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

(frozen) Re: The Privilege of Visibility

[sistermagpie]

Exactly. While the series were best sellers,, they were still technically children's books (and high profile mainstream books), they also were on the receiving end of lawsuits, and protests for "turning on kids to witchcraft and devil worship."

Both middle grade and YA fiction have included gay characters for years. Lawsuits from people trying and failing to make some money off the billionaire and fundamentalist Christians attacking HP for the kind of sorcery seen in lots of middle grade and YA fiction already because it was a cultural phenomenon didn't prevent its success at all.

I can only imagine what would've happened if it was revealed in mid series that one of the characters turning on children to witchcraft was an icky homosexual. There would've been an outcry to kill him off or he probably would've been revealed as Voldemort's boss.

Rowling handled the outcry in response to her interview announcement that he was gay pretty easily. I don't see how some readers not liking him being gay would cause Rowling to change her plot to make Dumbledore the bad guy--which would produce a far greater outcry.

As a former teacher, I had to stay in the closet else I would've been faced with the inevitable pedophile charges/sexual harassment.

I believe it--but I'm not seeing how it applies to this question. (Don't meant that to sound to dismissive. I honestly don't see who in the HP situation is the equivalent of the teacher who might lose his job if parents accuse him of being a pedophile/sexually harassing students.)

It's unfortunate and fucked up, but Rowling probably made the smartest play in handling Dumbledore.

I just can't agree. I think she had a chance to take a character widely admired for other reasons (even if I personally don't like the guy!) and say that this was also part of who he was. Instead she left it out of the books, which in the end are the things that make up the actual story.

I don't really see any challenges or realities in this particular situation that prevented her or the publishers from saying the character was gay in canon. Even if it was risky at this point to say that a trusted adult character was gay in children's fiction, this of all series should have been secure enough to take the risk as guaranteed mega best sellers.

In fact, in interviews Rowling didn't say anything about being silenced. She claimed that she "would have told us all sooner if she knew we'd care," but that she left it out because it had nothing to do with the plot (even though it actually had as much to do with the plot as any number of the dozens of het relationships in the books).

(frozen) Re: The Privilege of Visibility

[neo_prodigy]

Yes there have been gay characters in childrens and YA books but how many have been the international phenom of Harry Potter?

In regards to the teacher comment, my point is that people fear gays even more when we're remotely near children. So a story about a gay teacher teaching witchcraft to children is gonna be right-winger's wetdream.

You make some strong and valid points, but as a gay storyteller who's caught hell in both his professional and personal life for daring to present our stories, I can't co-sign.

But that's cool. We can agree to disagree.

And I'm hopeful that the movies will follow through where the books didn't (for whatever reason).

Read: If I don't get my hot man on man gay wizard sex on the big screen, I'm raising unholy hell. ;D

(frozen) Re: The Privilege of Visibility

[galateus]

Yes there have been gay characters in childrens and YA books but how many have been the international phenom of Harry Potter?

This am Bizarro logic. Once HP is established as a global-phenom cashcow, JKR has carte blanche to do whatever the fuck she wants, she's the richest woman in Britain and no publisher is going to tell her 'no'. If she'd introduced gay themes in the first book she might've had trouble selling it at all, but by book four or five, come on.

Of course, it would still get expurgated to hell in some translations (much like Hogwarts being a co-ed school).

(frozen) Re: The Privilege of Visibility

[neo_prodigy]

No, THIS AM BIZARRO LOGIC:

"she might've had trouble selling it at all, but by book four or five, come on."

And how many established high profile A-list celebrities and sports stars ARE STILL in the closet no matter how much of a global cashcow they've proven to be?


"Of course, it would still get expurgated to hell in some translations..."

Yeah like the English translation.

(frozen) Re: The Privilege of Visibility

[galateus]

She's a rich white woman in a heterosexual, monogamous, child-bearing relationship. Her writing about gay people is in NO WAY comparable to someone coming out of the closet and the comparison is so offensive I can't even.

(frozen) Re: The Privilege of Visibility

[neo_prodigy]

That's right keep dodging the issue of institutional homophobia and keep misconstruing.