Jennifer Hale reflects on the queer representation of the Mass Effect series, and how we can thank BioWare's Canadian roots for bringing it about in the first place.
Speaking with TheGamer, Hale says that the romance between female Commander Shepard and Liara in the first Mass Effect was "really risky" at the time, but she was not discouraged by the backlash from Fox News. In fact, she wants the fact that BioWare persisted despite that backlash to be remembered as we fight against bigotry today.
"If you're 30 now, you're like, what? What's the big deal?" Hale tells me. That speaks to the success of what we did."
But of course, it was very much a big deal back in 2007. "Fox News got so pissed off, they would not stop talking about the Liara and femshep romance. I'm like, sweet! Free publicity. Let's go," she continues. "We have lived in a time where we could feel the rightness of representation. And I hope we hold tight to that reminder as we move through this time we're sitting in right now."
Sadly, Mass Effect 2 did scale back on its queer representation. Jack was going to be pansexual, but this...
