History Main / LGBTFanbase

** UsefulNotes/YvesSaintLaurent is another designer who came out officially in the 1990s but lived in the transparent closet prior to that, openly cohabitating with his lover and business partner Pierre Bergé. He pioneered androgynous styles for women that were embraced by women of all sexualities.

* Creator/CateBlanchett. Due to portraying a lesbian in the incredibly popular lesbian romance Carol, along with her tendency to often portray very powerful, assertive, badass female characters and also often wear suits or other androgynous clothing in Real Life, she has amassed an increasingly huge lesbian fanbase, to the extent that she's often referred to as being 'Queen of the Lesbians' or 'Queen of the Gays' on social media.

* [[Myth/NorseMythology Loki]] is well noted for being beloved by trans and genderfluid audiences due to the fact that he shifts genders pretty casually in recorded sources. The fact that he is something of an underdog only makes him more sympathetic for marginalised audiences.

** More recently, Gonzo has also become somewhat of a meme among queer folk (arguably more so than Miss Piggy) due to being considered an outsider even by Muppet standards which a lot of queer children tend to relate to. There's also [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cr2Lg9YUsAAdXpl.jpg one comic strip]] that circulated where he goes to the bathroom labeled "Whatever", and while it's mostly in reference to his ambigious species it regardless became a meme among non-binary people.

* [[Myth/NorseMythology Loki]] is well noted for being beloved by trans and genderfluid audiences due to the fact that he shifts genders pretty casually in reccorded sources. The fact that he is something of an underdog only makes him more sympathetic for marginalised audiences.

* In general, pretty much any pre-Abrahamic spiritual tradition has an LGBT following due to often far more lenient opinions on sexuality and gender and myths and deities that reflect this.

* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', the elven TopGod Corellon Larethian has been [[{{Elfeminate}} described as androgynous]] since 1980, and is able to appear as male, female, both or neither - art for the 3rd Edition ''Deities and Demigods'' sourcebook even [[http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/dd_gallery/dd1/Corellon_p63.jpg depicts Corellon]] with rainbow-colored eye-liner. Then the 5th Edition ''Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes'' book explained that some elves have the "blessing of Corellon" and are able to change their sex at will after an eight-hour rest, part of a conscious attempt by Wizards of the Coast to embrace its LGBTQ players and make gender fluidity part of the game's official lore.

When editing examples, keep in mind that '''a LGBT fanbase doesn't have to be unintentional''' (compare PeripheryDemographic). Works made by LGBTPlusCreators and explicitly aimed at LGBT people, however, go under QueerMedia. See also LGBTRepresentationInMedia, QueerShowGhetto, WatchedItForTheRepresentation.

When editing examples, keep in mind that '''a LGBT fanbase doesn't have to be unintentional''' (compare PeripheryDemographic). Works made by LGBTPlusCreators and explicitly aimed at LGBT people, however, go under QueerMedia. See also the LGBTRepresentationInMedia, QueerShowGhetto, WatchedItForTheRepresentation.

When editing examples, keep in mind that '''a LGBT fanbase doesn't have to be unintentional''' (compare PeripheryDemographic). Works made by LGBTPlusCreators and explicitly aimed at LGBT people, however, go under QueerMedia. See also the QueerShowGhetto, WatchedItForTheRepresentation.

** Sexual relations between men [[note]]Although this would today be perceived as gay, the cultural background of the Greek ancient world has quite less in common with the present concept of homosexuality. While today being gay (or queer in any way) is associated with an identity and homosexual (or any non-heterosexual) relationships as a (Western, contemporary) concept/ideal turn on romantic relationships between equal partners, it was different back then. In ancient Greece it was more about pederasty, in which a boy/young man (usually pubescent) was [[LoverAndBeloved the "beloved" and was educated by an (older) adult man, the "lover"]]. Sexual relations between them were seen as a normal part of the student-teacher relationship (although there were different levels of acceptance of this depending on the city state or specific time period). It was not intended to be permanent (in fact, it was expected to end once the younger one grew up), romantic or monogamous (men could be in different relations like this, also with different roles) and the partners ''must not'' be equal (huge age difference, teacher-student only). It was just normal, even expected for men in such relationships to be married to a woman without getting blamed for infidelity. This also applied to men specifically; since the ancient Greek society was very patriarchal, focusing on male elites (maybe more than today) there are few sources about sexual relations between women (erotic poems by {{Creator/Sappho}} of Lesbos being the main one-it's from her name we get the term "lesbian", plus "sapphic" and "sapphist", older ones for the same thing.[[/note]]were widely accepted and practiced in Ancient Greece, and tolerated in Rome. As a result, vast swathes of Ancient Greek mythological figures have serious HoYay going on, and on top of that, many have explicit romantic relationships with the same sex. Furthermore, most of the Gods were bisexual. Things were toned down in Roman times (the original Narcissus myth had him spurning a male suitor) but a lot still lingered on. Greek mythology has subsequently inspired a lot of homoerotic art, such as this [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/The_Death_of_Hyacinthos.gif painting]] of Apollo cradling Hyacinth. For the Greeks and Romans however, who was "top" versus "bottom" were the defining aspects of relationships (same-sex or not). In ancient Rome, men "bottoming" to others was taboo and could result in the status of "infamy", i.e. a loss of civil rights. Being a "top" was acceptable however.

