History Main / DiscountLesbians

* Humanity in ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'' has been segregated into two different races, where Majerans (women) form romantic bonds and two-parent families for their daughters. If the men of Tarak do the same isn't specified--in the first episode, one of the background conversations during a military graduation has one guy asking another if they want to make a kid. The guy's answer was basically, "Sure, why not?", as if he had been asked to join in on poker night. A later episode one guy is shocked the baby grows inside the woman as all men are test-tube grown.

* Technically speaking, Disney portrayed a same-sex couple in Hugo and Djali from ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameII''. Said couple is composed of what amounts to a ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane probably]]) living rock [[BestialityIsDepraved and a goat]], [[QueerPeopleAreFunny played for laughs]] on top of that. Understandably, not many people see this as a major breakthrough in LGBT representation, and the MoralGuardians didn't even flip out, even though it's exactly the sort of insanely over the top depraved scenario they often use as a slippery slope argument. Though, there is the possibility that in the sequel where Hugo crushing on Djali is a little more prominent, that the writers didn't even realize Djali was referred to as a male in the first movie.

* Technically speaking, Disney portrayed a same-sex couple in Hugo and Djali from ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameII''. Said couple is composed of what amounts to a ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane probably]]) living rock [[BestialityIsDepraved and a goat]], [[QueerPeopleAreFunny played for laughs]] on top of that. Understandably, not many people see this as a major breakthrough in LGBT representation, and the MoralGuardians didn't even flip out, even though it's exactly the sort of insanely over the top depraved scenario they often use as a slippery slope argument. Though, there is the possibility that the writers didn't even realize Djali was referred to as a male in the first movie.

* Technically speaking, Disney portrayed a same-sex couple in Hugo and Djali from ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameII''. Said couple is composed of what amounts to a ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane probably]]) living rock [[BestialityIsDepraved and a goat]], [[QueerPeopleAreFunny played for laughs]] on top of that. Understandably, not many people see this as a major breakthrough in LGBT representation, and the MoralGuardians didn't even flip out, even though it's exactly the sort of insanely over the top depraved scenario they often use as a slippery slope argument.

* Wing and Wong in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaThePawsOfDestiny'' are both gay, but they're also both warthogs, which might be why social media and news took absolutely no interest in reporting that a popular children's franchise has a gay couple.

** Both times an attraction between women was clearly depicted in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', it was because one of the women was mind-[[BodySnatcher controlled by a male entity]]: Kes, controlled by Tieran, tries to revive his relationship with Nori in "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E9Warlord Warlord]]," and Seven, controlled by an assimilated Klingon warrior, tries to assault B'Elanna in "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS5E7InfiniteRegress]]."

** ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' tried to do this in a more sensitive manner than TNG had in the "The Host". In "Rejoined", Jadzia Dax meets Lenara Kahn, whom one of the Dax symbiont's previous male hosts had been married to. The trope is applied in that it is really Dax and Kahn, the symbionts, who have romantic feelings for each other, rather than Jadzia and Lenara. Also, the Trill have a taboo against symbionts resuming romantic relationships carried over from past hosts (a retcon from their introduction in TNG) and thus this was a single-episode story that is never pursued further. Jadzia would go on to marry Worf.

** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' specifically averted having a Discount Non-Binary character: Adira [[spoiler:is joined with a Trill symbiont, but [[WordOfSaintPaul Blu del Barrio has made it clear]] that Adira was non-binary to begin with, not because of being joined]].

Although [[SecondLawOfGenderBending Hazumu completely identifies as female afterward]] ([[AmbiguousGenderIdentity and may have been transgender to begin with]]), she's the only girl unambiguously attractive to and generally attracted to other girls: Ayuta's romance with her may have been based on [[ChildhoodFriendRomance knowing Hazumu since long before the change]], while Yasuna [[SituationalSexuality has some rather contrived circumstances preventing any romance with boys]].

* In ''Anime/{{Simoun}}'', everyone is born female, only choosing a permanent gender at the age of 17. This automatically puts all teenage characters into the lesbian zone. However, while people usually end up the opposite of their permanent sex, we see some couples that stay together as women and even one that knew each other as teens and hook up after both becoming ''men''.

* This trope is frequently invoked by some ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' fans whenever anyone mentions the HoYay between Shinji and Kaworu, what with [[spoiler:Kaworu bearing the soul of Adam]].

