LGBT

Prior to the 1980s, all comic book characters were assumed to be, and presented as, "straight" heterosexual people. But people are complicated and societies evolve, so since that time it has come to be acknowledged that some characters are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.

History

Early History

The Comics Code Authority explicitly forbade depiction of homosexuality until 1989, influenced by Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, who saw homosexual elements in the relationship between Batman and his ward Robin. The sidekick came about as an audience viewpoint for the young reader looking up to the reader, but because of this dynamic critics had long observed the subtext between wealthy single adult men and younger boys like Robin and Sandy the Golden Boy. Characters like Kathy Kane and Betty Kane were introduced to draw attention away from this "accusation".

Millennium #2 was not the first appearance of homosexual characters in DC Comics, however, it is the first time we have seen an openly gay character at DC Comics. It predates Marvel's Northstar's coming out by a few years. The series mostly focuses on a flamboyant stereotype of a gay man, but it does touch on sensitive topics like HIV/AIDS, and was controversial at the time.

The late 1980s/early 1990s saw the introduction of several characters that focused on the hardships and hatred LGBT people faced, like Kevin Mayer in the pages of Wonder Woman (Volume 2), John Constantine in Swamp Thing (Volume 2) and Hellblazer (Volume 1), Coagula in Doom Patrol (Volume 2) and Terry Berg in Green Lantern (Volume 3). This was partly influenced by an influx of writers and artists who were LGBT themselves like Rachel Pollack and Grant Morrison. Neil Gaiman's Sandman (Volume 2) featured several different topics, including elderly gay couple in Preludes and Nocturnes and a trans woman in A Game of You. Nevertheless, these adult themes were mostly reserved for supporting characters and adult oriented Vertigo comics. Issues would sometimes be addressed in a roundabout way, like Shvaughn Erin and Rebis (a sex changer and a gestalt of a man and a woman respectively) which explore trans topics without the characters being explicitly trans.

As general acceptance of LGBT shifted in the 21st Century, more characters came out as gay. At first this was mostly done to supporting characters and minor characters like Renee Montoya. WildStorm Productions introduced Midnighter and Apollo as an openly gay couple. DC introduced an openly lesbian Batwoman, Kate Kane, in 2006. As part of the New 52, Bunker was added to the roster of the Teen Titans and the Green Lantern of Earth 2, Alan Scott, was changed into a gay man. In the years that followed, a number of heroes and villains came out as bisexual, including Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Tim Drake and Jon Kent.

Since 2021's Pride Month, DC Comics has been publishing DC Pride anthologies, celebrating LGBTQIA+ characters and creators.

GLAAD Award

Since 1992, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has included a comics category to its GLAAD Media Award for its portrayal of LGBT characters in media. DC has more wins and nominations for the award than any other publisher:

• 1992: The Flash (Volume 2) (William Messner-Loebs)
• 1996: Maggie Sawyer (Cindy Goff)
• 1997: Death: The Time of Your Life (Volume 1) (Neil Gaiman)
• 1999: Supergirl (Volume 4) (Peter David)
• 2002: Green Lantern (Volume 3) (Judd Winick)
• 2003: Green Lantern (Volume 3) (Judd Winick)
• 2004: Catwoman (Volume 3) (Ed Brubaker)
• 2010: Detective Comics (Volume 1) (Greg Rucka)
• 2012: Batwoman (Volume 2) (J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman)
• 2019: Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles (Volume 1) (Mark Russell)
• 2022: Crush & Lobo (Volume 1) (Mariko Tamaki)
• 2023: Poison Ivy (Volume 1) (G. Willow Wilson)

