List of fictional gay characters

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

This is a list of gay characters in fiction, i.e. characters that either self-identify as gay or have been identified by outside parties to be gay, becoming part of gay media. Listed characters are either recurring characters, cameos, guest stars, or one-off characters, some of which may be gay icons. This page does not include gay characters in animation, feature films or television.

For a listing of yaoi anime and manga, see List of yaoi anime and manga. For history of homosexuality in U.S. films, see History of homosexuality in American film.

For fictional characters in other parts of the LGBTQ community, see the lists of trans, bisexual, lesbian, non-binary, pansexual, aromantic, asexual, and intersex characters.

The names are organized alphabetically by surname (i.e. last name), or by single name if the character does not have a surname. If more than two characters are in one entry, the last name of the first character is used.

Graphic novels

Main article: List of graphic art works with LGBT characters

Characters	Title	Years	Notes	Country
Corinthian	The Sandman	1989–2015	The Corinthian is a nightmare created by Dream. He has two additional mouths in place of his eyes, which he covers with sunglasses. In The Doll's House, he goes AWOL from the dreamscape and becomes a serial killer who invites men to have sexual relations with him, then murders them. Corinthian then removes the eyes of their victims and eats them using his eye-mouths. Neil Gaiman has stated that the Corinthian is homosexual in The Sandman Companion, wherein the first Corinthian consumed eyes only of boys. The second Corinthian is featured with a boyfriend as written by Caitlin R. Kiernan in the Dreaming.[1]	England
Dads of Charlotte "Charlie"	The Witch Boy	2017	They are the dads of Charlie, a tomboy.[2][3] They appear in all three graphic novels as recurring characters[4][a] and are the only explicitly LGBTQ characters shown in the graphic novels.[5][6][7]	United States
	The Hidden Witch	2018
	The Midwinter Witch	2019
Iceman	All-New X-Men	2002–present	All New X-Men #40 (2015) contains the pivotal moment where Iceman/Bobby Drake (as a younger version of himself) is informed by Jean Grey that his thoughts reveal his homosexuality. The scene plays out with Bobby wondering why his older self (the one in present-day X-Men comics) dated women for so long; he ponders bi-sexuality before being told, unequivocally, that he is in fact gay.[8]	United States
Jayesh "Jay"	Lucifer	2000–2006	Jay is a friend of Jill Presto. Jay is interested in a man named Karl, unaware that Karl is a homophobic neo-Nazi.[9] Jay asks Karl out, after being encouraged by Jill. Afterwards, Karl and other men and beat Jay up in a dark alley.[10]	United Kingdom
Kevin Keller	Veronica	1989–2011	First appearance: Veronica #202 (2010). Kevin was first eyed by Veronica who did not realize he was gay. He has since become a part of the gang.[11]	United States
Kid Juggernaut	Marvel Comics	2024-present	Justin Jin is a friendly and confident Korean-Canadian superhero with superhuman strength. He is a successor to the supervillain Juggernaut. He is also openly gay.[12]
Andy Lippincott	Doonsbury	1970–present	First appearance: 1976. Andy Lippincott was the first openly gay character to appear in a mainstream comic strip.[13]
Midnighter	Midnighter & Midnighter	2006–2008 & 2015–2016	Midnighter is one of DC Comics' most prominent gay superheroes and his relationship with Apollo is one of the most prominent gay relationships in DC Comics.[14]
Apollo
Northstar	Uncanny X-Men	1963–2015	First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #120 (1979). Northstar was the first openly gay superhero in the Marvel Comics universe.[15]
Lawrence Poirier	For Better or For Worse	1979–2008	In 1993, Lawrence Poirier's coming out generated controversy, with readers opposed to homosexuality threatening to cancel newspaper subscriptions.[16] See also: For Better or For Worse#Lawrence comes out.	Canada
Arnie Roth	Marvel comics	1982-present	The oldest friend and mentor of Steve Rogers.[17][18][19][20][21]	United States
Thomas Werner	Thomas no Shinzō	1974–1975	Set in a German boys boarding school, the story relates how, after Thomas' suicide, an upper classman, Yuri, finds a love letter Thomas wrote to him, and then meets a new student, Eric, who looks just like Thomas.[22]	Japan
Julusmole Bayhan ("Juli" or "Yuli")
Eric Fruehling
Andrew Wells	Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics	1998–present	Andrew realizes he is gay in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Ten.[23]	United States
Wiccan	Marvel Comics	1986-present	Wiccan is a superhero and the son of Scarlet Witch. He falls in love with and marries Hulkling.[24][25][26][27]	United States

