Here's the letter I submitted (I can't wait to read all of yours'!)
It was originally much longer, this is AFTER I gutted it:
You changed the world.
You really, really did.
Having grown up in the 90's, I saw time and time again how shows like Xena: Warrior Princess, Babylon 5, even the Star Trek franchise tried to tackle the issue of bi/homosexuality and time and time again didn’t go through with it.
Throughout my adolescence and later my adulthood I watched as Xena and Gabrielle became life partners and soulmates only for Xena to die the end of eponymous show. I watched Tara die on "Buffy" and Willow turn into an evil monster, I watched Commander Susan Ivanova on Babylon 5 about to get really intimately close with Talia Winters just for that latter to be written out of the show immediately and never show up again. More recently I saw on Once Upon a Time how the warrior Mulan and Princess Aurora slowly and organically developed a close relationship very similar to that of Korra and Asami in many ways, and just as Mulan was about to proclaim her love for Princess Aurora - you guessed it – she was immediately written out of the show.
More than a decade after Xena, with LGBT rights ever on the rise, and bisexual couples on western sci-fi/fantasy STILL can't have a happy ending together and walk off into the sunset, it seemed.
But then you guys came along.
When I started watching Legend of Korra (I'll admit to not having watched The Last Airbender at that point, but I now intend to), it was because I was drawn to strong female characters and have heard wonderful things about it. The further along I got in the series, especially in book 3, I started noticing the budding bond and close friendship between Korra and Asami, and thought - almost as an afterthought - they would make an amazing couple.
But I never imagined it would ever happen, because - having been a fem/fem shipper all of my life – as written above, I was used to disappointment.
Which is why when the finale came and that last scene started, I was caught completely off-guard. I was fully expecting it to end neither here nor there, to keep everyone equally (dis)pleased. But then… “Let’s do it. Just you and me.”
It took me almost a week to fully realize just HOW huge this was. I’ve seen reaction videos of bisexual people and people of color watching the finale and burst into tears of unimaginable joy. I am neither bisexual nor of color, but they are very dear to me and always have been, and seeing the amount of joy they received from it was something I had never seen before. They weren’t just happy because the couple they were rooting for got a happy ending – they were going through something much deeper than that, as they were finally VALIDATED! After years of discrimination, hatred and violence, after misrepresentation has become such a norm that everyone was positive it would never change – you changed it. You validated them. You represented a strong, bisexual couple of women of different races and colors, both getting a happy ending without having to compromise. They walked off into the sunset (as it were), and lived happily ever after.
I’d like to go back to “Xena: Warrior Princess” for a moment - If you remember the opening title, it ended with the lines “Her courage would change the world”. I’d like to think that in a meta-way it did, and with all the similarities between Xena and Korra I can’t help but think about that line in respect to you and the show; Your creation – your decision to let it happen and take its course – your unequivocal and non-debatable confirmation and support to the conclusion of the relationship – YOUR courage HAS changed the world!
With more and more countries and states giving more and more equal rights to gays, bisexuals, transgenders and others in an incredible rate and awareness to equal rights being as high as ever, while there’s still a ton of work to be done, just know that thanks to you I know that we’re on the right path, and that the future isn’t all that bleak. I can’t wait to see what this future holds, and you have been extremely instrumental in helping shape it and push towards the future we all deserve.
Ending with a thank you doesn’t seem enough, so I’ll end with a quote by none other than the current President of the Unites States:
“The future rewards those who press on. I don't have time to feel sorry for myself. I don't have time to complain. I'm going to press on.”
Thank you for pressing on.