* Dom of ''WebVideo/TheDomReviews'' has garnered a significant queer following over the years due to sheer amount of respect he shows to the community. He goes out of his way to give glowing reviews to LGBT-themed novels he finds, openly calls out and gets rid of any bigotry that shows up in his comments, once checked in with the bi community because he was worried his blue-purple-pink bakcground was appropriative, and dropped JK Rowling very quickly after her transphobic attitude became more evident.
* The ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'' has quite a large one. Dream, Wilbur and Schlatt often [[HoYay jokingly flirt]] with the people around them, no matter their gender. There's also some representation in the roleplay, as several server-members have gotten into same-gender relationships with one another, Ninja and George got married, Karl, Sapnap and Quackity are engaged to each other in a [[{{Polyamory}} polyamorous]] relationship, and Fundy is canonically transgender. Several of the members are also LGBTQ in real life: Ant is gay, Niki, Puffy, and Eret are bisexual (Eret also uses any pronouns), and Karl is on the asexual spectrum.

--> '''Jon:''' Wow, we're close to the microphone now!
--> '''Arin:''' ''(suggestively)'' Oh my god. Take it.
--> '''Jon:''' So, next time on Game Grumps, we-
--> '''Arin:''' Take it, Jon.
--> '''Jon:''' Take what?
--> '''Arin:''' ''Take it''.

* Creator/KatieMcGrath has a very large lesbian fanbase from her lesbian roles in both ''Series/{{Dates}}'' and ''Series/Dracula2013''. This only grew due to the amount of LesYay between Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers on ''Series/Supergirl2015'' and her support of the [=SuperCorp=] ship.

* Surprisingly, ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' gained a following of transgender women around the start of UsefulNotes/TheNewTwenties, most of whom grew up with brand before to their transition. It also helps that many of the sets for female characters had gender-neutral body proportions and appearances, and that the one female character that did have an obviously female appearance is a member of a species where even the males share the same body proportions and anatomy as the females.

* Creator/KatieMcGrath has a very large lesbian fanbase from her appearance in ''Series/{{Dates}}'' and roles in ''Series/Dracula2013''. This only grew due to the amount of LesYay between Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers on ''Series/Supergirl2015'' and her support of the [=SuperCorp=] ship.

* Tammy Faye Messner has a following among [=LGBTQ+=] Christians, mainly she was one of the few prominent Christian televangelists to support LGBT rights.

* Volkswagen has a following among gay men, mainly for their inclusiveness towards the [=LGBTQ+=] community (which earned Volkswagen of America honors from the Human Rights Campaign in 2017) and being another one of the few car companies to regularly target [=LGBTQ+=] audiences in advertising.

* As stated in this [[https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/how-subarus-came-to-be-seen-as-cars-for-lesbians/488042/ article in The Atlantic,]] Subaru's popularity with queer women (and later gueer men) in the 1990s saved the company in North America, mainly because Subaru was one of the first car companies to directly target them in advertising.

* As stated in this [[https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/how-subarus-came-to-be-seen-as-cars-for-lesbians/488042/ article in The Atlantic,]] Subaru's popularity with queer women (and later gueer men) in the 1990s saved the company in North America. While the advertisements would seem somewhat covert by current standards, the company was proud to be called Lesubaru and was the first major automaker to embrace the market.

