The following is a tool for assessing the risk that a fictional character was written mainly for the comfort of straight people. The version from 2020-04-15 is an early draft and will almost certainly be modified later.
| Name of queer character and media in which they appear | |
| Section A total | |
| Section B total | |
| Summary score: 30 + (Section A total) – (Section B total) |
Section A
“Gay people just look like … people”
– Fucking JK Rowling
Score 0 for “doesn’t apply”; 1, “possibly or probably”; 2, “yes, for certain.”
| Statement | Score (0-2) |
| “They’re not a gay character; they’re a character who happens to be gay” | |
| Frames queer rights mainly or exclusively in terms of “love wins,” “love is love,” etc. | |
| Police officer, military or clergy | |
| Regards gay marriage as the end-goal of the gay rights movement | |
| Overtly patriotic | |
| Has adopted children or children by surrogate | |
| White gay man with no mental health issues | |
| Sweater-vest or other non-threatening clothing | |
| It would be in-character for them to say, “I’m not like other queer people” | |
| Votes Republican | |
| If trans, this character or their story uncritically places a high value on “passing” | |
| “They break gay stereotypes” | |
| Married or monogamous | |
| Upper middle class | |
| Encounters and overcomes the kind of discrimination that lets straights say “I would never do that” | |
| Total |
Section B
“That thing that only gay people do? I hate it for non-homophobic reasons.”
– Old straight-people proverb
Score 0 for “doesn’t apply”; 1, “possibly or probably”; 2, “yes, for certain.” For Section B, score 0 if the statement applies, but only as a cautionary tale, a joke or a character flaw.
| Statement | Score (0-2) |
| Is trans | |
| Has casual sex | |
| Character highlights an intersection of queerness (e.g. being queer and Black) | |
| Kink or fetish | |
| Is single or has more than 1 partner | |
| Lower level of formal education | |
| Has difficulty with, or is critical of the police or other existing power structures | |
| Engages in some stereotypically gay activity | |
| Financial difficulty | |
| In the closet, at least in some contexts | |
| Flamboyantly gay or otherwise clearly queer-coded | |
| Politically active in progressive causes | |
| Sex worker | |
| HIV-positive | |
| Depiction as a “good” character doesn’t depend on how chaste they are | |
| Total |
Summary result
The range of possible scores for sections A and B are 0 to 30. These statements have been equally weighted, however there may be cases where some of them are important or even defining to the queer character in question and should be weighted more heavily.
Subtract the score from Section B from the score for Section A and add 30 for a single summary measure ranging from 0 to 60. The higher the score, the more likely it is that the character was written for straight comfort.
