Keep Juhani a Lesbian and Keep Juhani's Romance Exclusive to Female Characters

Originally published on June 28, 2023

For those who do not know, Juhani is a character introduced in the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR), which was developed by BioWare. She is best known not only for being a lesbian and a romance option for female player characters, but also the very first confirmed gay character in both the Star Wars franchise and BioWare games.

Defending and protecting Juhani's status as a lesbian is a stance I will make no compromise on. It is my firm belief that Juhani should remain a lesbian and her romance should remain exclusive to female characters. I strongly and utterly oppose any attempt to make Juhani a romance option for male characters under any circumstances. In other words, I am completely against the idea of making Juhani straight or bisexual.

As a modder of the KotOR video game series, I also need to state that I will never make Juhani a romance option for male characters under any circumstances in any of my mods. I also do not support any mod that makes Juhani a romance option for male characters, including providing technical support or granting permission to make patches that try to make straight or bisexual Juhani mods compatible with my mods.

Some would ask me: why do you support and even make mods that make heterosexual characters gay, but against making gay characters heterosexual?

The answer is simple: Because I both want more LGBTQ+ representation and I believe the identities of officially confirmed LGBTQ+ characters should be respected and not be changed.

Unlike every other romance options in both KotOR games, Juhani is a canon gay character, which means she is officially confirmed to be attracted to the same gender exclusively, and she has always been intended to be a lesbian, a woman who is exclusively attracted to women. In fact, the first KotOR game has gone out of its way to ensure ONLY female player characters can romance Juhani.

As a lesbian myself, I utterly and firmly oppose the idea of making canon lesbian characters like Juhani being able to be romanced by men (or canon gay male — as in, men who are exclusively attracted to men — characters romanceable by women), because it is very disrespectful for gay representation, especially consider the fact that Juhani is literally the ONLY confirmed LGBTQ+ character in either KotOR game (minor female NPCs Belaya, Luxa and the Twin Suns are implied to be attracted to women, but their sexualities are never confirmed). Making canon lesbian characters like Juhani a romance option by men is also reminiscent of the real-life homophobic attitude that gay people's sexualities can be changed, which leads to “conversion therapy”.

Lesbians specifically are often discriminated and prejudiced against due to both homophobia and misogyny. In fact, there is a word for describing the various forms of prejudice and negativity towards lesbians specifically: lesbophobia. We lesbians are often demonised as "not giving men a chance" for being women with an exclusive attraction to women and a lack of attraction to men. Yes, I do believe making confirmed lesbian characters like Juhani straight or bisexual is a form of lesbophobia. Juhani is a fictional character, but lesbians exist in the real world, and how you treat a fictional charcter with an identity that is marginalised in real life often reflects your attitude towards people with said marginalised identity in the real world.

Making Juhani a romance option for male characters cannot be compared to making heteroseual romance options like Bastila Shan and Carth Onasi gay or bisexual, because cisgender heterosexual people already get countless representations in media, including Star Wars and KotOR. Keep in mind that LGBTQ+ people already have to see countless pieces of mainstream media filled with cisgender and heterosexual characters without a single LGBTQ+ character even existing. Making heterosexual romance options like Batila and Carth available for same-gender romance options is out of desire for more LGBTQ+ representation, while making Juhani a romance option for male characters, including making Juhani bisexual, is erasing her lesbian sexuality and disrespecting lesbian representation.

All my same-gender romance mods are about adding more same-gender romance options, and not inherently about removing every gender restriction in romances without any thought or consideration. Ultimately, My reasons and motives for opposing changing Juhani's lesbian orientation, and at the same time supporting making heterosexual romance options like Bastila and Carth bisexual, are all about wanting more LGBTQ+ representation and respecting canon LGBTQ+ representation. Protecting Juhani's status as a canon lesbian character is not inherently about adhering to canon, but about respecting representation of marginalised groups like LGBTQ+ people.

Keeping canon gay chracters exclusive to same-gender romances, including keeping Juhani's romance exclusive to female chracters only, is a stance I am not going to change my mind on, so I would appreciate anyone not debating me on this.