoubiyye’ (southerners) in Beirut.

When Arsenal FC released their latest squad registration, a prominent name was left off the list. The World Cup winner, four time finalist for the male Ballon d’Or (football’s top individual award), and ten year’s veteran of Real Madrid and Arsenal, Mesut Özil, would not be playing any Premier League or European football this season. Questions were immediately raised about a possible link between his omission from Arsenal’s first team and his outspoken opinions on Uighurs Muslims in China.