Pharah is part of LGBT, but Zarya?

Story Discussion
1

So Overwatch recently had an LGBT pride update for name cards, one of them is lesbian pride with a Pharah silhouette image in it. Which confirms that she is part of LGBT

But what about Zarya? There’re lots of rumours saying that she’s homosexual or a they/them user or even a trans despite her being masculine, but there’s no update of her with any pride flag on name cards. Does this means that she is canonically not part of the LGBTQ?

2

Considering Pharah and Baptiste were the ones having the talk, but Zarya/D.Va/Cassidy were not, I think its safe to assume those 3 are all straight.

2 Likes
3

I always thought Zarya is also kind of the LGBT. Strange they made Pharah Gay but not Zarya when the Community tags her as such.

1 Like
4

Unless retconned, Zarya is almost canonically confirmed straight.
When Blizzard revealed their “diversity tool”, they showed Lùcio, Torbjorn and Zarya ad samples.
Zarya’s “sexual orientation” is the lowest possible, the same as Torb who has a wife and multiple kids. She has an higher score in “gender identity”, so maybe she’s non-binary or something, but it’s quite safe assuming she 100% likes men.

h ttps://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,q_60,w_1315/5e970060acc8a2f52a786fe1b3103865.jpg

2 Likes
5

Its been confirmed the Overwatch team did not use nor had any part in creating that tool, so anything in it should not be considered canon.

2 Likes
6

In addition to what Zany said, I would add that the writers still like to manipulate the script when it suits them. I mean, honestly as the lore proceeds you can literally say anything and still consider it a revelation without ever filtering into the past. It is too much slow XD

I don’t think there will be any more reveals about the sexuality of the original 21 heroes (ow’s debut in 2016) but on Zarya… it’s a bit formulaic as a concept, isn’t it? masculine appearance = “probably part of the LGBTQ community”. It would ruin the surprise effect we had in 2016 (yes, LGBTQ vibes didn’t come this year, nor with Apex/LoL) when they were like “oh, one of the heroes is part of the LGBTQ community” and to everyone’s surprise not it was Zarya but Tracer. it was a very important reveal precisely because it was unexpected.

But now Pharah creates doubts. Not so much for her reveal after 7 years of existence but because the developers commented on it with a “let’s listen to our community on these things”. there would be nothing wrong with chasing the fandom, but it would be rather artificial in the end to give reason to the aesthetic stereotype of Zarya or worse still of JQ, right? I don’t think they’ll ever touch McHanzo though. or at least, not “Cassidy,” whose dose of recantations have been too much even with just a name. I’m also part of the Mchanzo fandom, and while I wouldn’t mind… I also don’t think there’s anything wrong with leaving this cowboy alone for a while.

rather I’m pretty sure they will touch on other types of LGBT themes, like asexuality (more easy to think it). on Trans I think they won’t touch one of the previous characters. and definitely NOT JQ and Zarya, who have traces of their youth as girls.

7

Is that part of the “+” in LGBTQIA+ to be a masculine female but be attracted to males?

Plus, you have to remember, gender is fluid so Zarya can be under the rainbow banner later if she wants to.

Maybe just hasn’t revealed yet? I’d be hard pressed to believe that Blizzard only made 6-8 of all the heroes LGBTQIA+.

1 Like
8

I find this thread’s overall mantra of trying to say that because Zarya is a masculine female, she must fall under the LGBTQ+ umbrella is incredibly insulting. Pointing at stereotype and saying that if you aren’t fitting the textbook definition of female you must be something outside of it is not the way to go about trying to find representation in media.

2 Likes
9

Actually I’m also sick of masculine girls are classified as LGBT only bcs her masculinity. It’s just funny how overwatch doesn’t seem to care abt Zarya’s rumours and made other charaters unexpectedly gay instead. I like seeing straight masculine women out there

2 Likes
10

Totally missed that. Also really weird, why even show that tool with OW samples if OW team doesn’t even use it?

Of course. But this goes for literally everything, 100% canon lore like comics and animated shorts included. See characters of Kiriko and Sanjay Korpal for this.

Anyway, personally I hope Zarya will be straight/simply not revealed. OW already has enough stereotypes, and for God’s sake not every masculine woman is lesbian and not every lesbian is masculine. If someone has to be the second lesbian/first female bi character, I’ll prefer someone outside of known stereotypes.

1 Like
11

Isn’t even hot. McRein is where it’s at.

1 Like
12

I think Zarya being straight would be fine, and it deviates from the stereotype that masculine women must be lesbian.

3 Likes
13

I’m mostly convinced that the character designers wanted to make everyone LGBT, but Blizzard wouldn’t let them push it that far.

I remember when they revealed Ashe, and my immediate thought was “Dang, the lesbians are gonna like this one”

14

I agree zayras sexuality should be normal compared to the roster

15

are characters not allowed to be just straight?

16

not in this new progressive world