[@SilentWriter83] Just my two-cents...

1) LGBT vs realism in roleplaying:

Rather than forcing the characters to be categorized under specific sexuality for the sake of either appeal or whatever selfish reasons, I think that people should take a step back and try to understand what being someone who's LGBT really is and feels, instead of just going: "My character is <insert sexuality type here>, and they'll fuck with only those in line with the sexual preference I stated. Kthxbai." You are not going to play a convincing character with the sexuality type you stated when you don't even understand what being that sexuality type truly means. It's just like the Emperor's Clothes story: you think you're wearing some fantastic clothes, playing a glamorous LGBT character that everybody wants to hang out with, when in reality you wear nothing, because you understand nothing about what it's like to be in their shoes.

Like you have said, not many people would admit their real sexual preference - not all of them are straight or even have any interest in sexual stuff at all openly - because [i]it is a sensitive topic[/i] to most people. Things about LGBT should be treated sensibly and with empathy and respect, not just to feed your sick fetish fantasies.

Exploring what it means to play a LGBT character is fine if it can help you to better understand how their feelings towards being labeled and stereotyped as such by the majority and mass media, but know where to draw the line between exploration and doing it for the sake for going smutty.

2) Dark and edgy vs realism in roleplaying:

I do like gritty stories, but there should always be hope somewhere no matter how grim the plot is building up, because that hope is the greatest device in developing the story to its highest point, and can help to leave an impact to the players (or even lurkers reading the RP). Realistically, it's true that things don't always go our way in life, but life has ups and downs. In any stories, there are always lots of ups and downs - whether to the character, the plot, the setting... it's everywhere. Not many people are willing to invest their time to read or play something that is down and depressing all the way and everyone dies in the end with no hopeful ups - like, what's the point of wasting hours or days or even months on it when everyone's going to die anyway with zero redemption, zero development? Why can't they just die right from the start when there's just zero hope to live? /shrugs