Reflecting Upon LGBTQ+ Characters in Pop Culture

Written by Shae Rufe

​Happy Pride Month everyone! First and foremost, this month is absolutely amazing, and I hope everyone has an absolutely amazing Pride. For those of you who don’t know, I am indeed a lesbian. In the spirit of giving those coming out stories, mine is slightly similar to that of Love Simon and Rocketman. Love Simon in the sense a friend came out to my family for me in anger and I tried really hard to be straight for quite a while for said family, a lot like Elton. In case you are curious, I have a wonderful and supportive family. Yes, I am out and proud and a massive advocate for LGBTQ+ rights! Regardless of who you are and who you love, you’re valid, you matter, and I will always be your ally. In honor of Pride, let’s take a look at some LGBTQ+ characters from comics and pop culture!

First up, everyone’s favorite time traveler, Captain Jack Harkness. Captain Jack first made his appearance on Doctor Who and later became the star of his own spin off Torchwood. The stuck time traveler is Omnisexual meaning he will happily sleep with anyone, regardless of gender. This also means Captain Jack slept with a number of alien life forms and we’re pretty sure a couple of robots or androids. This was a ground breaking thing at the time, and still is, as most LGBTQ+ representation is still limited in media. Captain Jack helped to break some barriers and bring awareness to an otherwise not so recognized group among the LGBTQ+ community. Omnisexuals do indeed exist, and they are just as valid as anyone else! Subsequently, Crowley from Supernatural is actually pansexual! The character has shown interest in both men and women and at a convention in 2014 actor Mark Sheppard stated that The King of Hell is indeed pansexual. Big shock here, but so is Lucifer from the show Lucifer! 

Now when it comes to Asexuality, they are highly underrepresented in mainstream media. Take Archie’s Jughead Jones for instance. In the comics Jughead openly admits to Archie that he’s Asexual. Vs the character on the CW show who seems very heterosexual if you ask the fans. That’s about it as far as asexual representation goes with some minor book and TV show side characters such as, Brad in Faking It, Todd Chavez in BoJack Horseman, just to make a few. Truthfully, asexuality needs more representation in media. Seconded to that is transgender representation. While it’s more common than asexual representation, transgender is still underrepresented on media and comics. Most notable, Orange is the New Black has transgender character Sophia Burset who is played by real life transgender actress Laverne Cox. In the Batgirl comic series, we get to meet Barbara Gordon’s best friend, Alysia Yeoh. In 2011 fans found out that Alysia is actually transgender, and she became the first transgender character in mainstream comics to be featured as a main character. Technically speaking Loki has also been both a man and a woman, he’s also been a horse but while that has not been shown in the MCU, it has been in the comics and lore. Just as well, the Doctor and the Master/Mistress from Doctor Who have both been male characters and later female characters, which is pretty neat. Now let’s get to work on getting some more trans and asexual characters out there!

There’s a strange place where bisexual people are often being told they don’t belong. Well, that’s not true at all. Bisexuals are just as a part of the LGBTQ+ community! I mean that is indeed what the B stands for. Often enough I’ve seen them be told to pick a gender by other members of the LGBTQ+ community and nonmember alike. Well, that’s absolutely horrible and bisexuals have just as much right to love whoever they want. That being said my absolute favorite bisexual character has to be Deadpool. It’s often not showcased, male bisexuality, but to have a strong character like Wade Wilson like both genders is pretty bad ass. Firstly, Deadpool is an over the top character in the comics, and even more so in the films, but to have his bisexuality showcased on the big screen was pretty damn awesome. Sadly, it was only through a bit of commentary, but that doesn’t change the fact that Wade’s character is bi. Speaking of bi, so are Wonder Woman and Cat Woman. While these two never actually date, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn do, and what an adorable couple they made! Which just proves my point, there are plenty of female bisexual characters out there and yet, very few male bisexual characters.

Northstar was the first openly gay character in Marvel comics and also the first openly gay character to get married in the comics. I actually own a copy of this historic comic that came out in the summer of 2015 and featured the wedding! Fear not, Northstar isn’t the only gay hero the X-Men have. It’s been noted that Iceman has also recently come out after some weird wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. DC not being left out of the loop has given us Midnighter and Apollo, a happily married superhero duo that is apparently okay with one of them killing their enemies. You know, sometimes you have to accept the good with the...murder? But are they as cute as Hulking and Wiccan? That’s a little more up for debate.

With the new series coming to the CW it feels wrong to leave Batwoman off my list.
This openly lesbian crime fighter is probably my favorite and genuinely is a bad ass in her own right. She’s tough, fierce, and has no problem roughing people up. Recently, Adventure Time broke the mold when they finally had Marceline and Princess Bubblegum kiss, and finally confirmed they’re a couple! Of course, there is also the wedding that almost broke TV when Cartoon Network then aired the infamous episode of Steven Universe where Ruby and Sapphire officially married. 

Thankfully there is nowhere to go but up when it comes to LGBTQ+ characters in media, BMO from Adventure Time is genderqueer, Mystique from X-Men is both genderqueer and gender fluid, and hopefully we get more of these characters in media. Comics have often been the first to break down barriers and be more inclusive. Hopefully the future brings us even more!

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