Known LGBT Characters

• Achilles Warkiller, the king of the all-male race of the Gargareans, was mentioned by name as being homosexual.^[1] He was in a relationship with a lesbian Amazon, Alkyone, but this was only for political purposes.^[2] His mythological counterpart was in a relationship with Patroclus.^[3][4]
• Alysia Yeoh is Barbara Gordon's best friend and a transgender and bisexual woman. She was noted for being the first major transgender character written in a contemporary context in a mainstream comic book.^[5]
• Most of the Amazons "find satisfaction in each other", stated Mnemosyne, the chief historian of Themyscira, "while some others have sworn themselves to Artemis, the virgin hunter, and Athena, the chaste warrior. Others choose the way of Narcissus."^[6]
  • Anaya and her lover Iphthime have a home together on Themyscira and have been visited by Donna Troy and Wonder Woman on more than one occasion.^[7]
  • Bia is the first transgender Amazon.^[8]
  • Queen Hippolyta and General Philippus have been shown to maintain a romantic relationship since at least 2016.^[9][10]
  • Wonder Woman uses no sexual orientation labels, and none seem adequate to identify her (as well as her sisters), even though she has fallen in love with both women and men.^[11]
  • Other members of the Wonder Woman Family have also been portrayed as LGBT+, such as Nubia^[12][13], Artemis^[14][13], Jason^[15], Etta Candy^[16][17][18], Steve Trevor^[19] and Barbara Minerva, the third Cheetah.^[16]
• Apollo, a solar powered hero, is madly in love with his teammate and partner Midnighter.^[20] They performed the first same-sex wedding in a mainstream superhero comic^[21] and adopted a daughter in the first case of same-sex superhero parenting.^[22]
• Batwoman was first outed in 2006 when it was revealed that she was the former lover of Gotham detective Renee Montoya. In 2013 Kate asked her then girlfriend Maggie Sawyer to marry.^[23]
• Blue Snowman (Byrna Brilyant), one of Wonder Woman's oldest supervillains, is genderfluid. Brilyant's Golden Age gender identity was presented as that of a woman who disguised herself as an ostensibly male supervillain to deflect criminal suspicion — a genderplay trope William Moulton Marston incorporated into several other foes he created to battle Wonder Woman, including Doctor Poison and Hypnota.
• The Brain and Monsieur Mallah, founders and leaders of the Brotherhood of Evil, are possibly the oddest romantic couple in DC Comics.^[24]
• Brainiac 5 of the Legion of Super-Heroes had several love interests, among them Invisible Kid,^[25][26] who was in a low-key romantic relationship with Condo Arlik.^[27] In his Post-Rebirth iteration, Brainy was identified as demisexual.^[28] In the Legion of Super-Heroes animated series he was in love with Superman,^[29] and on Supergirl TV series, he dates the trans superhero Dreamer (see below).
• Cannon & Saber were the first clear depiction of a same-sex couple in superhero comics.^[30] These partners in crime and in life predate the first gay superhero by a few years.
• Carver Colman, an actor who was known for portraying the fictional detective Nathaniel Dusk, came out to the public in the 1950s and became an LGBT rights activist, being instrumental in getting homosexuality removed from the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973.^[31]
• Catman's bisexuality was confirmed in the New 52 reboot when he is seen flirting with both a man and a woman.^[32] He was in a relationship with Ghost-Maker (see below).^[33]
• Catwoman had a same-sex relationship with Eiko Hasigawa, who also wore the feline thief costume.^[34]
• Coagula is often considered DC's first truly transgender superhero (at least in DC's main continuity), debuting in September 1993. She was created by the transgender woman Rachel Pollack who used the character to reflect many experiences of the transgender community at the time. Coagula also identified initially as a lesbian but later realised she was bisexual.^[35]
• Comet is known as both Andrea Martinez and Andy Jones and as Comet, the Earth Angel of Love, they both show affection for Supergirl.^{[citation needed]}
• The Corinthian is a rogue nightmare and serial killer from the Dreaming who, in the waking world, is sexually attracted to handsome men, his favorite victims.
• Creote was not openly gay, but his sexual identity was discovered by Black Canary after she figured out he was in love with Savant.^[36]
