A BRIEF HISTORY OF LGBTQ
+ REPRESENTATION AND
COMICS
While today ’ s comics have embraced
lesbian , gay , bisexual , and transgender
( LGBT ) themes and characters , historically this content was intentionally omitted due to censorship and notions that comics were only for children . With homosexual content banned by the Comics Code Authority between 1954 and 1989 , mainstream comics portrayed only subtle hints regarding any character ’ s sexual orientation .
While not an official government entity , the Comics Code Authority functions as a private organization that governs acceptable content for comics . Publishers were not legally obligated to follow rules set up by the Comics Code Authority ; however , newsstands and other retailers stocking comics at the time were less likely to support a comic without the Comics Code Authority ’ s approval . Much of the controversary has been traced back to research and publicity facilitated by psychiatrist Dr . Frederic Wertham dictating that comics could corrupt American children . Due to his reports , the Comics Code Authority added the following restrictions :
• “ Illicit sex relations are neither to be hinted at or portrayed . Violent love scenes , as well as sexual abnormalities are unacceptable .”
• “ The treatment of love-romance stories shall emphasize the value of home and the sanctity of marriage .”
• “ Sex perversion or any inference to same is strictly forbidden .”
It wasn ’ t until 2013 that Professor of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign Carol Tilley found Wertham had falsified and altered data to support his claims .
It wasn ’ t until the 1990s that LGBTQ + themes became more prevalent in mainstream American comics ; however , a lack of censorship paved the way for European comics to be more inclusive from an earlier date , including comics from France , Belgium , Spain , Germany and Britain . Despite similar challenges in the East , Japanese manga also saw an increase in LGBTQ + content at an earlier date through sub-genres now referred to as yaoi and yuri manga .
Despite the restrictions placed on comics , the 1970s served as an era of LGBTQ + creators taking their autobiographical stories and raising awareness of political issues for their communities through independent publishing . It was during this era that the first openly gay characters in American comic strips began to emerge with Garry Trudeau ’ s Doonesbury introducing fictional character Andy Lippincott who was faced with an HIV diagnosis .
As acceptance was gained , comics content reflected the shifts in both mainstream and independent publishing . The latter had a different portrayal of LGBTQ + culture as characters didn ’ t need to make grand proclamations or call any press conferences about their sexuality . For characters like Maggie and Hopey in Jaime Hernandez ’ s Maggie the Mechanic , their status as outsiders came first . Intimacy and labeling sexual orientation were distant topics of interest . Similar to most selfpublished comics of the ‘ 80s and ‘ 90s , their relationship portrayed realistic LGBTQ + relationships without calling attention to it in the overarching story .
Today , the comics industry is stocked with diverse representation across the sexual spectrum . The importance of LGBTQ + creators and characters only grows as the interests of readers shifts with time .
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