Sci fi can take many forms. Some of it is set in the present or near future – the movie “Her” was a great example of this. Watching the film, it was easy to believe the events portrayed could take place in the next few years.
Some go a little farther out. The Martian is a good example of this – we’re in the future, but still recognizably our future.
And still others go much farther afield, with only a tenuous connection (or none at all) to the world we know.
Do you prefer reading LGBTIQ sci fi that is present-day or near future on a recognizable Earth? Or In our more distant future? Or in some place/time totally unconnected to the now? And why?
I prefer current day. This comes back to several things in futuristic or alternate universe etc settings.
Technology and evolution/advancements. For me it is a balance. I don’t want to be clogged down with new terminology and concepts so it overshadows the story itself, but I also don’t want to feel like I could step into that world and be like everyone else just with space travel and a little advancement in a few things.
In regard to equality, I would hope discrimination currently faced by the LGBTI community would be pretty much a non-issue although introductions to alien races and cultures may reintroduce unfair treatment and judgment.
I have found books not set in the current day that deliver a comfortable balance or stretch the mind and possibilities without distracting the reader from the story but I have also given up halfway through as the story didappears behind an avalanche of alien terms and detail.