In doing the research for this series of articles, I have found that lesbians outnumber gay men in science fiction by about a factor of ten. I suppose it would be disingenuous of me to pretend that I don't understand why this is. Given science fiction's classic target demographic, and given that demographic's propensity to consider lesbians "hot," and gay men "icky."
IO9 recently posted a list of female-dominated cultures in science fiction novels, and the comments on the post are an excellent example of this. (Note also the commenter who asked if there were any worlds filled with gay men, and the resounding silence in response.)
Certainly I can see how there would be a tendency for the media industry to green-light novels with the possibility for lesbian sex, and take a pass on novels with sex between gay men. After all, the media is in the business of selling things that its audience wants to buy. Framed this way, it's more about profits than it is about prejudice.
But can this solely account for the proliferation of openly gay female science fiction writers, and the relative dearth of openly gay male writers? I have been cross-referencing works which won Lambda literary prizes, and so far I have found only a tiny handful of openly gay male writers. (David Gerrold, Russell T. Davies, and Samuel R. Delaney.) I'm sure there are more, and if you know of any, please let me know!
At the same time, I found a website which lists lesbians in science fiction, both authors and characters, which recently hit its 200th entry. This ratio - 200 to less than 10? - strikes me as bizarrely unbalanced, even accounting for the predilections of The Core Demographic.
I wonder, do gay women feel more comfortable with the science fiction genre and fandom than gay men do? I don't have the answer to that question, and I haven't been able to find anything about it online. Surely someone is asking this question - I can't be the only one, can I?
I found this interview with Elizabeth Bear, regarding the release of her novel "Carnival." Bear's mother was a lesbian, and who has won several Lambda awards herself. And for extra credit, the interviewer identifies herself as a lesbian as well. (And two more gay male leading characters for The List!) The interview covers many related topics, but never quite touches on why lesbians have better representation in science fiction. Although there may be a hint in the way their conversation keeps getting linked to the feminist movement. The interview isn't entirely relevant to the question at hand, but it's well worth reading.
Back to "the feminist thing," it seems that a lot of lesbian characters and female-only worlds are as much a matter of gender politics as they are of personal sexual identity. I'm not sure how I feel about this, to tell you the truth. I'm a big fan of feminism, but when you frame it like this, it makes it sound as if the feminist movement has co-opted a sexual preference in order to make a statement about patriarchy. Is that ethical? I wish I had the answer. No one does, but I think it's important to ask the question.