* Tammy Faye Messner, one of the few prominent Christian televangelists to support LGBT rights.
* Subaru cars are well-liked by lesbians, mainly because Subaru was one of the first car companies to directly target them in advertising. Volkswagens are popular among gay men for similar reasons.

* Creator/KatieMcGrath has a very large lesbian fanbase from her appearance in ''Series/{{Dates}}'' and roles in ''Series/Dracula2013''. This only grew due to the amount of LesYay between Lena Luthor and Kara on ''/Series/Supergirl2015'' and her support of the [=SuperCorp=] ship.

* Creator.KatieMcGrath has a very large lesbian fanbase from her appearance in ''Series/{{Dates}}'' and roles in ''Series/Dracula2013''. This only grew due to the amount of LesYay between Lena Luthor and Kara on ''/Series/Supergirl2015'' and her support of the [=SuperCorp=] ship.

** Several Greek Goddess are beloved by asexuals and aromantics for being boldly swearing against marriage or sexual contact with men, most often Artemist but sometimes Athena and Hestia as well.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' has an LGBT fanbase that originated from the initial assumptions fans made about the personalities of the four heroines during the show's original four advertising trailers. The fan interest was later boosted into becoming a prominent part of the fandom when the creators confirmed in interviews that they do want LGBT characters, but that the teens would develop that self-awareness over time.
** While the show proved a great deal of the aforementioned trailer assumptions wrong, Blake and Yang remain the fandom's [[{{fanon}} favourite]] pairing. Many episodes specifically put focus on the growing bond between the two, which is given more attention than their bonds between the other members of Team RWBY, and they are often shown helping each other overcome their traumas, to the point where most fans assume they are all but confirmed to be lovers (heck, some fans flat-out believe they actually ''are'' an OfficialCouple, although Rooster Teeth's official statement as of Volume 6 was that fans should "wait and see" how the two will turn out). By volume 8 it hasn't been confirmed but it's obvious that CRWBY is going somewhere with this pairing: there's been massive amounts of ship tease and the voice actors and crew often discuss the pairing. Also Blake has been confirmed to be bisexual.
** Ilia was eventually the first confirmed LGBT character when she revealed to the unsuspecting Blake that she used to be in love with her during a dramatic confrontation. Volume 6 would also casually introduce the lesbian couple of Saphron, Jaune's older sister, and her wife Terra.
** Other characters are also interpreted by the community in relevant ways -- for example, Scarlet is regarded as a transgender character and the spin-off manga generated a lot of excitement when it revealed that he is gay and that it had the support of the main show's creators to do that.

* Creator/PedroPascal earned LGBT fans by portraying people on the spectrum, such as [[Series/GameOfThrones Oberyn Martell]], in a non-degrading manner, and by advocating for LGBT rights and acceptance, helped by putting his pronouns in his Website/{{Twitter}} name and his younger sister Lux coming out as transgender. While Pascal hasn't publicly referred to himself as gay, he doesn't seem to mind those who do; when he actively used Twitter for non-promotional purposes, he pushed Like on posts reading, "Pedro Pascal gay". He's also demonstrated support for people who ship some of his non-canonically gay characters, such as [[Franchise/StarWars Din Djarin]] and [[Film/TheUnbearableWeightOfMassiveTalent Javi Gutierrez]], with other men.

* Creator/LauraDern's open advocacy for gay rights and media representation throughout TheNineties led to a huge LGBT following, notably from gay men. Infamously, starring as Creator/EllenDeGeneres' lesbian friend in Ellen's eponymous sitcom (which was also the same episode two-parter where [=DeGeneres=] came out) [[NeverLiveItDown caused a backlash so huge]], her A-list popularity from being in ''Film/JurassicPark'' dropped like a stone and she only regained it in the 2010s, particularly from ''Series/BigLittleLies''. In 2020, the Spirit Awards guest starred the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles, whose [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlQotkWWDQI song about gay subtext]] in 2019's films turned into serenading Dern for almost a minute.

* Nearly any {{mytholog|y}}ical hero or WorthyOpponent in a world of [[AmbiguouslyGay ambiguous]] or [[HoYay blatantly homoerotic]] sexuality. Heracles, the Minotaur, [[YaoiGuys Zephyrus and Hyacinth]], [[Myth/CelticMythology Cú Chulainn]], Literature/{{Beowulf}}...