By now we’ve all seen the reports that TV is a little less gay this season than it was last fall or this summer. That’s never stopped me from looking for potential lesbian or bisexual characters before and it won’t stop me now. It’s so early on in these shows, we don’t know enough about them to know for sure how they identify. Instead of doing what the heteronormative world does and assume they’re straight, I’m going to assume they’re queer. This is a list of the new queer women on primetime television (until proven otherwise).
Stephanie Beatriz as Detective Rosa Diaz
Brooklyn 99
She’s grumpy, short-tempered, wears a lot of leather, loves movies, and is a total badass. Maybe the reason Gina Linetti doesn’t want her to go out with Det. Boyle is because she wants her alllll to herself. Crossing my fingers for some intra-office romance. If not at work, then maybe Diaz can find a geeky Genius Bar worker to help with her computer troubles.
Nicole Beharie as Lt. Abbie Mills
Sleepy Hollow
She’s smart, trustworthy, and willing to stick her neck out for what she believes in (even when it makes her look insane). She claims to have broken up with her ex because she was headed to Quantico, but from the way she looked at him, there certainly aren’t feelings there anymore. I’m sure she’s never been headless (wink wink) and once she gets a break from preventing the apocalypse, maybe she’ll hit the local diner with a cutie and share a slice of apple pie.
Maggie Lawson as Terry Gannon, Jr.
Back in the Game
Junior likes scotch, rocks the power blazer, and was an ALL-AMERICAN SOFTBALL PLAYER. I’m thinking she realized a few years into her marriage that she was playing for the wrong team and called the whole thing off.
Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Agent May is stubborn as they come but still does what’s best for the team. We know that she doesn’t like to be out in the field but we don’t know why. Probably because her partner sends her 50 worried texts a day and the only scratches she find acceptable are the ones from the kittens they foster together in their downtown loft.
Spencer Grammar as Holly
Ironside
Holly is part of Ironside’s hand picked team. Boots, hoodie, leather jacket, scarf, tank top…she’s squeezed more gay outfits into one episode of television than Lizz does into a month of posts. We’ve got another badass alert because she’s the one that gets things done without hesitancy or badgering from the boss. Some would even say she’s his right hand lesbian.
What new characters have you decided are queer? And what’s the over/under on how many episodes it takes these shows to throw in some superfluous storyline that shuts down our queer theories?
There was a neat lesbian character in the pilot of “The Masters of Sex,” played by Annaleigh Ashford. I don’t know if she’ll be back, but there she was.
Although knowing where the Masters and Johnson research goes as far as homosexuality is concerned, I could understand someone wanting to stay away from it. But there’s also Lizzy Caplan, so…
Yes. She will be back. She was in the preview for upcoming episodes. I think we are going to meet her girlfriend too. I can’t wait.
And Lizzy Caplan is so hot. Her body is absolutely ridiculous and she doesn’t seem shy about showing it off on the show.
Lizzy Caplan though. DAMN.
Came down here to post about exactly this, but seems I was beat to it! Excellent, glad so many people watched Masters of Sex last night! I think it definitely has some kinks (pun intended!) to work out, but overall, I think it’s going to be FANTASTIC. Every review I’ve read has said it gets really good after episode 3, so I’m for sure going to stick with it.
Hey Autostraddle – science, sex, orgasms, Lizzy Caplan, and a lesbian sex worker? Think we could get someone to recap it? :D
i will look in to this!
YES! Thanks Riese!
I would get around those recaps in a big way. I’m already imagining myself giggling about them.
I enjoyed the pilot. I’m super intrigued to see how they’ll tackle conversion therapy should they get to it. Hopefully they take Johnson’s side on things. Also concerned about how unlikable Masters is already. I think Breaking Bad and Mad Men have given people the gall to make the lead male as terrible as they want and think that viewers won’t mind/will embrace it. But that’s still enough to turn me off of a show completely. Or it has been with shows that don’t have Lizzy Caplan.
The conversion therapy thing will be an issue, I’m sure, but based on how the show (and Johnson especially) handled the revelation of Betty’s sexuality in the first episode, I’m willing to stick by and trust they’ll do it well.
