i just read good omens a few days ago and i totally agree with what you're saying! after a full book of queerbaiting those two and taking that as an opportunity to insert homophobia that us gays have to read through, the best thing that could be done would be to make their relationship explicitly canonical this time around (and get rid of or at least revise newt & anathema's horrible relationship but that's not going to happen). don't trust Neil to do it but I have a speck of hope nonetheless

cw in this post for nongraphic discussion of homophobia & sexual violenceHMMMM this is a tuff one bc as u kno im obviously 100% on board with explicit aziraphale crowley Marriage in the bbc series and im thrilled ur on board too anon... BUT i'm not actually rly convinced that queerbaiting was what was happening in the novel tbh! the way their relationship is written just feels too sincere and careful for it to just be queerbaiting (which for the purpose of this ask im using to mean "writers cynically teasing a representation-hungry audience with a Possible gay relationship in order to maintain audience interest as long as possible AND/OR in order to claim Woke Points"). like, in a oneshot novel, there's kind of no point to maintaining audience interest - thats more of a tv show concern - and i think it's pretty clear that gaiman & pratchett weren't exactly gunning for Woke Points when they wrote itRATHER i think that it's probably more of a "we are two straight dudes writing this book on a whim in 1990 and we want to communicate that they rly love each other and it's gonna be a little ambiguous" kind of thing. like, i read the relationship as pretty obviously romantic, and i assume that's more or less on purpose, but like... idk im just not bothered by it not literally ending in their makin out ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ like for one thing the ending scene with the nightingale singing in berkeley square is SO fucking romantic IDK what to tell uregarding the homophobia, i assume you're referencing:a) az's intro where he's described as seeming gay in a goofy way and then the narration notes that in fact since angels are genderless "gay" isnt rly a term that appliesb) the twerp at the bday party who misunderstands az's comment about burning f*ggots (asterisked bc it is & isnt a slur here lmao)c) anathema understanding that crowley & az aren't Normal and then assuming it's because they're gay (not bc theyre not human)A is obv pretty complicated bc Pop Understanding Of Gender And Sex And Sexuality has uhhhh Evolved since 1990 (!) but tbh! im fine with swishy gay aziraphale EVEN WHILE understanding that it is at some level a joke about Ooh Hoo Hoo One Wouldn't Expect An Angel To Act GAY because........ we still get... an angel who Acts Gay out of it? like he's still an angel and a good interesting funny moral person. nd i think that there IS interesting stuff to be thought about wrt angels' relationship to "gayness" as a concept given that their relationships to gender and sex and sexuality are so alienatedneil gaiman addressed B in his post here: http://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/175585724701 which i think is a good and fair responseand then C is also... idk like again part of the joke is Tee Hee They're Not Gay They're ETHEREAL but.. idk to me as a gay person reading the novel every time i get to that scene im like fuck dude youre right they also are gay. and i think theres also smth to be said for the acknowledgement that yeah! if you are a woman and you are approached by strange men in the night, it's fucking scary! even if theyre nice! and (Assuming You Don't Suck) the idea that PERHAPS they will not want to visit sexual violence upon you because PERHAPS they are gay.. is a relief! (and ya obv theres like a whole conversation there abt sexual violence not actually being abt attraction at all and the assumption that all men r violent sucks ETC ETC but the reaction remains...!) also yea i hope anathema & newt's Whole Thing is a little healthier but frankly i do think it's written as so weird and awkward and "guess this is inevitable so.. better get crackin? ugh" intentionally both because it's kind of funny and also as an exploration of, ya, what WOULD it be like to have your every move dictated and spectated upon by a long dead extremely nosey ancestor? it would be fucking wack!N E WAY this is just to say that i want aziraphale and crowley to get married onscreen because im gay and theyre gay and i love a good love story, not because i feel like the novel Owes it to me or has something to make up for. i actually do more or less trust neil gaiman on this one - like, i dont ACTUALLY THINK ac r gonna get married onscreen but i DO trust him to handle... His Own Characters... with love and integrity.emmyways... long post for relatively short ask... im just love good omens. @neil-gaiman if ur out there....... im ready!!