Star Wars’ queer heroes: A celebration for Pride Month

From space archaeologists to quick-witted alien comedians to pirate rulers, Star Wars has a fantastic spread of queer characters for us to celebrate!

It’s Pride Month, a time for members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies alike to educate ourselves about the origins and nature of the ongoing fight for queer rights. There are some great queer characters in the Star Wars galaxy for us to celebrate and uplift, so let’s take a look at them… and stay tuned you an invite to a brand new community for queer Star Wars fans!

Doctor Aphra 

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The best character in all of Star Wars, Doctor Aphra is a kick-ass archaeologist, who just so happens to be gay!

The series (now into its second run) is the perfect example of how to do representation well: it does not shy away from portraying Aphra’s sexuality, but equally, it does not make it seem unusual.

Aphra is a character just like any other, and it is this kind of positive representation that Star Wars can do so well.

We also meet some of Aphra’s girlfriends along the way, such as Magna Tolvan and Sana Starros, making her comic series all the more diverse and wonderful!

What’s more, the series contains some of the best stories in Star Wars canon, so it is worth checking out for that reason alone! The original run (2016-2019) saw Aphra and the murderous droid duo of Beetee and Triple-Zero take on some of the strangest and most exciting threats in the galaxy, from a sentient Force fungus to an ancient Jedi sect.

Commander D’Acy and Lieutenant Tyce  

The queer heroes of the sequel trilogy, D’Acy and Tyce made waves when they shared a kiss in the aftermath of the Battle of Exegol during The Rise of Skywalker. Whilst definitely not the front and center representation many clamored for, it was a wonderful thing to see nevertheless and perhaps will trigger more prominent examples.

D’Acy is such a fantastic character too. She is present for all the big events in the sequel trilogy and is endlessly loyal to the Resistance, even facing down Poe during his revolt in The Last Jedi.

We never learned much about her wife, Wrobie Tyce, but perhaps we will get a few stories about the two of them down the line in which we’ll learn more. Here’s hoping!

Flix and Orka   

The dynamic duo who run the Office of Acquisitions on the ‘Colossus’ in Star Wars: Resistance, were confirmed as a couple by the show’s producers in an interview.

It is great to see queer characters represented in children’s TV in so far as it portrays an accurate image of how diverse the galaxy really is.

Flix and Orka are such a lovable duo, too. They star in some of the show’s best episodes (such as when Flix goes to visit his Gozzo family) and are often cracking some great lines.

Whilst their relationship is never shown on-screen, the confirmation of their relationship is nevertheless a step in the right direction for a celebration of queer characters in Star Wars.

Sinjir Rath Velus and Eleodi Maracavanya 

Sinjir and Eleodi both star in Chuck Wendig’s fantastic Aftermath Trilogy. The former is a gay ex-imperial who serves the New Republic after the destruction of the second Death Star, the latter an amazing non-binary pirate ruler!

And these characters serve significant roles in the story, making Wendig’s trilogy one of the best examples of queer representation in Star Wars. Sinjir works alongside the other main characters to undermine the disparate Imperial remnants, and Eleodi forms a pirate Empire after capturing a Super Star Destroyer!

If you have not checked out this great trilogy yet, I would highly recommend it this Pride month (NB. the series is best experienced in audiobook format).

It is worth noting another fab non-binary character, albeit a minor one: Taka Jamoreesa, a human pilot who works alongside Han and Lando in Daniel Jose Older’s Last Shot!

And this is just a sample of the queer characters in Star Wars. It has been suggested by fans and movie-makers alike that Poe Dameron is a bisexual icon, Baze and Chirrut are in a relationship, and that Grand Moff Tarkin himself is gay! Let’s hope we get some of these confirmed in the near future.

These are all fantastic examples of queer representation in Star Wars which really cement the message that everyone is welcome in the Star Wars galaxy. And if you would like to celebrate all things Star Wars in a safe space for queer fans and allies alike, come and join Queer Star Wars Fans, a brand new community, full of friendly faces, which provides a positive place for celebration and education about LGTBQIA+ matters. You can find us on discord here!

See you there and happy Pride Month everyone!

The Skywalker Saga is now available to stream on Disney+.