As for Masters, I didn’t find him as horrible as others seem to have, especially when compared to Ethan! He’s cold and distant, and an egomaniac, and lying to his wife is gross, but I think it’s still debatable if he was actually propositioning Johnson at the end, or if was genuinely about the science. He seems like a terrible husband, but not necessarily a bad person. I’ll be really upset if this becomes yet another male anti-hero show.
the minute Melinda May came on screen I wanted her to be gay.
Same, same, same.
YES! I am pulling so hard for Melinda May to be an ass kicking lady gay! It would be so awesome and seriously, I think Joss owes us this for the massive amounts of trauma he’s put us through over the years. LOL
Let’s all pray to Athena.
Ok, but I actually do think we can reasonably hope for this, because even though he has caused a lot of heartache (I’m still mourning Tara’s death), he has at least done a decent job of giving us queer ladies in the past.
Oh, I’m well aware. lol
Oh, what a world! I will definetly use this new “assuming technique” from now on. Oh, if it could be this way…
Keeping my fingers crossed so hard for Melinda May.
i have not seen any of these shows, but all of these women are really good looking
lots of leather jackets. need we say more?
you realise that the prev character ming-na played on stargate universe was gay
and there was a really hot love scene too!
But even that wasn’t enough for me to tolerate watching SGU. God I miss SG1/SGA.
Forever wishing & hoping for Lt. Abbie Mills to be queer. Then it could raise some awesome conversations with Ichabod.
Abrina, anyone?
[whispers] threeeeesome
Melinda May, yes yes yes.
Joss Whedon portrays gay characters quite well, even though he kills them horribly and without warning in the end! We can only hope for the best
SSSHHH, they’ll hear you! And as soon as they do, most of the writers will be all, “NO HOMO guys!” And abruptly put most of these characters in an awkward, nonsensical, weird, relationship with a man to prove she’s not a lesbian.
That’s why I assume every fictional character is bisexual until they explicitly say they aren’t. Then I can always pretend that there’s some fictional version of me living in their fictional universe who has a chance. I also pretend that all of those are vegan leather jackets because fictional me wants us to morally compatible, too.
This! I like to believe most fictional characters are both bi and poly, so then I can fulfill all my daydreams. :P This idea has started seeping into my real life though and I’m often genuinely shocked when someone I’m flirting with is straight and monogamous.
OK BUT Y’ALL: MRod has officially (for real this time??) confirmed that she likes the ladies in an interview. http://www.newnownext.com/michelle-rodriguez-bisexual-coming-out-interview/10/2013/
I just have feelings about this (related to the unwitting-baby-queer feelings I’ve had since Girlfight and Blue Crush) and need to share somewhere. And I figured y’all would appreciate this breaking news.
Every movie my partner and I watch, we find one character whom we prove throughout the movie is queer as all get-out. For instance, we are convinced that Pleakley of Lilo and Stitch is gay, and that Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu had something going on in Kill Bill 1.
It’s not just Pleakly – Jumba is also definitely gay. On the TV series, it’s as explicit-as-Disney-gets that they are a couple.
(Here’s a slightly-out-of-date shipper site with evidence and quotes from the first two movies and the TV series: http://ship-manifesto.livejournal.com/100285.html )
*sigh* Melinda May……………… oh please let her be, and if not her then Skye
So last night we learned that May’s been sleeping with Ward, so there goes that theory. To be completely honest, I’ve known since shortly after this post first appeared. My sister works at the live-action television department of Marvel Studios, and I asked her. She told me that May isn’t gay, but that’s all she could say—When it comes to secrecy, Marvel seems to think that it actually *is* S.H.I.E.L.D.—so I didn’t want to post anything about it until I had more information.
But maybe she likes women too? I’ll ask my sister about that. Maybe I could even convince her that having May be queer would bring in viewers who might not otherwise be inclined to watch the show. You know those Hollywood types: all they ever think about is the bottom line.
Yes! Diaz! I’ve been saying this since the show started. That lady is gayer than Christmas.
Honestly, I don’t care if they have Diaz marry her boyfriend and never look at another girl again I will never be convinced she’s straight
Honestly, I don’t care if they have Diaz marry her boyfriend and never look at another girl again I will never be convinced she’s straight 液態威