On February 12, an article titled “Marvel Misses Another Easy Opportunity for LGBTQ Representation With Black Panther” was posted on the blog, io9. The article discussed how Marvel failed to incorporate the sexuality of one of the characters, Ayo, who is canonically in a relationship with another woman in the Black Panther comics.
Marvel misses another easy opportunity for LGBTQ representation with Black Panther https://t.co/I6swGkB2X8 pic.twitter.com/zoTOAcnOJY
— io9 (@io9) February 12, 2018
The article also mentioned reports of Ayo and Okoye, two of the soldiers in the Black Panther’s all female army, the Dora Milaje, being romantically involved in the film. However, Marvel decided to cut that idea.
When the article was posted on io9’s official Twitter page, many people responded negatively. A lot of the replies were along the lines of “stop trying to put LGBT people in everything” or “there’s already a lot of LGBT representation.”
This movie is not about you. pic.twitter.com/pfXtMc2pth
— Vanessa (@thevanessaluxe) February 14, 2018
This the most annoying generation in history. https://t.co/jHyiD3wCmg
— 𝒮𝒾𝑒. (@Cindtrillella) February 13, 2018
Ain’t no gay shit happening in Africa period.
— Ah Dude (@OliverSeraphin) February 13, 2018
Maybe we just want a movie that does not preach to us. We are tired of it
— Saving History🇺🇸🦅 (@rjeff74) February 14, 2018
Take into account the country these people are in👀 do they really look like they’d be gay? For what reason? Where was the outcry in all the other Marvel films. First black one we get and they gotta hit every nail ?
— Mapoli (@_mmoonay) February 14, 2018
https://twitter.com/E_Clipse3/status/963569941394763776
It is clear that a lot of the people did not properly read the article, and merely formed an opinion based on the headline. The author was not trying to overshadow how important this film is to black people by inserting LGBT+ issues. All that was said was that there was an easy opportunity to explore the sexuality of the women in the Dora Milaje since Ayo, who is a main character in the film, is a lesbian in the comics. He also pointed out that a film that was so centered on the female characters could have at least tried to incorporate their sexual orientation.
The author was simply trying to bring light to LGBT+ erasure, which is still a major issue in today’s media.
Obviously, Black Panther is an extremely important film for the black community; a film about superheroes with an all-black cast is not something we see often (or at all, for that matter).
But, the truth is that black LGBT+ people exist, and they are not represented either. LGBT+ people want to feel represented, just like any other minority group. A black, gay woman being a main character in a major movie could make strides in the issues of representation and diversity.
Black Panther is a film that is already changing the game when it comes to representation on the big screen, and that is absolutely incredible, and speaking against Marvel’s gay erasure is not trying to undermine the rest of the film.
Second of all, many people were pointing out that there is already enough LGBT+ representation, and that is completely false. Yes, many shows and movies do include a non-straight character, and that is great. But often times, those characters are not well-written and are pushed to the side.
Non-straight characters are almost always white and exclusively gay; the LGBT+ community involves many people who are not just gay (some are bisexual, transgender, asexual), as well as people who are not white.
https://twitter.com/PrinceApllo/status/963264019032395777
Arguing that LGBT+ representation doesn’t belong in a movie for black people is wrong because it implies that there are no black people in the LGBT community. Black Panther is an incredible movie, and it is one that black people deserve to have.
