As a bisexual women in her 40s, I understand wanting to see queer characters represented in shows, movies, and stories. I mean, when "I Kissed a Girl" came out, I was so excited even though Katy treats the "girl" as an object, not caring about her name or her heart, and still worried about what her boyfriend would think. But the queer community was so thirsty for representation, any representation, that we thought it was validating and cute.
I'm not sure that we've gotten that far in music, but I think we've made great strides in movies since we have more than Bound and The Birdcage, which both have problematic elements. Especially if they're expected to represent all or queerdom.
Anyway, on to the Good Omens miniseries on Netflix, er, Amazon. MILD SPOILERS AHEAD.
I don't remember if I read the book, but I was seeing a lot on Tumblr about fans of the show being angry that Neil Gaiman didn't make the supernatural pair of angel and demon explicitly gay. But did you see Tennant's swagger in those super-skinny leather pants? I'm calling gay.
Anyway, I read Gaiman's tweets that they were agender beings, and thus weren't gay, which I think is a crock of shit. Almost all of the angels and demons, and even god, were clearly gendered. The only character that wasn't referred to by gendered pronouns was Pollution (who is also a problematic character as the only Asian castmember represents pollution?!), so the angels and demons definitely had a gender. Yes, some of them were pretty androgynous, but still tended toward a gender and used gendered pronouns.
So, I don't buy Gaiman's response. Maybe that's what was intended in the book, but that's not what was represented on screen.
So moving on to the gay question, were Aziraphale and Crowley in a romantic and sexual relationship? I see absolutely no textual evidence of that on screen. Did they ever even touch on screen (other than when they switch places)? They clearly care for each other, I can even say that they love each other, but a romantic or sexual relationship? I don't see it.
Maybe I'll lose my Queer Card for this, but sometimes people are just friends. Really good friends. Best friends across the centuries. But friends.
And that's okay. In addition to needing more representation of queer characters, we ALSO need more representation of healthy friendships, especially between men. Western society is becoming more socially disconnected (look up the research on loneliness), so seeing healthy, connected friendships is important.
It's sad, though, that the queer community is so desperate for role models and to see ourselves, that we cling on to anything, try to headcanon everything, so that we can see ourselves.
In sum, Aziraphale and Crowley are not in a gay relationship, but they are in a deep, connected friendship, and that is great. And we also need more queer role models.
