GEEK CULTURE
More Than LGBTQ Super-Heroes
Flame Con increasingly embraces diverse representations
BY CHARLES BATTERSBY
Four years ago, the idea
of a comic book convention
tailored to the LGBTQ
community was a
new concept. Flame Con, as it was
called, was an optimistic little affair
held in Brooklyn at the fl amboyant
Grand Prospect Hall. This month
saw the fi fth annual installment of
it, in a larger venue in the Sheraton
Times Square to accommodate the
thousands of attendees.
The stereotypical horny, heterosexual,
cisgender male nerd is
still a signifi cant part of most pop
culture cons. However, geek media
has had openly LGBTQ characters
for decades, and fans who grew
up with those characters are now
working in the business, creating
characters that represent themselves.
In previous years, Flame Con
had panels that discussed gay and
trans characters as well as the
then-rare contributions of openly
LGBTQ creators, but this year
there was a focus on how a new
generation of queer young fans can
get into the industry.
Gay City News spoke with Maya
Bishop, Flame Con’s department
lead for programming, who said,
“We put a specifi c focus on providing
content for professional
development... We fi nd that a lot
of queer folk don’t have a lot of opportunities
to receive mentorship
or receive advice that a lot of other
people do have.”
A new feature at this year’s
Flame Con was “micro mentoring.”
which Bishop described as
mentors from various fi elds in the
entertainment industry “giving 15-
minute, small compact mentoring
sessions... that give Flame Con attendees
the opportunity to speak
one-on-one with a creator or professional
that’s within their fi eld of
interest. It gives people a chance
to ask questions that they might
not get in a panel, and to have a
little bit of personal time to focus
on their work specifi cally.”
Flame Con attracts nerds from
all fandoms — comic books, anime,
Brendan “Pumpkinfl uencer” Gillett (@Scrumpledina) sports gelatinous headgear at Flame Con 2019.
Advertising for Flame Con refl ects the increasing diversity of the annual LGBTQ event.
video games, tabletop games
like Dungeons & Dragons, as well
as the ubiquitous TV and movie
adaptations thereof. Voice actors
are celebrated as geek celebrities
at cons. Fans will wait in line to
meet the people behind the voices
of their favorite cartoon characters,
and one of the speakers at
this year’s con was Jesse Nowack,
a transgender actor who recently
began transitioning from female to
male. His transition is a very public
one, and is refl ected in his vocal
work.
Nowack told Gay City News that
since he began using testosterone
in January, he has been “...trying to
relearn my range. It’s like playing a
piano and pressing a key and all of
a sudden everything is hooked up
to different notes... it’s frustrating,
CHARLES BATTERSBY
FLAME CON 2019
but it’s also very rewarding.”
Nowack also pointed out that
male to female transgender voice
actresses are relatively common,
but there are only a few trans male
voice actors.
“I needed me when I was a kid,”
Nowack said. “I needed someone
like me existing here. A lot of trans
kids who come up to me are like, ‘I
didn’t think I could be a voice actor
until I saw you succeeding at
it,’ and that means the world to me
and I’m going to keep doing it.”
The cosplay community has
been a place for people to explore
their identity for many years. Experimentation
with gender and
sexuality is more tolerated by society
if it’s perceived as a costume. It’s
no surprise that costume contests
were held both days of Flame Con.
Many cons have strict requirements
to enter their contests, often
requiring people to sign up weeks
in advance, but at Flame Con, anyone
could line up on the spur of the
moment to participate.
One of the judges at Saturday’s
cosplay contest was Chris Calfa
aka Princess Chris. He described
his own style of cosplay as “guy
versions of Disney princesses.”
Princess Chris was dressed as
a male version of Rapunzel as he
discussed his distinct style with
Gay City News.
“I like to take them and make
them suitable for what I identify
as,” he said. “I was born male and
I still very much identify as male. I
like to creatively challenge myself
and think what these princesses
might look like as men.”
When asked about Flame Con’s
cosplay community, Calfa explained
it has “more fl uidity. And
more people being honest with who
they are. There’s a lot more pride
shown. It is like Gay Pride. Everyone
is wearing whatever the hell
they want because it’s how they
feel that day.”
In the early ‘90s, DC Comics
used the slogan “More Than Superheroes
(But We’ve Got them Too).”
At Flame Con, the original focus
might have been the LGBTQ community,
but there is a commitment
to be welcoming to everyone, including
ethnic minorities, religious
minorities, and disabled nerds.
Flame Con’s advertising has a
team of (literally) fl aming superheroes;
each year new faces and
body types are added to the team.
New to the roster is a heroic canine
sidekick wearing a service dog
harness.
A braille program was readily
available at the front desk, and
panel discussions also had a live
captioning system for hearing-impaired
attendees this year.
“It’s an open space,” Calfa said
after the costume contest. “A more
comfortable space. Sometimes people
don’t feel comfortable at other
conventions. Everyone here feels
really comfortable and it makes me
happy to see that.”
August 29 - September 11, 32 2019 | GayCityNews.com
/GayCityNews.com
