Canon LGBTQ characters are hard to find in the media--but when we do find them, people in the LGBTQ community--like myself--hold onto them dearly.
It's one thing if it's a character who's sexuality is never explicitly stated, but if it's a canon LGBTQ character, then don't change it.
Don't write a x female reader or x female OC if the character in question is a gay man. Don't write a x male reader or x male OC if the character is a lesbian. It's as simple as that.
It's like this: if someone were to write stories about my characters, I'd hope they'd remember canon sexualities of those said characters.
Say someone would want to write an Akuppi-Adad x female OC story. That would be fine because Akuppi-Adad's pansexual. But it would be a whole different thing if someone wrote a story that was Jasoslav Sklairov x female OC or Bear Kryvichyn x male OC because Jasoslav is a gay man and Bear is a lesbian.
It's like the fact I had someone tell me that they shipped two of my characters together--Athanasia and Noaah; they're from my story "Devilborn: Ashes of Valhalla". Now, there's multiple problems with this. Not only is Athanasia canonically Noaah's stepmom, but Noaah was a minor in that book, while Athanasia was an adult. Athanasia is also canonically stated to be a lesbian, while Noaah is stated to only like men. That's the very reason I put 'info' sections on every one of my books just so people will know character's sexualities.
For another example: Dragon Age.
I've seen Dorian x female OCs and I've seen Sera x male OCs--and frankly, it disgusts the hell out of me. Dorian is a gay man and Sera is a lesbian. You shouldn't erase their canon sexualities for your story. If you're going to be shipping them with ocs, why not write Dorian x male OC or Sera x female OC?
It's like the people I see write Nico di Angelo x female reader/OC. I'm not even in the Percy Jackson fandom anymore, but seeing that just boils my blood. He's gay. Please do not erase his sexuality. The writer of one of those stories literally said, "None of the characters in this are gay... It's more convenient to the plot."
If you erase a character's sexuality because it's more "cOnVeNiEnT" for you, then I'm going to kick you in the throat... Okay, maybe I won't do that, but I'll still be really fucking pissed.
And before you say, "Oh, well, it's okay. They're just fictional characters", how would you like that if someone did that to you? If someone changed your identity just because they wanted to? It would probably make you feel sick.
And please don't say that this doesn't happen in real life--because it does. It really does.
Example: I'm a panromantic trans man... I've been refered to as both a "bisexual" and a "straight" girl before. People in real life have genuinely tried to change my sexuality.
It's a real problem.
Please don't change a LGBTQ character's sexuality. I'm begging you.
