Ten Best Gay and Bisexual Science Fiction Characters

The dearth of out gay characters in science fiction movies, on television shows and in comic books is something we’ve long documented. From Star Trek’s inability to live up to its own vision of equality by actually including an out gay character to ABC’s Lost’s inability to find a single gay character despite its sprawling cast to the mixed efforts of DC Comics and Marvel when it comes to gay representation on the pages of their comics, science fiction has often been a disappointment for its legions of gay fans who look toward the future as a place were gay folks will be treated equally. (For information on lesbians and bisexual women in science fiction, visit our sister site AfterEllen.com.)

But there are gay and bisexual characters out there to be found and we took it upon ourselves to choose the top ten. Identifying ten truly great gay characters in the science fiction genre is ambitious considering the small number of candidates; for this reason we’re using the broadest definition of the genre, encompassing fantasy, horror, supernatural, and superheroes, and looking to all forms of popular media.

After scrounging through decades’ worth of major franchises and lesser-known titles, we came up with the following list of greatest gay and bisexual male characters. Great characters are defined by the virtues of being unique, fascinating, and greatly significant. In the interest of making these qualities the true DNA of this list, unconsidered qualities include biggest fan favorites, sexiness, or the best gay representations. So our rating scale looks at character fascination, significance, and originality (the cliché factor).

10. Andrew Wells (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; The WB and UPN, and comics)

Barely qualifying for our list is Andrew Wells (Tom Lenk) from the Buffy and Angel TV series, as well as the current Buffy comics. The famously gay-friendly show gave us three recurring lesbian characters, the occasional gay visitor, plenty of gay-positive stories and dialogue, and surprisingly only one recurring gay (or was he bisexual?) male character in Andrew.

Heavy and persistent innuendo clearly established Andrew’s sexuality, yet despite a wealth of references to his crush on fellow villain Warren and strong gay characteristics he never quite acknowledged his own awareness of his sexuality, which was also seemingly ignored by the other characters.

The geek-turned-villain-turned-good guy scores points for delivering a lot of the best lines, turning what could have been a standard clichéd geek archetype into a three-dimensional and genuinely likeable queer sidekick. For us, the reasons for the obfuscation of Andrew’s sexuality remain one of the biggest mysteries of the show. We’re eagerly awaiting some indication of further development of his character in the ongoing comic book series.

Character Rating: 9/10

Significance Rating: 2/10

Originality Rating : 5/10