Space at the Con : Conversations About Representation in Popular Culture at Comic Conventions
If I can help them [ the audience ] feel like , yeah , their position is awkward or misunderstood but it ’ s not something that they have to be ashamed of . That is something that people understand and that is something that they ’ re capable of being sympathetic toward in a positive way .
The goal of helping others understand themselves , and come to a point of understanding others , was mentioned by individuals from the LGBTQIA + community as well .
The “ LGBTQ panel ” is increasingly popular at Salt Lake Comic Con events . Over the past five years , organizers have had to move the panel to progressively larger rooms due to demand , as measured in volunteer reports of rooms filled to capacity and large numbers of attendees being turned away . The emotional reaction to this panel was mentioned by multiple respondents . Jessica said , “ As soon as I said my name and what I was representing , there were cheers . And that , just , oh yeah . There were cheers . And I was just like ‘ Holy crap !’ and I had no less than three people come up to me at the end ” ( Personal interview . 17 March 2016 ). This direct interaction after panels was also familiar to several panelists . Thor , a cosplayer , shared what happened when they “ first did the LGBTQ panel , the first two times we did it , we actually one girl come up in tears because we told her it ’ s ok to be queer . She ’ s like , she was in tears , she said , ‘ I can ’ t tell my parents . How do I tell my parents ?’”
Storytelling can be an intimately experience , allowing us to share facts as we saw them and emotions as we felt them ( Haigh and Hardy ). And for several respondents , coming out stories served as a pivotal event to share . Thor admitted that “ when we told our stories�our coming out�sometimes it ’ s
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