I don't want to derail this thread, but if you want brief opinions (although, like @BayView said, you know your character the best so the decision rests with you)... Before I met my true love and became super monogamous, I was pretty adventurous (tbh, a trait without I which I wouldn't have even met my hubbie), but never gay-adventurous. I remember only one single instance when I thought a friend of mine was so cute I could've kissed her and at that moment I was drunk. But sex with a woman? Nope, never had the desire... Or maybe I didn't meet the right gal, then? Who knows. I'd never count out the possibility of falling in love/lust, body and soul, with the same sex. Either way, I think in your scenario it can go either way: your character might be bi-curious, or this girl she saves turns out to be something really quite special for her, or, just as plausibly, she'll turn down her advances. But I agree with @BayView, frivolous sexual history and failed relationships with men don't necessarily make a person more "susceptible" to experiment, although they could be contributing factors just as well. Well, that was helpful. Oh, I'd also take stereotyping into account. While sometimes unnoticeable or even realistic, it won't hurt to be aware of possible tropes in one's writing.
This is why I am glad obscenity charges were dropped or lost against works such as Catcher in the Rye, The Naked Lunch, Last Exit to Brooklyn and the poem Howl. Writers and publishers should not be scared of being able to explore reality, and areas of reality that may cause discomfort and offense. As long as it has literary, artistic, or social merit and is not exploitative.
I had the exact same sort of thing happen to one of my protagonists. The thing is, the readers don't know she's a lesbian until a good third of the way into the book, because it never really comes up until then. I just figured that the plot worked better this way. Her and her love interest have more chemistry and similarities than any other couple in the book, in my opinion. Sometimes things just work out that way.
Lesbian Sorcerers? WHERE? I think her being gay (or whatever term you wanna use) is fine. Just don't go through great pains to try and "justify" or "condemn" it or make it a bigger story element than what it is.
So this just happened... The scene in my head where my two gals wind up in bed (to sleep, originally) and then have an intimate moment...didn't happen. Totally weird. I pictured the scene in my head for ages, was all set to write it out (and frankly I struggle a bit with sex scenes) but when it came right down to the moment of no return I felt like I had the end to a chapter. And stopped. Everything worked so nicely. So I next asked myself did the book (and MC) need to have this dalliance with lesbianism? Was it essential? The answer was somewhat disappointingly 'no'. I have learned to just let such things happen and not force them. Is a scene or sexual orientation always important that it must be included? Clearly not. I realize this strays from the original question but I think it is relevant to consider and review the necessity of anything in a story. If its not essential, is it necessary?
Memory jogged, I return! >:3 Have you ever read the story "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker? It's a tragic story, at best. Without spoiling it for you there are "intimate" relations between the MC, Celie, and her husband's long time girlfriend, Shug Avery. After a lifetime of hardships it's this relationship above all others that lends Celie insight into herself spiritually and emotionally. She learns about love, and that no only is she capable of love, but worthy of it. It's one of the most accurate portrayals of "lesbian" relations and encounters I've ever read. It didn't come across as pure smutt, which I usually feel most works of fiction tend to do. It felt natural. There was the rollercoaster of attraction, lust, confrontation, followed by disappointment, heartache. Somewhere in all that chaos, there was love. Deffinatley think it's worth a read. Just my two cents. Hope it helps.
