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Ten Best Gay and Bisexual Science Fiction Characters
Russell T. Davies, the out writer of the original UK Queer As Folk, created the character for his revival of the long-running Doctor Who series. Torchwood, whose name is an anagram of Doctor Who, is the spin-off of that series. And Jack, portrayed by out gay actor John Barrowman, is described as a 51st century time-traveling con man, a rogue who is secretly immortal and seduces anyone (human or otherwise) for fun or out of necessity. In the series’ recently concluded first season, he’s already had several same-sex kisses, including one in the unabashedly romantic “Captain Jack Harkness” episode. Indeed, Jack and some of the other characters in the series represent an almost “post-gay” approach to sexual themes, in which sexual identity is represented as fluid and complicated, and, more importantly, as not a big deal. It simply is what it is. As the series opening reminds us each week, the 21st century is when it all changes; aliens and alien technology are popping up with increasing regularity and wreaking havoc on earth, and serving as a metaphor for the life changes we experience given the speed of real-world technological development. The series poses the question, “Are we ready for all this?” The answer is that there are bigger problems we should all be worrying about than whether someone we don’t know just snogged another person with matching chromosomes. Character Rating: 9/10 Significance Rating : 10/10 Originality Rating : 10/10 Marc Leonard is the co-host of the AfterElton vlog Angry Puppy and a contributor to TheAngryPuppy.com Submitted by on Sun, 2008-01-20 22:41. |
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Great list, but forgot books
Captain Jack definitely belongs at #1 on the list and it is extremely gratifying that he is played by an actor that is openly-gay and openly-partnered like Barrowman, who is a very visible figure in the UK GLBT community. Here's to hoping that writers don't wimp out on his relationship with Ianto, which already dominates the online slash communities.
I did notice that actual novel fiction wasn't represented on this list at all, which I think was a poor omission. While books aren't as visually stimulating as graphic entertainment, in bygone days when gay characters on TV, movies and in comics were scarce, they were sneaking into print. Marion Zimmer-Bradley's Darkover series including numerous gay and lesbian characters along with an alien race that was the ultimate in transgender, all decades ago. Anne McCaffrey likewise designed the social structure of the dragonriders in her Pern series to include gays. Tanya Huff has put gay characters front and center in her Blood and Shadows series. Pulp indie press stuff like Mel Keegan's NARC and Hellgate series is very specifically written to a gay audience with gay characters as the protagonists and is fun reading.
Drifting out of sci-fi into fantasy you have writers like Lynn Flewelling, with her excellent Nightrunner series, Tanya Huff's partner Fiona Patton with her Branion novels and Mercedes Lackey with her Valdemar novels.
Don't overlook the page just because there's no pictures.
Yes, lack of books a major oversight
I too agree that there
My Favorite Gay Sci-Fi Book is "The Man Who Folded Himself"
Gerrold's a great guy. He
Gerrold's a great guy. He frequently attends Gaylaxicon, a science-fiction and fantasy convention devoted to gay fandom and themes. I've been on panels with him. David's very smart and very funny.
Now Steve's New & Improved with Andre Norton Award Nominee power!
www.steveberman.com
Great article Marc. I
Northstar's early radical days
Hey Andros! If I remember to waaay back in the day (and I'm dating myself here) Northstar was originally portrayed as very bitter and was rather antisocial with his Alpha Flight teammates. I believe this was in part explained by his Quebecois separatist politics, and I think at one point it was established that he was part of a more radical and sometimes violent part of the movement.
The "Quebecois second" meant that after being presented first as a superhero, this part of his life was the second-strongest, with being gay the third most important quality. This makes for a better representation of a gay hero, because the writers could easily have boiled him down to "the gay one" but instead they wrapped his sexuality in a more complex person.
marc
Thanks Marc. That makes
George did it
afhickman
"It takes a village (to make Village People)"
The only sci-fi novel I can remember reading that had an openly gay (not bi or androgynous) hero is "Chrome," which "came out" with some fanfare in the late '70s and is still considered a classic in some quarters. It was written by Hollywood beefcake-legend and sometime lover of Rock Hudson, George (Jerry Cotton) Nader, who died in 2002 and who had been the star of several sci-fi movies (e.g., "Robot Monster") himself. There was talk of a sequel, even after his death, but nothing has yet come of it.Forgotten heros - books? new comics?
Now Steve's New and Improved with Andre Norton Award Nominee power!
www.steveberman.com
I'd have definitely
I'd have definitely included the Enigma mini-series by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo. Milligan included a lot of queer characters in his comics (especially in Shade), and Enigma is extremely important for the way it presents the gay aspects of the story.
