This is very possibly one of the most moving, heart-touching pieces of fanfiction I've ever read. Thank you so much for writing this. Thank you for handling these characters and these topics with such sensitivity and grace. Thank you for not making Arthur into a crazy homophobe. Even Uther was a real, human character, who though he holds ideals that are a bit extreme, I like that it's almost the world that's pushed him into it. Not like that excuses him, but he speaks and rabble-rouses, because he gets the publicity, the attention, the rush. I think a lot of the worst, hatred-spreading activists are like this. A lot of them don't even care that much about the topics at hand-- but they like (and get paid or get off) on creating that uproar.
I did not grow up in a huge, crazy church like this, but I did grow up in a very conservative environment and honestly did not even meet any gay people until I was in my 20s. And it took me a long time to figure all of that out in my brain-- years and years and years. And I related so well to Arthur here. I also really like how the first step to all of this was exposure-- just being around cool, interesting people who happen to be gay. Realizing that, despite what you were taught as a kid, not all gay people are crazed deviants who are having orgies and throwing rainbow-colored spitballs. I wonder on a daily basis what my life would be like and if I would have realized so much sooner if I had had strong gay role models. I wish that I had known a strong, interesting, successful, well-adjusted lesbian when I was growing up, because I think I would have been much better off. But I didn't. But, my point is that realizing that gay people are just people and are just as good and bad as straight people and not all that different is such a huge first step-- and I loved how you had Arthur deal with that. How it was slow and steady and he started with the realization that 'oh, well ok then, it's not so bad to be gay. These people are cool and I support them totally and it wouldn't be so bad if I were gay.' to eventually the 'oh, maybe I am gay and maybe that's ok.' And the internal freak out and the eventual external one! These are all steps that I took myself and I was so happy to see Arthur going through them too.
Will and Lance were amazing here-- really loved them! And Merlin was just perfect. I absolutely loved him and his constancy and support and caring and genuine goodness and a nice bit of sass and snark to top it all off. I liked that Gwen wasn't the pushover, sweet little Christian girl you could have typecast her as and that she was determined and good and generous.
I really, really, really loved that you dealt with religion well too. That the villains in this are Christians, but that Christians were not necessary the bad guys. It's easy to start making those broad judgments but it's never quite as simple as all that. And that Arthur didn't reject his faith. He questioned it, he rejected many of his father's non-scripture-based teachings, and he struggled with it, but that he still embraced it and turned to God to help him deal with all that. It was really fitting for this character and all of this is just stuff that I have struggled so much with and this was just BAM! super close to home. Thank you so much for writing this. It meant so much more to me than I can say and I'm sorry that this comment is probably barely coherent. Really, truly wonderful.
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I did not grow up in a huge, crazy church like this, but I did grow up in a very conservative environment and honestly did not even meet any gay people until I was in my 20s. And it took me a long time to figure all of that out in my brain-- years and years and years. And I related so well to Arthur here. I also really like how the first step to all of this was exposure-- just being around cool, interesting people who happen to be gay. Realizing that, despite what you were taught as a kid, not all gay people are crazed deviants who are having orgies and throwing rainbow-colored spitballs. I wonder on a daily basis what my life would be like and if I would have realized so much sooner if I had had strong gay role models. I wish that I had known a strong, interesting, successful, well-adjusted lesbian when I was growing up, because I think I would have been much better off. But I didn't. But, my point is that realizing that gay people are just people and are just as good and bad as straight people and not all that different is such a huge first step-- and I loved how you had Arthur deal with that. How it was slow and steady and he started with the realization that 'oh, well ok then, it's not so bad to be gay. These people are cool and I support them totally and it wouldn't be so bad if I were gay.' to eventually the 'oh, maybe I am gay and maybe that's ok.' And the internal freak out and the eventual external one! These are all steps that I took myself and I was so happy to see Arthur going through them too.
Will and Lance were amazing here-- really loved them! And Merlin was just perfect. I absolutely loved him and his constancy and support and caring and genuine goodness and a nice bit of sass and snark to top it all off. I liked that Gwen wasn't the pushover, sweet little Christian girl you could have typecast her as and that she was determined and good and generous.
I really, really, really loved that you dealt with religion well too. That the villains in this are Christians, but that Christians were not necessary the bad guys. It's easy to start making those broad judgments but it's never quite as simple as all that. And that Arthur didn't reject his faith. He questioned it, he rejected many of his father's non-scripture-based teachings, and he struggled with it, but that he still embraced it and turned to God to help him deal with all that. It was really fitting for this character and all of this is just stuff that I have struggled so much with and this was just BAM! super close to home. Thank you so much for writing this. It meant so much more to me than I can say and I'm sorry that this comment is probably barely coherent. Really, truly wonderful.