Literature

Main article: List of LGBT characters in modern written fiction

Characters	Work	Author	Year	Description
Achilles	The Song of Achilles	Madeline Miller	2011	Achilles is gay, showing no interest in girls, while Patroclus is bisexual, saying he would fall in love with Briseis if not for Achilles.[28]
Assorted characters	Tales of the City series	Armistead Maupin	1978–2014	While the original series featured gay and bisexual characters who "kissed on camera and had sex in bathhouses,"[29] in the Netflix adaption of this series, Shawna is "explicitly bisexual character."[30]
Brysen	Black Wings Beating	Alex London	2018	Brysen is a teenager on a quest to hunt down a giant, monstrous black eagle. Throughout the book, he shows exclusive romantic interest in men.[31]
David	Giovanni's Room	James Baldwin	1956	David, a protagonist of the book, escapes death from the guillotine since his "homosexual urges were experimental in nature" while the narrator is cited as a gay character as well.[32] Other gay characters include Giovanni, Jacques, and Guillaume.
Dino	The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried	Shaun David Hutchinson	2019	Dino is a curmudgeonly and bookish Puerto Rican teenager who discovers that his estranged best friend July has risen from the grave. Dino also has a boyfriend. [33][34]
Wylan Van Eck	Six of Crows duology	Leigh Bardugo	2015–2016	Jesper is bisexual, and Wylan is gay; they begin dating each other by the end of the duology, while Nina has also been confirmed to be pansexual.[35]
Alucard Emery	Shades of Magic trilogy	V.E. Schwab	2015–17	Rhy is bisexual while Alucard is gay. They had a fling three years prior the events of the books. Victoria Schwab actually stated multiple times that in her eyes none of the characters are straight, but that is not mentioned in the series.[36][37]
Jack Forster	What Happened to Mr. Forster?	Gary W. Bargar	1989	A sixth-grade teacher who is fired for being gay.[38]
			1995
Dorian Gray	The Picture of Dorian Gray	Oscar Wilde	1890	Dorian is ambivalent about his homosexuality, meeting with male prostitutes, and proposes to a woman in an effort to suppress his homosexuality.[39][40]
Basil Hallward				In this novel, Basil has a "repressed homosexuality" while Dorian has his own ambivalence, meeting with male prostitutes, even proposing to Sybil Vane in an attempt to suppress his homosexual feelings.[39][40]
Basil Henderson	Invisible Life	E. Lynn Harris	1991	Basil leaves his fiancée Yancey at the altar and pursues a gay lifestyle.[32]
	Just As I Am		1995
	Abide With Me		1999
	Any Way the Wind Blows		2001
Joel Harrison Knox	Other Voices, Other Rooms	Truman Capote	1948	Joel is an "effeminate adolescent," with the narrative showing him have a desire for his cousin, Randolph.[41]
Oshima	Kafka on the Shore	Haruki Murakami	2002	Oshima is a 21-year-old intellectual gay trans man who is a librarian and owner of a cabin in the mountains near Komura Memorial Library.[42] He becomes the mentor of Kafka as he guides him to the answers that he's seeking on his journey.
Rafi	The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried	Shaun David Hutchinson	2019	Rafi is a kind-hearted and handsome but deeply insecure Pakistani-American teenager. He is also transgender and has a boyfriend.[43][44]
Randolph	Other Voices, Other Rooms	Truman Capote	1948	Randolph is a cousin of Joel, and a person that Joel has romantic feelings for.[41]
Richard	The Hours	Michael Cunningham	1998	In this novel, which has strong parallels with Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, Clarissa rejects a relationship with Richard, a gay man, for the love of her life, Sally, who is invigorated by this love.[45] Louis is also Richard's former lover, with Richard later taking his own life, while Clarissa comes to a full realization of her own identity.
Louis
Jack Twist	"Brokeback Mountain" (short story)	Annie Proulx	1997	Jack and Ennis have a long term sexual and romantic relationship despite both being married to women and fathering children. Jack also has sexual relationships with other men and a woman, while Ennis does not. Critics have described both men as gay or variably Jack as bisexual and Ennis as heterosexual.[46][47]
Ennis del Mar
Vanyel	Arrows of the Queen	Mercedes Lackey	1987	Lackey, in making this book, took a stand, refusing the demand of an editor that Vanyel be "straight, or single, or not in the story," and, as such, he is a gay character.[48]