• Crush is an openly lesbian member of the Teen Titans who had feelings for another member, Djinn, who shared the feelings but also had romantic affection towards Damian Wayne.^[37]
• Danny the Street was DC's first transgender character. A living, sentient street, Danny debuted in Doom Patrol (Volume 2) #35.
• DC Bombshells reality, also known as Earth 24, where women took the lead on the battlefields of WWII and most female superheroes and villains love the same gender, is considered a "sapphic planet".^[38]
• Dead Boy Detectives' Edwin Paine from the TV series Doom Patrol is in love with Charles Rowland but doesn't have the courage to tell him.^[39] In the TV series Dead Boy Detectives Edwin is in love with Charles but also has other love interests such as The Cat King and Monty. In the main timeline of the comics, Edwin is secretly in love with Charles.^[40]
• Dr. Allison Mann is a lesbian who was forced from her home when her father learned she identified as homosexual. She ends up falling in love with her new friend Agent 355.^[41]
• The Enigma was the first LGBTQ superhero to lead a comic book for a major publisher. The comic book Enigma was also noteworthy for featuring both the first same-sex kiss^[42] and the first same-sex sex scene^[43] in a mainstream comic.
• Extraño was the first obviously gay character featured by DC. He is an effeminate Peruvian man whose name means "Queer/Strange" in Spanish. In his post-Flashpoint iteration, he is married to Tasmanian Devil (see below) and they have a daughter.
• Blood Syndicate's Fade was the first black homosexual superhero.^[44] He was in love with their leader and his best friend Tech-9,^[45] who was also a gay man.^[46]
• Garth, a founding member of the Teen Titans known first as Aqualad and later as Tempest, is sexually fluid.^[47][48]
• Gear, real name Richie Foley, the best friend of the superhero Static in the cartoon Static Shock, was the first confirmed gay superhero on television.^[49]
• Ghost-Maker, Batman's best frenemy, rival and an equal from youth, is bisexual.^[50]
• Grace Choi has not identified as bisexual or pansexual, but has described her love life as having sex with men, but relationships with women.^[51] She has engaged in one night stands with multiple men, but has since formed a stable relationship with teammate Thunder.^[52]
• The Green Arrow Connor Hawke is asexual.^[28]
• Earth 2's Green Lantern Alan Scott is an openly gay businessman and was engaged to marry his fiancé Sam Zhao.^[53] Later versions of Scott, including his post-Flashpoint iteration, portray him as a gay man, just like his son Obsidian (see below), having been his main relationships with Jimmy Henton and Johnny Ladd.
• Green Lantern Jo Mullein was assigned a sector so far from Oa that she just refers to it as the Far Sector, where she had relationships with both males and females, Syzn of the Cliffs being her main love interest.^[54]
• Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are girlfriends 'without monogamy'.^[55] Theirs is the first same-sex kiss on a superhero comic book main cover.^[56]
• Hero Cruz was the first openly gay member of the Titans. The second was Bunker, created 15 years later.
• Hooded Justice was the first masked vigilante of the Watchmen universe, having inspired several others. He had a secret romantic relationship with Captain Metropolis. In the TV series, he was portrayed as a bi black man, a survivor of the 1921 Tulsa race riot.
• Jericho, although his creators have decided not to present him as homosexual because his sensitivity would make him stereotyped,^[57] was revealed to be so at the Convergence event,^[58][59] which retroactively makes him the first gay Titan. His post-Flashpoint version is bisexual.
• Earth 11's Jess Chambers, the future Flash of the Justice League, is non-binary and in a relationship with Aquawoman (Andy Curry), the daughter of Aquaman and Mera.
• John Constantine has consistently shown interest in both men and women, being considered bisexual since the first version of him.
• Jon Kent, formerly Superboy and Earth's new Superman, came out as bisexual. He and his friend Jay Nakamura build a love relationship from Superman: Son of Kal-El #5 onwards.^[60]
• Businessman and lawyer Josiah Power, one of the most powerful metas on Earth,^[61] lives in a same-sex relationship with his life partner Rupert.^[62]
• Justice League Queer or JLQ is an ad-hoc team of LGBTQIA+ superheroes led by Extraño (Gregorio de la Vega), debuting in the 2021's one-shot DC Pride #1.
