Fictional LGBT Characters: Marriage Material?

I am determined to prove that I am intelligent and I do know what is going on in the world. So, what is going on in the world? There was a big hullabaloo about gay marriage, that’s what. Personally, (getting the serious bit out of the way here) I don’t see the problem. Two people who love each other and want to get married…where’s the harm? Marriage isn’t all about making babies anymore and besides, Rachael from Glee has two Dads. I’m not saying lets rewrite the whole law book, but surely we need to move forward with some aspects, considering a lot of our laws come from times before women were allowed to vote and you were allowed to hit children with sticks…just saying.

Serious point aside, I thought I would examine my favourite LGBT fictional characters and think about their marriage potential. I decided to insist that I had to have read the books in which they feature, which made this surprisingly hard.

At number five we have the beautiful, if not slightly insane, Dorian Gray, represented here by my absolutely number one man, Ben Barnes. Dorian is one of those lucky chaps whose charm and beauty wins over everyone and he’s not picky about where he applies this charm, so to speak. Despite his ridiculously good looks, however, the crazy aging thing and tendency to batter his friends to death do make him a risky one to love. As bisexuals go I don’t think he should be trusted, by men or women.

Coming in at number four I have chosen Maud Lilly from Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. It was a close call between Maud and Sue, from the same novel, but in the end I went with Maud because she doesn’t try to kill anyone…exactly. It’s a great but confusing story of love between two girls who have to battle crazy women/mothers, gentlemen/con-men and mental asylums to truly find each other again. Maud does end up being the settling down type eventually, but a knowledge and respect of pornography is essential. 

Is it surprising how many vampires are gay? I suppose not, but I thought there were too many to pick one that stands out. So I chose a Shadowhunter instead. If you are unfamiliar with this term I suggest you read all the books in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. I don’t normally go for gothic-vampire-sex-rock-and-roll type stuff but I really enjoyed these books. You meet Alec Lightwood in the first book. He’s dark, mysterious, a bit grumpy and broodingly sexy, and he fights demons in his spare time. Unfortunately for me, he’s gay, and taken. I won’t give too much away by telling you who he ends up in a relationship with, but lets just say…it’s magical.

Classily gliding into my number two spot is Clarissa Dalloway. Now, close friends of mine will know that I do not get on well with Mrs Dalloway. Literary classic blah blah, all she does is wonder around and worry about things she has no intention of doing anything about! If that’s not annoying I don’t know what is. However, for this occasion she is saved the rest of my rant for fitting superbly into the bisexual category. No one can be completely straight if they are pining so much for a bit more of a miss-spent youth with young Sally Seton. It’s a pity she "had not the option" of being with Sally, I think it would have made her much more interesting.

Finally, apparating with a satisfying ‘pop!’ into my top LGBT spot is the one and only Albus Dumbledore. Ten points to your corresponding Hogwarts house for those of you who guessed he would feature. I was so glad when JK let that one slip, otherwise he would have stayed completely asexual in my mind and that would have made him less real…because it is all real! I like the idea of him having complicated emotions about Grindelwald. Dumbledore having heartbreak of his own in his youth just makes his wisdom and understanding about love make more sense. It adds more depth to his character that feels like it was there all along but we just didn’t realise. Pity Grindelwald turned out to be an evil dark wizard in the end, as I don't think there are any other wizards out there that could win Dumbledore's heart, which is terribly sad actually.