Movies - LGBT Characters in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Universe

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	Movies - LGBT Characters in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Universe

The television series Buffy The Vampire Slayer made history on American network television when one of its principle characters, Willow, formally "came out" as being a lesbian while in college. However, throughout its television run, Buffy The Vampire Slayer often broke new ground in how lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender characters would be depicted on American network television.

Seasons 1 - 3

During the "high school years" of series, sexual orientation was an issue that was often touched upon broadly in a way that it had otherwise not been done on network television before. In keeping with the series frequent usage of metaphors, much of the introduction of gay characters was done in subtext. In the first part of the two-part episode, Welcome to the Hellmouth, their is a scene when Buffy first visits the Bronze, and is excited to see a handsome young man waving to her in the crowd, only to find out that he is in fact meeting another young man. Likewise in another early episode, the camera angle used for when the Anointed One (Buffyverse) is sucking the blood out of the Master wrist, leaves the impression that an act of oral sex is occurring, something that Joss Whedon had not intended to imply but in the DVD audio commentary for the episode admits that it does exist. However, much of the early homoerotic subtext centered on the sexuality of Xander Harris.

In creating the series, Joss Whedon had wanted one of the major characters to be gay, but initially was unsure if it would be Xander Harris or Willow Rosenberg. Hence several episodes in the first two seasons contain bits of dialogue that seem to suggest that it would be Xander, although by the third season it seemed to be established that Willow was going to the major character that came out.

In the episode titled Witch when Buffy is under the early stages of a witch's spell that creates effects similar to be intoxicated, she remarks how much she loves Xander because she is not really a man, but more of a woman. Later on in the episode titled Nighmares Xander remarks that one of his worst fears involves Nazis, and Nazi symbols are seen in the background of his nightmare with a clown. Some fans speculated that this was a sign of Xander's possible homosexuality as being gay would explain his fear of Nazis. In the second season episode titled 'Phases Xander ends up helping the school football star named Larry (Larry Bagby), come out of the closet, Xander mistakes him for the werewolf, prompting Larry to not only become a nicer person but also foreshadowing the possibility that Xander would come out of the closet sometime in the future.

However, the third season episodes The Wish and Doppelgangland foreshadowed the coming out of Willow, through the introduction of the Vampire Willow. In college, Willow would meet Tara (Amber Benson) through a college club for Wiccans, and the romantic nature of their relationship started to become clear in episode titled Hush. While Willow would formally came out in the fourth season, innuendos that Xander was possibly bisexual would continue to crop up throughout the series, mostly for comic relief. In the third season episode The Zeppo, Xander insists to a police officer that he and gang leader and zombie "Jack" are buds, but not in a "gay way."

Seasons 4 - 7

While Hush suggested that the relationship between Willow and Tara was more then just a platonic friendship, but it was not until the return of Willow's highschool boyfriend Oz in New Moon Rising that Willow formally came out of the closet to Buffy. Xander does not learn that Tara and Willow are dating until during a fight between the "Scooby Gang" in The Yoko Factor. Spike learns that Willow is gay earlier on in the episode, but it is unclear from the episode's dialogue if Gilies knew that Willow was dating Tara before this episode or not.

Willow and Tara became the only gay couple on network television, and the only characters in the series to formally come out as being gay. The formal coming out of Willow was a controversy among fans, due to its homosexual nature, and among fans that were upset that Willow was breaking up the relationship with Oz, or from fans that were upset over the continuity problems with Willow coming out, in light her of past romantic relationship's with Xander and Oz. In light of her previous romances with men, her relationship with Tara would technically make her bisexual, but in the final season she noted that she identified as being only romantically attracted to women. Further controversy erupted when Tara was later murdered by Warren Mears, soon after the two characters were allowed to show more affection and be seen in the same bed together on screen, but in the final season Willow would begin a new relationship with the Slayer named Kennedy and at the series end, remained the only major character to end up with a stable relationship. In the fifth season of Angel it is noted that Willow and Kennedy are still together, and living in Brazil.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for LGBT Characters in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Universe ]

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