In terms of representation on the big screen, the LGBTQ community can count a pair of big wins this year. Disney introduced its first openly gay character in the new live-action version of Beauty and the Beast. Now comes word that the forthcoming Power Rangers reboot features the first gay superhero.
Due to hit theaters on March 24th, the film sees Trini, the Yellow Ranger (played by Becky Gomez), coming to accept her sexual orientation. Specifically, the revealing scene involves “one character assuming she’s [Trini] having ‘boyfriend problems,’ and soon realizing that perhaps she’s actually having ‘girlfriend problems,'” according to the Hollywood Reporter.
“For Trini, really she’s questioning a lot about who she is,” director Dean Israelite explained of the brief, but “pivotal” moment. “She hasn’t fully figured it out yet. I think what’s great about that scene and what that scene propels for the rest of the movie is, ‘That’s OK.’ The movie is saying, ‘That’s OK,’ and all of the kids have to own who they are and find their tribe.”
Times have certainly changed since the original ’90s run of the Power Rangers TV series. The Yellow Ranger, then played by Thuy Trang, was written as a straight character. Additionally, the man who portrayed the Blue Ranger, an openly gay actor named David Yost, felt compelled to leave the show after facing harassment over his sexual orientation.
One would think superhero machines DC and Marvel would have put a gay superhero in the movie theaters by now. Sadly, the LGBTQ characters of the comic book world (such as Wonder Woman and Catwoman) can’t seem to make it past print and TV screens.
Revisit the Power Rangers trailer below.
