North Texas Daily

The new “Batwoman” show that recently aired on The CW features a strong openly gay superhero which is incredibly important and inspirational for the LGBTQ community.

The first episode aired on October 6, bringing another exciting DC comic book series to life. The character of Batwoman was first introduced in “Detective Comics,” #233 in 1956 and this iteration of Batwoman under the name of Kate Kane was first introduced in the comic series “52,” issue #7 in 2006. 

Batwoman is a strong openly gay character in the comic book series, which faced controversial discussions among the DC Comics publishers after the decision to make her gay was met with some initial backlash. After prohibiting the writers from publishing Batwoman’s gay marriage, the writers departed from DC Comcs and continued her queer story again in 2010. Dan Didio, the co-publisher of DC Comics, described their reasoning as to why it was an important choice to have Batwoman be gay once the comic books were released. 

“We wanted to have a cast that is much more reflective of today’s society and even today’s fanbase,” Didio said.

Batwoman is openly gay in the television series as well, creating the first lesbian superhero lead on television. 

In the show, Kane passionately kisses Rene Montoya, a Gotham police detective, revealing their previous relationship history on the very first episode. It seems that the struggles of being LGBTQ may also show up since Kane was forced to leave the military because of her sexuality. The show’s ability to tackle these tough subjects while giving their audience a positive view of a strong LGBTQ character is inspiring to all the members in the community watching at home.

Not only is the choice to have strong queer superheroes crucial for representation, but also casting queer actors to play them is just as important.

Ruby Rose was cast as the character of Batwoman in August of 2018. Rose identifies as genderfluid and openly dates women. The choice to cast a queer actor to play a queer character is important, since queer actors deserve to have a chance to represent queer characters, instead of continuing to give more queer roles to non-LGBTQ people. With the leg up that straight/cis people get in society by not having to face discrimination, the LGBTQ community finally needs to have a chance at feeling represented and accepted in society.

Batwoman’s openly gay lead and openly queer casting helps pave a hopeful pathway to more representation in the future. Batwoman is certainly not the only openly queer superhero/comic book character, either.

Many others such as Deadpool, Loki, America Chavez and Northstar have all been mentioned as being a part of the LGBTQ community in their own way. However, Batwoman’s new show as the first lesbian superhero lead on television serves as a new step towards more representation in the LGBTQ community.   

The increase of strong women and LGBTQ characters as superheroes will also help children have people to look up to. This kind of positive representation will teach children, and people of any age, that you can accomplish anything regardless of your gender or sexual identity. 

“You don’t fight crime in a gay way or in a lesbian way,” Ruby Rose said. “She’s a superhero. That’s what she is.”

You can watch the new “Batwoman” series every Sunday night on The CW at 8pm, as well as streaming it for free on The CW website.  

Featured Illustration: Jeselle Farias