At long last, we present our list of the 9 Greatest Gay and Bi Female Characters in Sci-Fi/Geekdom. As usual, pick your top three and let us know in the comments where you think we got it right and where we got it wrong.
#9 - Maxine Lund (Being John Malkovich)
We knew from the opening moments in which we met her, hunched over as she dodged the low ceilings of LesterCorp, that this hard-edged, no-nonsense babe had a buried heart of gold. Watching her transformation from manipulatrix to heart-warming lesbian mom is one of the best things in a film that’s loaded with best things. It’s also fun watching her try to grasp who it is exactly that she’s in love with in this highly complex gender-blending story.
#8 - Mystique (X-Men comics)
We’ve seen so many iterations of her over the years that it’s hard to know who’s the real Mystique. But then, that’s the point of the character, isn’t it? It was (barely) clear from the beginning that Mystique had a special relationship with Destiny. That was unusual enough in the early 80’s but even today she’s one of the few bisexual characters in mainstream comics. She certainly qualifies as interesting - good, bad, who knows what the hell she wants? And, of course, Rebecca Romijn stole the show with her portrayal in the X-Men films; too bad the bisexuality didn’t carry over.
#7 - Inara Serra (Firefly)
While we never had the chance to find out whether Inara was bisexual by preference or just professionally, we dig her cool, gorgeous Companion self. We didn’t meet many other of these highly respected courtesans, but we can’t imagine that very many of them were as beautiful or as well grounded as Inara, the rock in the Firefly storm.
#6 - Rear Admiral Cain (Battlestar Galactica)
While not exactly the most pleasant officer in the colonial fleet, Cain was unquestionably a great character, who so brilliantly illustrated how the story of the Galactica could have turned out with a different personality at the helm. She meant well for her crew, and even the future of humanity, but somewhere along the way she crossed, well, a few lines. But, damn, was she entertaining! Re-live Admiral Cain’s downfall (in a nutshell) set to “The Imperial March” from Star Wars in this clip. ‘Cause, um, why not?
#5 - Jadzia Dax (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
OK, we’re obsessed. We admit it. Setting aside the tremendous honor we bestowed upon her earlier this year, we also love the way her character is written. Jadzia is given dialog and reactions that a male character would traditionally get, and Terry Farrell delivers both with ease. We love that she’s a big ol’ science geek, and she’s the no-nonsense friend to everyone in the universe’s favorite space mall.
#4 - Æon Flux (Æon Flux)
As with Mystique, we should specify that this is the bisexual Æon Flux of the animated series and not the non-bisexual character of the live-action film. We love both, but no live actors could move like our favorite lanky terrorist no matter how much CGI is thrown at them. Æon Flux is not a little scary, but she’s cool as hell. Not only do we wish we could move like her, we also wish we could pull off that outfit.
#3 - Number Six (Battlestar Galactica)
Anyone whose spine glows red during a three-way with Baltar and Xena is an instant winner in our book. And, my gods, she’s hot. I mean HOT. Yes, we totally see how Baltar became a party to the near-genocide of the human race for this woman. In fact, if anyone’s going to turn us straight it’s Six. And we’ll take any of them. Or better yet, several of them.
#2 - Hazel McNamara and Foxglove (Sandman)
We love so many things about this pair, who are just a hair’s breadth away from being the greatest lesbian characters in our favorite genres, but we mostly love how real they are. Hazel and Foxglove aren’t superhuman or extraordinary, but their lives are repeatedly intertwined with what neighbor Barbie’s former housemate Rose once referred to as “weird shit”. Watching their relationship progress over the life of the Sandman series was awesome in the early 90’s when authentic LGBT characters in comics were unheard of. But the real treat was their center-stage involvement in the two Death spinoff series. Kudos, Mr. Gaiman, and thank you for the many years of terrific lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans characters!
#1 - Willow Rosenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Oh, like you’re surprised. After taking second place here, we’re so excited to give Willow a long-deserved #1 position in one of our many silly lists. Both computer geek AND mega-powerful witch, Willow rocks our world on so many levels we don’t know where to begin. She’s cute, she’s smart, she’s magic, she makes her own fun, and she can make her girlfriend float in the air during musical numbers about having sex. She even has an evil, sadistic dominatrix twin in another dimension (with hands in new places!) who was bisexual long before Willow met Tara. We’re so glad her adventures are continuing in the Buffy comics and look forward to being under her spell for years to come.
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Nowadays we expect pop stars to be über-progressive, but in the dark days of the last millennium, you didn’t hear that sort of thing from rock bands about the gays too often. This was especially welcome to those of us who wanted something a little harder than what was being offered by concurrent pop music (e.g., Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”), but who were turned off by the homophobic nature of a lot the legacy rock from the 80s.