François
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http://gaycomicslist.free.fr
Actually George and Rock were friends, rather than lovers
though I imagine they did the deed at one time or another.
The thing I love about Chrome is that while it's supposedly taking place on a distant planet the landscape it describes is identical to that of the Cochella Valley, where Nader lived for the better part of his life. In other words it's all about gay robots in Palm Springs.
You forgot Owen
Mmmmm...could Owen be
And snogging a guy in order to get the girl
Snogging
He didn't just snog im, he called for a taxi and took both of em wiht him.
I Have to take Issue with Joss Whedon et al.
I strongly disagree with
I strongly disagree with that. Like every supernatural thing on the show being a metaphor for something else, Joss found ways to be gay(male) friendly throughout his 3 shows.
Angel and Spike were lovers at one point and apparently from Angel season 5, there is plenty of homoerotism between these 2. Or between Spike and Xander in season 4. Wesley season 1-2 had this big gay vibe too. Lorne is probably omnisexual like Captain jack. Andrew is a big closet case but the audience knew of his orientation long before he'll figure it out. For some kind of tongue-in-cheek humour, remember the line about Andrew saying that Giles told him that he was- "faster, stronger, and 82% more manly" Come on... It's pretty obviousthat Joss doesn't suffer drom gay panick. Sure, having a main gay male characterwould have been nice. But I believe his entirework speaks for itself.
At first Joss was hesitating between making Xander or Will come out. There are mentions of male prostitutes(we see some) and male companions on Firefly. A male prostitute is even offered to Malcom from the lady of the brothel.
Larry the gay jock died but sacrificing his life. We are far from the death in the Law & Order.
Thses are just the first things that popped into my mind ... and I'm leaving out the whole lesbian inclusiveness.
Still, there are NO OVERT GAY MALE CHARACTERS
Joss can imply all he likes. The fact remains that there were no ACTUAL, OUT, REAL Gay male characters in any of his works.__________Lorne was a CLOWN. Wesley is obviously Heterosexual: Angel once demonstrating his Vampire sense of smell announced to everyone that he had sex with a Bleach Blonde WOMAN the previous night.
In all likelihood, Warner Brothers FORBADE Whedon from having any gay guys in any of his episodes. Buffy and Angel were always on the bubble every season so Joss Whedon figures that "Why rock the boat" any further than I have to. That is a reasonable explanation.
However, on Buffy Season 8 he has no such excuse. In this comic book series, it appears that he is IMPLYING that Andrew is gay again. Andrew is unaffected by a Slayer Sleepover with a closeup on a busty Slayer.
Bottomline is I am a little disappointed. I still like the mythos but it could have been better.
What an honour!
Hey Marc, were you aware that Joss HIMSELF replied in the discussion of your article on Whedonesque?
"It has to be said: the Andrew scene in "The Girl in Question" was a victim of me dropping the ball. I specifically said there should be a party of men AND women, all glamorous and Italian, waiting for Andrew. I wasn't there when it was shot, and didn't have the time/money/energy to change it after the fact, though it made me crazy. Andrew's sexuality is always on the cusp of self-awareness because Andrew is stunted emotionally and because it's hilarious. [Side-note: The "people change" thing is a hold-over from the fact that the scene was originally written for Dawn (but Michelle turned us down). The idea was, there's little Dawn, then in the last scene there's hot grown-up Dawn going out on the town, a heavy visual support of people changing (since Spike and Angel always see her as older brothers do). But Tommy made it his own, 'cause he's Tommy.] Oh, and speaking of Tommy, re: Buckaroo? Perfect Tommy was probably gay. How the girls did squeal, but that wonderful matching shirt and vest? Yeah. One man's opinion. joss | January 22, 06:52 CET "
You can die a happy geeky fan. :D
http://whedonesque.com/comments/15286
Star Trek
Trek copped out
Sorry, but no. Attempting to pass off Odo (and other Founders) as "bisexual" is reaching considering that, as you point out, they are in fact an asexual species for whom humanoid form (and gender) are merely window-dressing. That's like arguing that earthworms are "bisexual" in the sense of sexual orientation.
The Dax story was also a cop out because it was made clear that Dax and Kahn had been husband and wife in previous hosts, thus lessening the suggestion of "lesbianism". And let's not forget Beverly Crusher's reaction when her Trill boyfriend's symbiont was passed to a female host.
Then of course we had a hint of homosexuality in the mirror universe, where people are generally evil and depraved (what message does that send I wonder?).
It was suggested that Malcolm Reed might be made gay, just as it was suggested that Seven of Nine might be a lesbian, but neither rumor ever panned out. NG had the lame episode where Riker fell for the androgynous alien. Enterprise had an even more lame episode where T'pol contracted a telepathically transmitted disease (a metaphor for AIDS) and even gave a speech that just because telepaths shared thoughts differently didn't make them bad people. It was actually pretty weak.