• Kaldur'ahm, also known as Aqualad and Aquaman, is at least polysexual, according to Greg Weisman, and has not defined himself, but so far has had only two loves: Tula and Wyynde.^[63] However, the first version of the character to be revealed LGBT was Prime Earth's Jackson Hyde,^[64] who is in a relationship with Ha'Wea.
• Lucifer Morningstar, the title protagonist of the TV series Lucifer has arisen to Los Angeles for a vacation from Hell as its former ruler with his best friend, the demoness Mazikeen. Both have had relationships with countless people regardless of gender. Mazikeen married Eve, the mother of humanity and Adam's second wife.
• Madame Xanadu is a powerful immortal sorceress from Arthurian times. Among her lovers is a young Spanish woman named Marisol in the 15th century.^[65]
• Metropolis Police Captain Maggie Sawyer, although she married a man before, considers herself a lesbian and her relationships with women include reporter Toby Raynes and vigilante Batwoman. She was the first lesbian heroine to star in a comic book for a major comic book publisher, Metropolis S.C.U..
• Masquerade was the first transgender superhero in comics, having debuted in April 1993. He took on a masculine identity even before the Big Bang event, but could only change to his true self after gaining his shapeshifter powers.
• Maxima, queen of the planet Almerac, rules her world alongside her consort Primaa after the truth about Almerac being founded by two female lovers, Almaara and Raacal, was revealed.^[66]
• Miguel Montez is the current owner of the H-Dial, a mysterious device that allows him to become several superheroes, giving him the powers to help others inspired by Superman. Miguel has only shown interest in other boys, like Chidozie,^[67] Matt Price,^[68] and Mark Radley.^[69]
• Mr. Terrific (Curtis Holt) from Arrow was TV's first black gay superhero.^[70]
• Nia Nal, the Dreamer, was the first transgender superhero on television.
• The anti-villain Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) is the smartest man alive and a former costumed crime-fighter. He saved the world from nuclear armageddon by slaughtering millions and claiming it to be an alien invasion.
• Obsidian (Todd Rice), son of Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, was one of the first openly gay superheroes in comics. Before coming out, he had confessed his love to his best friend Nuklon,^[71] but his homosexuality was only fully confirmed when he and his then boyfriend, lawyer Damon Matthews, had their first on-panel kiss.^[72]
• Peacemaker has been revealed to have sexual relationships with both women and men.^[73] While no sexual identity has been officially confirmed for him yet, director James Gunn has referred to him as "hypersexual" and "not straight".^[74]
• Pedro Peña from the Shazam! movies is the DCEU's first confirmed LGBT+ superhero.^[75][76]
• Pied Piper was the first super-villain to reveal that he is gay, although when he did he was already a reformed vigilante, having become a good friend and ally of Flash (Wally West).^[77] He is in a relationship with the director of the Central City Police Department's crime lab, David Singh.
• Raphael, one of the archangels of Heaven, had a young male lover, a mortal named Lorin Hammon.^[78][79]
• The Ray from Freedom Fighters: The Ray was TV's first gay lead superhero.^[80] Prior to this, his comic book counterpart was the first one to be revealed to be gay,^[81] and he subsequently entered into a romantic relationship with JLA engineer Xenos.^[82]
• Rebis was technically the first intersex and non-binary DC character, having debuted in Doom Patrol (Volume 2) #19 in 1989. Though the terminology for Rebis' gender identity wasn't developed at the time, they were a fusion of Larry Trainor, Eleanor Poole, and the Negative Spirit, and refused to be defined by binary gender. Rebis' creator Grant Morrison would come out as non-binary themself in 2020. Despite the barrier Rebis broke, they were separated back into their original identities due to a retcon sometime after the run's end.
  • The version of Larry Trainor on the "Doom Patrol" television series is a homosexual man, later making it canon in his comics version too.^[83]
• The Red Lantern (Vladimir Sokov), Russia's first superhero, is Green Lantern Alan Scott's archenemy and first love, who once knew him as Johnny Ladd.^[84]
• Red Racer of Earth 36 sacrificed his life to save the Multiverse just like his hero, The Flash, did in the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Years later his lover, Flashlight, crossed realities and defied his mentors and even his rank in the Rainbow Patrol to bring him back to life.
