LGBTQ Roll Call

[neo_prodigy]

With June being LGBTQ Pride, I couldn't think of a better time to do a Roll Call celebrating exceptional LGBTQ characters in comics.


While there have been a number of LGBTQ characters, most of them at best have been relegated to minor characters and at worst deplorable homophobic queer minstrel shows.
And don't get it conflated.

Visibility is not progress.

If it were then the Rawhide Kid and Northstar would be progressive trailblazing characters.

 So no, this isn't just my list of queer comic characters.

This is a salute to the elite characters who have provided me with a more than a few OH HELL YEAH! moments.
A list of characters and made me proud to be a comic book geek and an LGBTQ.

Also, if you haven't already, feel free to check out my recent post on No_Scans discussing Queer Tropes to better understand where I'm coming from on this.


That being said: ROLL CALL!!!!!!!

 

Batwoman










Jack Harkness










Ianto Jones










The Question (Renee Montoya)











Ozymandias




Black Cat



Daken



Destiny



Mystique




Rictor & Shatterstar 

 


 

 



And by the by: The Greeks/Romans/Spartans were like TOTALLY GAY!!!!! (nsfw)


Victoria Hand





Richie Foley/Gear









Dani Baptiste





Tim Gunn

He's awesome and must therefore be included.



Catwoman (Holly Robinson)



Lafayette Reynolds



Scandal Savage



Hulkling



Karolina Dean



Wiccan



HE"S GAY HONEY!!!! Stop trying to recruit. Straight people: Always trying to push their heterosexual agenda on us God-fearing gays. ;D




Xavin







Achilles







DAYUM is my boyfriend sexy!!!!

Go ahead. It's okay to look.

THAT"S CLOSE ENOUGH.

I'm gonna need you to back away from my man, right the hell now.

Satsu













(Ultimate) Colossus









Not sure if the live-action movie version featured 616 Colossus or Ultimate Colossus.

It really doesn't matter because you're a fool if you think I"m about to pass up a chance to partake in some Grade-A beefcake like one Daniel Cudmore.








Willow Rosenberg

















Tara MaClay













John Constantine







Xena






The Midnighter



Apollo & The Midnighter







Now, I'm willing to bet there are some gems out there that myself and others may not be aware of and/or should (re)consider checking out.

So if you have any recommendations of awesome exceptional prominent LGBTQ characters in comics then by all means, sharing is caring. Please post them away in the comments.

 

Comments

[icon_uk]

Which means nothing to the viewer of the Static Shock show who hasn't read those issues of the Static comic. You can't presume similarity where it isn't stated to be so, and Mr McDuffie saying after the fact does not make Ritchie anything like a gay icon in retrospect. It's an interesting factoid, but he's an "invisible gay".

[flidgetjerome]

This was a post-internet fandom, though. Most of us (by which I mean people in the Static Shock fandom) knew plenty-well that Richard Foley was called Richard Stone in the comics and that Richard Stone was gay without ever having touched an issue. It wasn't like Dumbledore, where there was genuinely no real indication until JKR said so, it was common knowledge.

[neo_prodigy]

You couldn't be more wrong.

The reason why they didn't out Richie in the series is because they couldn't less they lose their Y7 rating (which is the most adult rating a children's cartoon can get here in the states). That's right here in the states, YOU CAN'T BE GAY ON A KIDS SHOW. They would've lost that rating and there would've been no Static Shock.

Furthermore that's like arguing Renee Montoya doesn't count as a lesbian because she wasn't out on Batman. Or Maggie Sawyer.

And THAT'S the reality we live in. The only way to exist in a children's cartoon or for that matter society is by being AN INVISIBLE GAY.

Because being visible, gets you fired from your job. Being visible means you get met with violence. Being visible gets you killed.

Don't believe me then go ask Duanna Johnson, Emille Griffith or Matthew Shephard (sp?) what being visible gets you.

Being visible gets you kicked out of your house. Being visible led to my friend's ex boyfriend committing suicide because his parents couldn't accept that he was gay.

Being visible means you get rebuked and attacked or denigrated because in large part to avatars of straight privilege, queer minstrels like Northstar and Rawhide Kid.

Being visible in this society catches you unholy hell especially if you aspire to be more than society's punchline.

Richie IS the authentic gay because for those of us who live in real world, we understand that the only way for him to exist in a cartoon is by invisible.

And for those of us who knew then and know now, we understand because it's a struggle too many of us have faced. But we salute him just the same because we know if he ever came out on that show his father, who flipped his shit for his son being best friends with a black kid, would damn sure lose it for having a gay son.

So we support Richie because we know the struggle. And we applaud Richie because he became an ass-kicking superhero and didn't allow himself to be boxed in. He did what he had to do and became a hero to many of us.

AND FOR THAT, Richie has earned his rightful spot on MY list. And for that, I will give that cute bespectacled geeky blond white boy the hawtest THANK YOU sex that he'll ever experience.

[icon_uk]

You're still reading his sexuality into his character when it was only revealed after the fact when the writer would, conveniently perhaps, never have to deal with it.

You can appreciate him as gay in retrospect all you like (and I share that too, since as noted, I have a soft spot for cute blond geek heroes), but I still cannot see how you can cite him as being a major gay character when the only way anyone could know that he was gay is a blog posting after the show had wrapped. No gay kid could watch the show and particularly identify with him through his sexuality unless he already had the knowledge that he was gay, which he couldn't have got.

They might as well have identified with Soul Power, we don't know if he was gay or straight either do we?

Renee Montoya is a poor example to use because she HAD been created and written as straight up until... was it NML or Gotham Central that had her come out? Her homosexuality is, essentially, a retcon. Her boyfriend died of the Clench for example, and dating men wasn't indicated as being unusual for her.

[neo_prodigy]

Once again. That's a weak argument because the FFC WLL NOT allow gay characters to be included in cartoons or children's programming. So it's not like he or creators had a choice in the matter.

Same way there ARE NO GAYS in the US military. You either be invisible or you get canceled.

This wasn't a retcon seeing as the character predates the cartoon. Most of us knew about Richie when the cartoon premiered. McDuffie only confirmed what we already knew to those who didn't know the comic. But for comic fans, we knew the score.

If you don't agree, that's your privilege. However seeing as this is my post, I'm celebrating the gay superhero that I know him to be.

[icon_uk]

This wasn't a retcon seeing as the character predates the cartoon

Not quite, she was created for the cartoon, but DC wanted to used her in the comics, and with their faster turnaround, the first issues featuring her (in March 1992) came out just before her debut episode aired later in 1992.

And it really IS a retcon, because whichever version appeared first, it doesn't alter the fact she had been written as being, if her sexuality was referenced at all, straight from her debut until 2003 when she was outed.

[neo_prodigy]

I was referring to Richie not Renee.