Clexacon: Where people ‘can be whoever they want to be’
The CW’S highlighting of LGBT heroes is in stark contrast to the spring of 2016, when two of its dramas, “Jane the Virgin” and “The 100,” killed off popular queer characters, falling back on the TV trope that had become so common it was given a name: bury your gays.
When “The 100’s” Lexa
(Alycia Debnam-carey) died, leaving behind her significant other, Clarke (Eliza Taylor), the reaction from fans of the couple dubbed “Clexa” was so swift and fierce, it led to the creation of Clexacon. The gathering — the first fandom convention for
LGBT women, their allies and the actors and writers behind some of their favorite characters — debuted the following spring in Las Vegas.
“I know that there are fans who, weekends like Clexacon is the only space where they’re OK, where they can be whoever they want to be,” says Dr.
Erika Gisela Abad, an assistant professor at UNLV.
A guest and speaker at past Clexacons, Abad developed her interest in queer fandom when two of her students introduced her to the convention.
“I’m growing into my profession,” she says, “with students who are more comfortable with their gender expressions and their gender identities and sexual orientation because they had so many people on TV who are saying that it’s OK to be queer. That they’re not the only trans person. That they’re not the only gender nonconforming person that exists.”
The third annual Clexacon is scheduled for April 11-15 at the Tropicana.