Video games

Main article: List of video games with LGBT characters

Characters	Series / Title	Year	Notes	Developer
Barnaby	Billie Bust Up	Upcoming	The upcoming musical platformer Billie Bust Up features a kooky, ghostly owl named Barnaby. In an official Twitter post for pride month, Barnaby is illustrated with flags that reveal he is gay and on the asexual spectrum. [49][50]	Giddy Goat Games
Damien Bloodmarch	Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator	2017	In this visual novel and dating sim, Damien Bloodmarch is a gay trans man.[51]	Game Grumps
Bubbles	Angry Birds 2	2015	Bubbles is an optimistic young spot-breasted oriole who loves Halloween. Although incredibly small in stature, he has the ability to drastically increase in body size, similar to the defense mechanism of a pufferfish. In the pride-themed "Better Together" microtransaction, the player can buy him an outfit that includes a gay male pride flag balloon.[52]	Rovio Entertainment
Gay cop	The Longest Journey	1999	This computer game features Fiona and Mickey, a lesbian landlady and her long-time lover. The game also features and a gay cop, with gay characters seen as normal and well adjusted secondary characters.[53]	Funcom
Eladus	Guild Wars 2	2012	This MMORPG game includes the sylvari race of plant-like humanoids who don't reproduce sexually. As such, they do not base their relationships upon reproduction, but rather love, sensuality, and finding beauty in one another.[54] Eladus and Dagdar are two young male sylvari in a gay relationship. The player is able to encounter and save Eladus and Dagdar from the Knight Bercilak the Green in an optional quest.	ArenaNet
Dagdar
Saied	Circuit's Edge	1989	This DOS Interactive fiction and role-playing game includes a variety of gay and transgender characters,[55] including a trans woman named Yasmin with a gay man named Saied alleged to be Yasmin's former lover.[56]	Westwood Studios
Variety of characters
Percy	Billie Bust Up	Upcoming	The upcoming musical platformer Billie Bust Up features a friendly shopkeeper cat named Percy. In an official Twitter post for pride month, he's illustrated waving a gay male pride flag.[57][58]	Giddy Goat Games
Trevor	Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh	1996	In this interactive movie, point-and-click adventure, Curtis is the protagonist, who is a close friend with his gay co-worker, Trevor. The two almost kiss later in the game.[59][60]	Sierra On-Line

Webcomics

See also: List of webcomics with LGBT characters and Gay Comix

Characters	Name of comic	Years	Notes
Eric Bittle	Check, Please!	2013–present	This comic by Ngozi Ukazu centers around a gay protagonist on a college hockey team.[61]
Jo's dads	Lumberjanes	2014–2020	Jo is a trans woman of color with two dads and acts as an "expert on what it means to be a Lumberjane" to the fellow campers.[62][63]
Multiple characters	Unsounded	2010–Present	This webcomic by Ashley Cope features multiple gay characters.[64]
Jeff Olsen	Kyle's Bed & Breakfast	1998–present	This comic by Greg Fox covers controversial LGBT topics such as marriage equality, HIV/AIDS, body fascism and conversion therapy.[65][64] This story features various LGBT characters, such as Jeff Olsen, a gay man with HIV, Mark Masterson, a gay scholar, and Kristian Janson, a Jamaican gay man.[66]
Mark Masterson
Kristian Janson
Other characters
Dirk Strider	Homestuck	2009-2016	In this webcomic by Andrew Hussie, Dirk Strider states he is only attracted to guys.[67] He also dates Jake English, a bisexual guy, for a couple months.
Rudy Strongwell	Rain	2010–2022	This comic by Jocelyn Samara and DiDomenick features a trans girl, Rain, as the main character and other LGBT characters,[68] like a gay man named Rudy Strongwell, and a gay couple (Trevor Kurz and Frank Johnson).[69]
Trevor Kurz
Frank Johnson

See also

• LGBTQ portal
• Lists portal

• Gay pulp fiction
• Gay literature
• Gay village
• Gay bashing
• List of films with LGBT characters
• List of made-for-television films with LGBT characters
• List of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related films
• LGBTQ themes in comics
• List of animated series with LGBTQ characters
• List of polyamorous characters in fiction
• List of LGBT-themed speculative fiction
• List of LGBT characters in soap operas
• List of LGBT-related films
• Lists of LGBT figures in fiction and myth