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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41052
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41052
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The game _Dragon Age - Inquisition_ did this recently, quite successfully, with a side character, [Krem](http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Cremisius_Aclassi). Krem is the second-in-command of a mercenary group one of your companions leads, so an NPC you interact with about a dozen times throughout the game. He tells you he's trans about halfway into the game. It's part of his backstory. You get one dialogue about it, and that's it, moving on to more important issues like what the mercenary company can do for you at this stage of the game.

I think that is a good example of how to do a minor transgender character well: the point is present, it has had a big impact on the character becoming who they are now (changing one's gender is not like changing one's t-shirt), but **the character is not defined by their gender**. They have a job, they have hobbies, they have friends and family. In their day-to-day, those form a much more pertinent topic of conversation than what's between their legs.

One of the main problems with many LGBT "representations" in modern media is that the LGBT status is the character's sole characteristic. This is boring, shallow, unrealistic, and to be avoided.

If the character has a bit more presence in your story, you might, if you choose, give this topic a bit more room. For example, you might show the character in the process of transitioning, rather than years after. There might be someone who knew this character as a child, struggling to accept the change, getting the pronouns confused through force of habit. You might mention bigotry, though that, I think, is a cheap shot - that's the easiest story to tell; bigot - bad, character - innocent victim, seen that story a thousand times with a hundred other minorities.

Original score: 18