A Few Thoughts on the State of LGBTQA+ Representation in Popular Media

Written by Shae Rufe

It’s been an interesting Pride Month. First and foremost, the MCU finally gave us two bits of representation in the form of their newest show Loki and with its main character. Loki is officially both gender fluid and bisexual and it’s been a long time coming. Which, I suppose we need to be celebrating Sylvie as well! While the comics have given us the representation we deserve, there has been a surprising lack of it in other media platforms. Comics are a wonderful form of media, however they’re not as widespread and popularized as movies and TV. Representation is very important, especially when it comes to younger viewers. It can be extremely lonely when the heteronormativity of society is consistently pushed onto LGBTQA+ youth. As someone who very rarely had any lesbian representation growing up and has a psych degree, I feel qualified to say that it’s detrimental to development to not have that representation in mainstream media. People and families come in all different shapes, sizes, colors, and sexualities. No two families are the same. And while we still need more representation of BIPOC and mixed families, we also need more representation of sexualities.

Well, I’m obviously not the only person who thinks like this because Blue’s Clues actually did something amazing this Pride Month. They aired a Parade of their own and they literally slayed it. They showed families of all types; some with two dads, some with two moms, some with non-binary members, trans members, and bisexual members. They covered a ton in such a short amount of time. That is what we need more of. Kids need to be able to see families just like theirs on TV and know that not only are they not alone, but they are just as important as heteronormative families.

Speaking of families. While Marvel hasn’t brought more representation to the screen, just yet, they have introduced two more bisexual characters into the world. Granted, Billy and Tommy are just kids in WandaVision, but they do grow up to be bisexual men. In fact, Billy grows up to not only be Wiccan in the Young Avengers, he also grows up to marry Teddy, AKA Hulkling. Yes, it’s completely comic cannon. Whether we see this on the big or small screen, well that remains to be seen. Speaking of Bi characters, I unfortunately never watched the Harley Quinn animated show, but I did watch Birds of Prey. Harley’s bisexuality is glossed over in the movie, barely a snippet in the opening scene, she does go on to have a full relationship with Poison Ivy in the animated show. Not to mention in the comics. In fact, Harley is more than just bi, she’s also polyamorous. And yes, in case anyone was curious, I believe polyamorous relationships deserve representation as well. Everyone is different and unique, and everyone deserves to look at media and see themselves.

Now I sadly never got a chance to see the new Batwoman show on the CW, yet that does not change the fact that we finally got a television show about a lesbian heroine. I have heard mixed opinions on the show itself, and I’m not going to argue any bit of whether it was good or bad or indifferent. I am literally just happy we finally had an adaptation of Batwoman on the small screen. You can be gay and still save the day. That’s how every single one of these characters should be viewed. There is also a rumor that we may get Valkyrie having a girlfriend in Thor: Love and Thunder. Does that mean she’s officially out as a lesbian character? I’m not sure, I am excited to see what they do with her character, and hopefully we do get to see a romantic interest for her that is indeed another woman. So far it seems like Marvel and DC are both willing to push more representation into their smaller and possibly bigger screen stories.

However, when it comes to transgender people, non-binary, Asexual, and so on, there isn’t much representation in media, if any. Few iconic roles do stand out, such as Sophia Burset from Orange is the New Black. During my research I actually didn’t find as much representation for other members of the Alphabet Mafia as I had hoped. There is a startling disparity when it comes to the complete and total lack of visibility for transgender, non-binary, ace, gender queer, and many others within the spectrum. My thoughts on this part are so vast that I think it might have to be the next blog. Stay tuned because I have a lot of rants about the lack of representation for the other half of the LGBTQA+ community.

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