* A pair of Tasen from ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'' are in a relationship. This one makes a bit more sense in that almost all Tasen soldiers shown on-screen except for the BonusBoss are female.
* The asari of ''Franchise/MassEffect'' are a classic example. An entire alien species of [[OneGenderRace mono-gendered]], universally hot [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe blue alien space babes]] who have relationships with each other, all genders of [[ExtremeOmnisexual almost every other sapient species]], and (potentially) with female [=PCs=], the gender aspect almost never shown to be an issue for interspecies relationships. A number of asari characters express bemusement at the whole concept of sexual orientation (though at the start of a romance with [=FemShep=], Liara will still have a minor freakout about being attracted to another woman who isn't her own species, despite the fact that both qualities are supposedly considered normal for an asari's romantic partner), and there are a few jokes about gender-based concepts not translating properly (for example, the asari consider the parent that didn't give birth the "father" in all cases, though their language doesn't have gendered pronouns for obvious reasons). ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' may have [[WhatCouldHaveBeen originally been going to include]] same-sex options for the two human love interests, as suggested by DummiedOut audio files that suggest such a thing, but those files also have the ''very male'' Mark Meer ask Liara if she's OK with [[NarmCharm dating a woman]]. Finally averted in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', where two gay characters are introduced to the crew and a returning character is revealed as bisexual. Conversations with these characters and others suggest that sexuality is almost a non-issue by that time.[[note]]Though this seems to be a retcon; a relevant part in the Liara Fem!Shep romance is asking whereas its ''weird'' since they're both women, whose clarification on the former's part is the source of the perception of this being a discount lesbian scenario in the first place.[[/note]] ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' takes things even further. In addition to having a crew that includes multiple sexual orientations, flirting with Cora Harper, a heterosexual woman, as a female PlayerCharacter gives InUniverse confirmation that a relationship between an asari and a female from another species ''does'' count as lesbianism....''from the perspective of the non-asari partner''.

->''"Why is lesbian sex only OK if it involves another species?"''
-->-- '''Joystiq.com''' on ''Franchise/MassEffect''

* In ''Anime/{{Simoun}}'', everyone is born female, only choosing a permanent gender at the age of 17. This automatically puts all teenage characters into the lesbian zone. However, while people usually end up the opposite of their permanent sex, we see some couples that stay together as women and even one that knew each other as teens and hook back after both becoming ''men''.

* In ''Anime/{{Simoun}}'', everyone is born female, only choosing a permanent gender at the age of 17. This automatically puts all teenage characters into the lesbian zone. However, by the end every possible gender combination is represented, averting the main reason for this trope.

* ''Manga/BlueDrop'' gives us the Arume, who are a OneGenderRace of space lesbians.

* The entire premise of ''Anime/{{Simoun}}'', where everyone is born female, only choosing a permanent gender at the age of 17. This automatically puts all teenage characters into the lesbian zone. However, by the end every possible gender combination is represented, averting the main reason for this trope.
* Used for the women in ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'', because each gender had essentially become a different race. The male equivalent is never revealed. The Majerans (women) form romantic bonds and two-parent families for their daughters. As for the men of Tarak, in the first episode, one of the background conversations during a military graduation has one guy asking another if they want to make a kid. The guy's answer was basically, "Sure, why not?", as if he had been asked to form a ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' guild. A later episode one guy is shocked the baby grows inside the woman as all men are test-tube grown.

* Bernkastel and Lambdadelta, the [[RealityWarper reality-bending]] [[WitchSpecies witch]] pair in ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' appear to have [[PsychoLesbian something like this]] going on, as part of their FoeRomanceSubtext.

* The entire premise of ''Anime/{{Simoun}}'', where everyone is born female, only choosing a permanent gender at the age of 17. This automatically puts all teenage characters into the SchoolgirlLesbians zone. However, by the end every possible gender combination is represented, averting the main reason for this trope.

* The Gems in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' are a OneGenderRace of [[StarfishAliens sapient rocks]] with NoBiologicalSex [[NonHumanNonBinary or self-identified gender]] that use forms that look like human women. They still hold romantic feelings of attraction to each other and, in a few rare cases, humans of either sex. However, no one suggests gems are different than human women in terms of sexuality in either direction--[[FantasticallyIndifferent humans tend not to realize or care that gems are aliens]]. When Pearl falls for a human woman who seems to return her interest, the implication is clearly that both are attracted to women. Gems being sexless isn't even stated in the show, just implied by their BizarreAlienReproduction.

* ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' has the sylvari, PlantPeople who don't reproduce sexually (they all grow in pods from the same mother tree), and to whom gender is completely irrelevant. They definitely ''have'' gender in that there are defined male and female sylvari, but it holds no biological relevance and is treated with roughly the same gravitas as one's hair or eye color; they find the focus other races place on gender roles more than a little bemusing. Likewise, WordOfGod states that gender simply does not factor into romantic attraction for sylvari. Caithe and Faolain, two significant female sylvari [=NPCs=], were lovers prior to the game's events. That said, the game also features same-sex relationships between members of various other races, including a human lesbian couple among the main characters, to whom this does not apply.

* ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' has the sylvari, PlantPeople who don't reproduce sexually (they all grow in pods from the same mother tree), and to whom gender is completely irrelevant. They definitely ''have'' gender in that there are defined male and female sylvari, but it holds no biological relevance and while they do experience romantic attraction, WordOfGod states that gender does not factor into it whatsoever. Caithe and Faolain, two significant female sylvari [=NPCs=], were lovers in the game's backstory.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', Alternian society is [[EveryoneIsBi binormative]]. However, there are also gay and bisexual humans. Also, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Kanaya]] is specifically only attracted to females, which is considered unusual but normal.

* ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' has the sylvari, plant people who don't reproduce sexually (they all grow in pods from the same mother tree), and to whom gender is completely irrelevant. They definitely ''have'' gender in that there are defined male and female sylvari, but it holds no biological relevance. And more specifically, Caithe and Faolain.

Compare NonHumanNonBinary, a similar concept that explores non-traditional gender identities (vs. this trope's sexuality focus) through non-human characters. Also compare HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster, LesbianVampire, BuryYourGays, and (occasionally) {{Elfeminate}}. Related to DeceptivelyHumanRobots because both are only as robotic/gay, respectively, as is convenient for the show. Also see SpaceJews for aliens standing in for minorities. Related to HideYourLesbians in that both are a way of including apparently gay content without admitting to it. See also SpeculativeFictionLGBT, which is about how SpeculativeFiction settings make showing LGBT acceptable.

Compare NonHumanNonBinary, a similar concept that explores non-traditional gender identities (vs. this trope's sexuality focus) through non-human characters. Also compare HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster, LesbianVampire, BuryYourGays, and (occasionally) {{Elfeminate}}. Related to DeceptivelyHumanRobots because both are only as robotic/gay, respectively, as is convenient for the show. Also see SpaceJews for aliens standing in for minorities. Related to HideYourLesbians in that both are a way of including apparently gay content without admitting to it. See also SpeculativeFictionLGBT, which is about how SpeculativeFiction settings make showing LGBT acceptable. Not to be confused with transgender and metaphorically transgender characters.

Discount Lesbians (or Discount Gays, or Discount Bisexuals, etc.) are canon queer characters who ''appear'' to be a person of female or male persuasion, but either they come from a OneGenderRace, they don't reproduce sexually, they're genderfluid shapeshifters, or some other alien weirdness that means they don't define gender the way we do, so romancing them [[LoopholeAbuse doesn't really "count" as gay]]. This usually seems to be a device used within the story that lets [[MostWritersAreMale the (presumed) audience]] watch [[GirlOnGirlIsHot two hot chicks making out]] without having to think about the associated real-world issues of homosexuality. On the other hand, the trope may come into play if the writer wishes to include a lesbian relationship in the story but is worried about MoralGuardians, thus becoming a way for a RuleAbidingRebel to make an attempt at GettingCrapPastTheRadar.

Basically [[ShapedLikeItself gays... but cheaper]]. Commonly carries UnfortunateImplications (see page quote). It can be considered a subtrope of ButNotTooGay.

* ''VideoGame/EternalEden'': Joelle is engaged to Lynette. When Downey expresses surprise/disgust at the fact that the two girls are romantically involved with each other, Joelle explains that fairies have NoBiologicalSex, so her relationship with Lynette don't count as lesbians even if both looks female.

* ''Manga/KashimashiGirlMeetsGirl'' has the main lesbian character be a transformed boy, although it's heavily implied that s/he was a trans woman, but didn't know about his/her condition. Not even the voice-actor is changed with her gender!