Roddenberry didn't live to introduce any real gay characters into Star Trek and the producers seem almost religiously committed to avoiding the topic completely, even in a universe where interspecies matings are common. While I have long enjoyed Star Trek, at this point one thing I cannot say about any of the series is that they were even remotely gay friendly.
Star Trek novels
All good points and you have covered the episodes that I was wanting to bring up.
Had never heard the idea about making Malcolm Reed gay nor Seven a lesbian.
Now I don't know if you'll allow this to count, but some of the Star Trek novels have introduced gay characters. Lt. Hawke (the conn officer from Next Generation movie First Contact) was written as being gay in novel that took place before the events of First Contact. However, writing a character as gay must have been a little bit easier knowing that he would not live and thus have to dealt with much more than one story. A good gay is a dead gay??.
The current "Titan" series of novels (the adventures of Captain Riker's first starship command) have some gay characters. I believe one of them is the former Trill partner of Lt. Hawke. However not much has happened with these characters and they seem to fade into the background admist a long list of new alien crew members story lines (the Luke and Noahs of the 24th century!)
Star Trek has been a total cop-out and gets zero credit
for the Trill or Odo's being bisexual. And it's even worse for Star Trek because unlike other shows which don't purport to be social commentary or socially relevant, Trek supposedly was those things and yet over forty years and umpteen television shows and movies, not a single clearly gay character was ever introduced. Just possible insinuations that leave gay fans twisting ourselves into pretzels to try and see ourselves somewhere in the Trek verse.
And while I'm deeply annoyed Lost doesn't have any gay characters, I don't chalk their motives up to anything sinister. But when it comes to Star Trek, given Roddenberry's promise twenty years ago to introduce a gay character and all the commentary since then about the show's failure to do so, I can only assume Berman, et al have chosen to not include gay characters because they have a problem with it.
Berman is anti-gay
Let's not kid ourselves here. The only instances of homosexual behavior in Star Trek not associated with gender-bending aliens was in the Mirror Universe where corruption is a way of life. Otherwise Berman seems almost militantly opposed to any other depiction of homosexuality even in throwaway dialogue or extras in the background of scenes. That looks rather blatant to me.
And I do not count novels, as they are not generally considered canon. For pity's sake, there's one where Lwaxana briefly became a Q! (not that she wouldn't make a perfect one)
The only more conservative sci-fi setting would have to be Star Wars, where pre-marital kissing counts as high drama and the gayest thing in the galaxy is a machine.
I was going though the list
Why Zorro
Good question and I really had to think about Zorro a lot before including him. I was taking the broad definition of Sci Fi, similar to the one used by Sci Fi Channel... so looking at horror, fantasy, superhero genres, etc. There are many ways to define Sci Fi and purists will tell you that Star Wars doesn't qualify (because they see it as a Western).
So that said, I put Zorro in the superhero category because he wears a masked costume, fights for a just cause, and has preternatural abilities with a whip. Same category as Batman I think. One could argue that Robin Hood also fits that description though.
The truth is it's difficult to nail down a black and white definition of Sci Fi so very good arguments could be made in favor and against various candidates.
For the record I thought a while about another character who I left out, South Park's Satan, because I couldn't see it fitting this definition of Sci Fi. But he's still a great character!
Thanks Marc for clearing
Zorro
Fanboy-ing Hulkling and Wiccan
There hasn't been as much Young Avengers material as there has been with Midnighter and family. I think if they were given more book time in general their relationship would be much more overt. I mean, Billy only came out to his parents in "Season 1," so secrecy has been a part of the relationship for the majority of their page-time. If they seem like they're dodging the topic it's probably just an extension of trying to show that Billy and Teddy are full-fledged charcaters, not tokens.
Plus, remember that whole "Uncle Apollo" debacle from, I think, Moore's run on Authority? The portrayal of Midnighter et al. is not all pride flags and contemporary queer sensibility. They just got more chances to get it right.
While I'm on the Young Avengers topic, I've really been wondering how you, Marc (and Lee, too), feel about Hulkling and Wiccan. Also, if you two would ever consider dressing up as them for a con or Halloween or just the legions of fankids.
Hulkling & Wiccan
I think that the Young Avengers kind of got steamrollered by Marvel's big "Civil War" crossover event (damn those things can get annoying!). This kind of shoved them into the background and while they have appeared again with the "Secret Invasion" (can't they at least give us some recovery time between these things?!) again it's in the midst of a use-every-character-we've-got free for all.
As for Apollo and Midnighter, I haven't been happy with how they've been handled in a long time.