Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Characters

Vamp from Metal Gear Solid was Bisexual. As was Volgin. Personally, I also thought there was a bit of a thing going on between Ed and Jonathan in Guns Of The Patriots, but that might just be a very intense bromance.

Let's not forget The Sims. Though not having any distinct sexual preference to begin with, they are capable of falling in love with anyone.

edited 31st Jul '11 4:32:20 PM by Rou

KOTOR duhhhhh.

Wow, how did I forget to mention all the Bio Ware games? Just look to Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Especially Dragon Age II. My goodness.

Jody Summer?

Arcade is gay, Veronica is a lesbian and Cass does anything whilst drunk. All from New Vegas.

Yubel is a hermaphrodite.

For the purposes of this thread, it's probably best to keep it to things that are verified canon, either in game or through supplemental materials.

Fallout New Vegas allows the player character to be gay or bisexual based on the perks they choose. Having said that, not many games do LGBT in a way that isn't incredibly token or just "Straight gays" where you'd never know they were gay if they hadn't casually mentioned it.

edited 31st Jul '11 6:45:14 PM by ShadowScythe

Yeah, any sexuality is most realistically done when it's invisible outside of bedroom choices.

Heather from Fire Emblem 10 is a lesbian.

edited 31st Jul '11 11:34:50 PM by Aondeug

Tony from Earthbound is gay, though it's only implied ingame and confirmed by Word of God.

In Bully, there's at least one male member of every clique that you can kiss. I can't remember them all, but the blonde bully is one of them.

@Manga Maniac Lol heterosexuality is the norm nowadays.

Nier has a hermaphrodite supporting character.

I assume for this thread you're talking about pre-defined main characters? Eg. not like The Warden in Dragon Age where he/she is created by your actions?

If so I can't really think of one. All gay characters I can think of are eithr non-determined to a greater or lesser extent, or they're NPC's rather than PC's.

The oldest non-H game example of gay character that I can think of is Yukinojou Sotoi, an NPC officing as the butler of you filthy rich and arrogant rival Rei Ijuuin, in Tokimeki Memorial (1994). He has a thing for muscular and manly men; if you manage to have a very high Sports stat on each time you meet him at Ijuuin's Christmas Party, at the end of the game, he tries to confess his feelings for you, only to be interrupted and dragged away by Ijuuin.

And then there's the interesting case of Minori Akiho, in the Nijiiro no Seishun canon of the Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series (1997 to 1999). She starts as being head over heels for her senpai Saki Nijino, and as such sees the main protagonist as her bitter rival in love for Saki; but as the series goes on, she also falls in love with said protagonist. Ultimately, she let go of both her loves and Saki and the protagonist hook up.

edited 1st Aug '11 5:10:54 AM by AceNoctali

There's Gay Tony from GTAIV, but that's fairly obvious. Here's a more obscure one - Pink in Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. Now, with a name like that, you might expect an offensive, sissy stereotype, but nope. He's a tough-as-nails convicted killer like everyone else in the game, he just happens to also be gay. The only way to infer he's gay is the nickname and the ability to have Riddick overhear a conversation where he talks about how he "wants to fuck" another male prisoner badly.

There is this old game I came across called Rise Of The Dragon (1990). There is one point when you go to this one place called the Pleasure Dome. One of the characters in there is seemingly a woman. However, if you look at hir (shorthand word for "him or her"), the game will give you a message about how this is a woman who is actually a man who is actually a woman (or something along those lines). This character is probably transsexual.

The only videogame character that I knew was transsexual was Naoto, and, to steal a quote from Extra Credits, "It's left ambiguous whether she feels this way because of how she's been treated while trying to fit into and gain respect from a male-dominated society, or whether she's wrestling with more fundamental gender confusion."

edited 1st Aug '11 5:41:13 AM by AwesomeZombie22

Naoto is not a transsexual. They're pretty clear on that in the game. That would mean she's physically trying to become male, which she isn't.

Even calling her transgender is a bit of a stretch given the plotline that turns out when you romance her. Particularly how she's willing to dress femininely for you if you ask. Gender confused? Yes. Easily resolved? No. Even Kanji got more of a nudge in resolution than Naoto (on the other hand, you can't date Kanji, a GROSS oversight in my opinion!)

Speaking of Persona, Jun in Innocent Sin.

edited 1st Aug '11 9:50:57 AM by Rebochan

You know, I never really understood what was wrong with seeing something as "the norm" if it's what's most common, nor what's wrong with being different from "the norm", but that's just me.

On topic, uh...Heather and Tony are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head, and they've both already been mentioned. Although in an untranslated Fire Emblem, there was a character whose ending gave him the title "The Man That [Male Character Whose Name I Can't Recall] Loved", which sort of implies something.

edited 1st Aug '11 10:00:08 AM by Beorc

I nearly forgot, but Fallout 3 has the lesbian ghoul couple Carol and Greta, and the homosexual couple Flak and Shrapnel.

That's an odd choice of wording...

Has anyone mentioned Joachim from Shadow Hearts yet? And the entire Man Festival? And the swishy tailors you have to give pictures of beefcake to...

Oh yeah, there's a gay guy in Valkyria Chronicles too. Jann, I think his name was.

So, let's see. Metal Gear Solid 2 (2001) and Metal Gear Solid 3 (2004). Fallout3 (2008) and Fallout New Vegas (2010). Then you have Earth Bound (is it the one from 1989 on the NES or the one from 1994 on the SNES?). Grand Theft Auto 4 (2008). Valkyria Chronicles (2008). Mass Effect (2007-2008) and Mass Effect 2 (2010-2011). Dragon Age 2 (2011). Knights Of The Old Republic (2003-2004), if you count Juhani essentially admitting to being attracted to you if you play as female. Bully (2006).

Well, we definitely are getting a number of games listed. So far, the pattern indicates that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transsexual characters started appearing a lot especially after 2000. Thoughts?

edited 1st Aug '11 12:55:41 PM by TiggersAreGreat