Yahoo Entertainment These 27 Supposedly Straight TV/Movie Characters Were Obviously Supposed To Be Queer, Like 100%
Queer representation in media has improved quite a lot over the last few years, and while it's so exciting to see so many LGBTQ+ characters on screen now, it wasn't always this way.
Hulu / Via giphy.com
There were decades and decades where the queer community had little to no representation on screen; however, there were some characters that seemed like they were maybe...not so straight.
I mean...
So, with that in mind, I recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell me which TV/movie characters they think should have been written queer, and I honestly can't disagree with a single one.
Here's what people had to say:
1."Chessy and Martin from The Parent Trap. There’s no way those two are straight."
2."Benedict Bridgerton."
"I second this. Season 1 looked like it was naturally setting up a queer love story for him. And then, when Benedict questioned Henry Granville about loving a man in high society, it seemed like he was doing so because he himself wanted to understand how he could find a way to love a man like Granville did. That’s why it was weird to me when Benedict and Madame Delacroix got together, and him and the artist girl in Season 2 were together — those relationships looked so forced as a result."
3."Chandler and Phoebe on Friends both have bi vibes."
"Phoebe talks about women being attractive and is very comfortable with herself and her sexuality, it just feels right that she would date women, too. It would have been interesting to see that.
Chandler, too. He talks about men being attractive, and it's often the butt of an 'I can't believe I just let that slip' kind of joke. It would have been cool if it was just part of him instead of a homophobic joke.
Also, they both dress bi if that makes sense? LOL."
4."Billy and Stu from Scream. They were so close with each other, and the way Stu was looking at Billy in the reveal...like, come on."
5."Robin (who is queer) and Nancy from Stranger Things. Robin literally got on her knees for Nancy. Also, the whole library scene! Both Natalia Dyer and Maya Hawke have expressed that they’d love to see it."
6."Every character on SpongeBob is gay. No, I will not explain. If you get it, you get it."
7."Paris Geller from Gilmore Girls was in love with Rory. I will take no questions."
8.Elaine Benes and George Costanza from Seinfeld.
"Elaine definitely should have been bisexual, or at least bi-curious. Or she could have had a similar 'dating a woman' plot like Liz Lemon in 30 Rock, where she realizes she's not queer but wishes she was. Also, she was portrayed as a pretty intense feminist, and I could see that show taking that to the extreme of 'dating men is anti-feminist, and dating women is feminist' so she dates a woman for The Cause™."
—Alice L.
"There were multiple episodes that joked about George being attracted to men, and it was so obvious he had internalized homophobia. I would have loved to see that be explored. Whether he was gay or bi, I don’t know, but that man was NOT straight (looking at you massage episode, and that one episode about him being unknowingly in love with Jerry)."
—Anonymous
9."Jughead Jones from Riverdale should have been aromantic and asexual. He's aro/ace in the comics, and it does underrepresented aro/ace folks a disservice to erase that in the show! We're starving for representation, and he could've been game-changing."
—Anonymous
10."Gwen from That '90s Show. Watched it with my mom when it came out, and we thought for sure there was sexual tension between Gwen and Leia before Leia met the other friends. It could still happen, I’m sure."
11."Finn and Poe! I def think this needs to be mentioned in the Rey movie, and I’m hoping it’s more than just some throwaway line, but I’d even take that at this point."
12."Kim Do-Ki from Taxi Driver!!!!! He is clearly bisexual AND either genderfluid/nonbinary."
"In Season 2, you can see he was blushing and flustered when he found out about Ha Joon/Dan Woo being his neighbor, and again when Chun Ji Hoon from One Dollar Lawyer showed up. I mean, 'You were talking so well so I listened intently,' and 'You are reserved but quite handsome,' IS THAT NOT FLIRTING?"
13."Niles Crane from Frasier should've been gay. But I think that the show creator/writers were afraid of Niles's gayness taking the focus off of Frasier."
"Plus, at that time, there weren't a lot of openly gay writers, and storylines would drift into the realm of the stereotypically exaggerated flamboyance. Though the Maris thing could've been treated as a beard situation, which would've been funny."
14."Azula and Ty Lee from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Azula should have gotten a better treatment/ending, too. They treated her like an irredeemable monster."
15.Sheldon and Raj from The Big Bang Theory.
"Sheldon's relationship with Amy made no sense, and he was super reluctant to engage in coitus with her. If Sheldon was either gay or asexual, his reluctance to have coitus with Amy and his lack of affection toward her would have made a lot more sense."
"Raj from Big Bang Theory. I know he claims to be metrosexual, but he is definitely bi! If he ever realized it, he would be so much happier and able to make a connection with someone (speaking from experience)."
16."Trubel from Grimm."
"The actor is queer, the character gives big gay energy, and yet, at the end they tried to set her up with a guy she barely knew and had no chemistry with. That show had so many characters giving queer vibes, yet they tried to show everyone as super straight."
17."Raya and Namaari had undeniable sexual tension from the first moment they met in Raya and the Last Dragon."
"They call each other 'dep la' which loosely translates to 'strangely beautiful.' You can't tell me the snarky banter isn't also flirtatious. If it does get a sequel, they had better make Ramaari canon."
18."Had to come here to cite Stucky (Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes)."
19."Supercorp! Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers from Supergirl."
20."Clark and Lex from Smallville. The subtext was bananas, especially the first couple of seasons."
21."Xena and Gabrielle. While their romantic relationship was *clearly* implied, it was never made explicit. I wish they'd openly and unequivocally made them a real couple."
22."Jan Brady."
23."I think Jake Peralta from Brooklyn Nine-Nine should have been canonically bi."
"Most fans eventually concluded he had bi energy, but it would've been nice to at least get a hint that he had a long serious relationship with a man in his past."
—Alice L.
24."Jade West from Victorious. If you have watched the show, then enough said. She definitely gives off the energy."
25."Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles from Rizzoli & Isles, they had such good chemistry."
26."General Hux — the man is fruity as fuck. Your typical queer coded Disney villain that never got to leave the closet."
"Honestly, almost all of Star Wars ought to be queer in some way, because you can’t tell me they live in such a diverse galaxy and haven’t wanted to diddle doodle someone from a different species, which in and of itself is pretty queer."
27."Elsa from Frozen should've been asexual! She never has a love interest, she never has a moment of physical attraction to anyone, and she never seems to want that anyway."
"Given that the two Frozen movies have themes about the high value of familial love and friendship, it's not a stretch for this to coincide nicely with her being ace and showing other kinds of love. Also, the whole 'conceal, don't feel' thing just hits hard for us queer folk, especially aces who are taught to stay quiet and suppress a lot because it's easier than explaining a sexuality no one's heard of or getting bullied for it. Plus, all the imagery with her purple outfits in the second movie gave serious ace colors. They should've just made it official!"
—Anonymous
Looking for more ways to get involved? Check out all of BuzzFeed's posts celebrating Pride 2023.