• Renee Montoya was a GCPD officer underneath Commissioner Gordon and the vigilante known as The Question. She became Gotham City's new police commissioner, replacing Harvey Bullock. Montoya is openly lesbian and has had relationships with Batwoman and Daria Hernandez.
• The Riddler was revealed to have had a romantic interest in at least one man named Antoine Moray from his college days.^[85] He was probably also in love with Batman, since on Valentine's Day he presents people he is or has been in love with a vase of dahlia, the last one he saved for the dinner for two that he made for him and Batman.^[86]
• Ruin is a nightmare who ran away from The Dreaming to look for the boy he was supposed to scare, but fell in love with. He is the main protagonist of the comic series The Dreaming: Waking Hours.^[87]
• Sara Lance, the White Canary, is the captain of the Waverider and leader of the Legends. Black Canary's younger sister, among her various relationships with men and women the most important were with Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, Nyssa al Ghul and her co-captain Ava Sharpe, whom she married.
• Scandal Savage, daughter of immortal conqueror Vandal Savage and member of the Secret Six, lives in a polyamorous same-sex relationship with her wives Knockout and Liana Kerzner.
• Shvaughn Erin, a Science Police officer and liaison to the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th Century, was born Sean Erin. She took the futuristic drug Profem to develop a female body. She was also romantically involved with the legionnaire Element Lad, who doesn't care what gender she presents.
• Sigurðr, also known as Siegfried, the greatest hero of Norse and Germanic legends, had relationships with people of both sexes, like Jack Frost, the personification of winter.^[88]
• Sir Ystin the Shining Knight is an intersex hero. They identified themself as "not just a man or a woman. I'm both".^[89]
• Starman (Mikaal Tomas) is one of the Starmen within the DC Universe. He is notable as one of DC Comics' earliest openly gay superheroes.
• Steel (Natasha Irons), the niece of John Henry Irons, once dated Traci 13.^[90]
• Tasmanian Devil was the first openly homosexual member of the Justice League. He was in a relationship with Joshua Barbazon, and later dated Starman.^[91] He also had a crush on Green Lantern Hal Jordan.^[92] Post-Flashpoint Tasmanian Devil is married to Extraño (see above).
• The violent gay bashing in the "Hate Crime" arc against Terry Berg, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner's art assistant and for whom he harbored a crush, was notable, having even been stamped on the cover of the issue.^[93] Terry was beaten nearly to death for kissing his boyfriend David in public, shocking the entire nation. After a slow recovery, Terry wrote a book about his experience so people could learn tolerance.^[94]
• Tim Drake, the third Robin, previously dated Spoiler (Stephanie Brown), but he has since begun going on dates with his old friend Bernard Dowd.^[95] Theirs is the first male same-sex kiss on a superhero comic book cover.^[96] (If you don't consider the blink-and-you'll miss-it Alan Scot/Sam Zhao kiss [later fixed to Jean-Paul Beaubier/Kyle Jinadu] on one of the many variant covers of Marvel Comics #1000)
• Triumph was the original founder of the post-Crisis Justice League of America. When he sacrificed himself to save the world, he was erased from existence and everyone's memory, until he managed to return years later in the Zero Hour event. He was originally written as gay by his creators.^[97]
• Star City under the mayoral leadership of Oliver Queen was among the first cities in the United States to legalize same-sex marriage.^[98]

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Related Articles

Fictional Characters

• LGBTQ+ Characters
  • Asexual Characters
  • Bisexual Characters
  • Homosexual Characters
  • Pansexual Characters
  • Genderless Characters
  • Intersex Characters
  • Non-binary Characters
  • Transgender Characters

Staff

• Non-Binary Staff Members
• Transgender Staff Members

See Also

• Concept Gallery: LGBT
  
• Catalogued images related to LGBT
  
  

Links and References

• LGBT at Wikipedia.org
  • LGBT themes in comics#DC Comics
    • DC Comics LGBT characters
      • DC Comics LGBT superheroes‎
      • DC Comics LGBT supervillains‎
• Human Right Watch: LGBT Rights
• Gay League