A couple articles I feel compelled to link to
Is Star Wars Setting Up Poe Dameron As Its First Queer Protagonist? (Hypable, Dec 24/15)
Imagine the new Star Wars trilogy as your default movie experience, starring Rey, the tiny, terrifying Jedi whose womanhood is never equated with weakness, Finn, the black, brave ex-Stormtrooper who made a choice not to kill for his captors, and Poe Dameron: alpha male, queer, Latino, the poster boy for the Resistance. Imagine growing up, from childhood, with those characters as your Luke, Leia and Han. Imagine the way that could help to shape hearts and minds and opinions. Imagine what it would allow, and what it would normalize. Imagine what the kids for whom this has always existed will be able to contribute to the world.
(That one made me cry.)
Star Wars hero Poe Dameron: Is Disney brave enough to make him gay? (Telegraph, Jan 1/16)
The perceived wisdom is that it was a risk to have a film led by an unknown young woman and a black man, but the box-office has shattered that argument. Perhaps Star Wars can risk a few more bucks to make history once more, because if Rey and Finn show how far we’ve come, perhaps Poe shows how far we still have to go.