The 100 was praised for portraying a world where sexuality has no influence on how you are perceived. The Lesbian community has been searching for stories involving lesbians, not stories about them, where their sexualities become their defining feature, and the narrative chooses to constantly discuss it.
Lexa showed many young queer girls that their sexualities would not define them. I myself have long been afraid that the most interesting thing about me was my sexuality, and even where I did find representation I found that representation only reinforcing that belief as lesbian characters are rarely written with respect and complexity.
Lexa was everything one could hope for in a strong character, and she was so beautifully portrayed. However make no mistake, even though her sexuality was not relevant to the story it was absolutely relevant in the real world, and it is what made the character so special to so many. The writers failed to realize this, instead choosing to believe that because they had created a world where sexuality was irrelevant, they could treat it as such in her death.
Jason continues to say that she was just another casualty in this world where ‘everybody dies’, but the real casualty was the hope that so many young queer girls had after being told that this show was different, that the writers were aware of her importance to an entire community that hardly had hope to begin with.
The truth is Lexa has shown us what we deserve, and what media has been lacking since the introduction of television. Quality representation. Since her death, I now feel an emptiness because I understand what I have lost, and what I may not find for another ten years. And that is what I am fighting for. I am fighting so I don’t have to feel empty anymore.