Destiel Denied: On Supernatural, Queerbaiting, and Bisexual-erasure

The Road so Far

Recently, Supernatural ended after fifteen seasons, but not without controversy.

For those unaware, Supernatural was a fantasy series about two brothers, Dean and Sam Winchester, who hunted supernatural creatures. Following the monster-of-the-week formula perfected by Buffy and Charmed, Supernatural was a mainstay of the WB network and later the CW network. And its hunky male leads Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles drew in female and queer viewers alike year after year.

Destiel Gate

As with any show with a large fanbase, shipping wars were inevitable, with Sam and Dean being the primary pairing until Misha Collins joined the cast in season six as the angel-turned antihero Castiel (Cas). Thus, the Destiel community formed.

At first, the writers and actors downplayed the shippers. But as time wore on, Cas and Dean’s relationship had queer subtext added to it, such as them staring longingly at each other or other characters commenting on them being boyfriends.

So, when episode 18 of the final season aired and Cas told Sam he loved him, many Destiel fans felt vindicated that they hadn’t been seeing things for years. But after Cas’s confession to Dean, who doesn’t reply, he promptly gets sent to Super Hell. Had this been the end of things, this would have a standard article about queerbaiting. But when this episode was dubbed in Spanish, Dean didn’t remain silent. Instead, he says “te amo (I love you).”  And herein lies the issue.

 That the CW didn’t have the courage to have Dean say this in the English version shows just how little they care about LGBTQ+ folks and our representation.

For a decade, they teased Cas’s and Dean’s relationship as being romantic, yet when they had a chance to make it canon, they chickened out. Fans were rightly pissed off at this. They’d invested years into a ship and show, only to have that time wasted because network executives were afraid of offending homophobes.

To make matters worse, you have commentators like Jessica Mason from themarrysue.com whose article Fandom Conspiracy Theories Are Just as dangerous as Others attacks Destiel shippers, comparing them to QAnon followers.  

Sorry, but no. Fans are right to be upset. Not because their favorite ship didn’t happen, but because the writers continuously played it up for ten years without a payoff. That networks and showrunners are out here queer baiting in 2020 (now 2021) is a disgrace. LGBTQ+ folks deserve better.

A Love that Dares not Speak Its Name

To those wondering what queerbaiting, it’s the practice of adding homoerotic subtext to media to bring in LGBTQ+ viewers, while never confirming the characters’ relationship as anything our than platonic. This is done to seem woke, while not alienating the bigots. Recent examples include Rizzoli & Isles, a police procedural drama in which the titular pair regularly lounges in bed together and cuddle. Yet the show reminds us they’re straight, straight, straight by having them date men, who they almost always break up with.

Likewise, in the Striking Vipers episode of Black Mirror, you had two black male friends who start having sex via Striking Vipers, a high-tech video game. Instead of this being a story exploring how technology can help marginalized people connect and discover themselves, it ends with the men kissing and proclaiming they’re not gay. Then they go home, boot up Striking Vipers and have sex.

 Moreover, in Teen Wolf (TV Series)Derek’s and Stiles’ relationship was repeatedly hinted at being romantic without ever being confirmed canon.

In each case as with Supernatural, these queer relationships were seldom confirmed in the show, or only after the fact as was the case of Xena and Gabrielle. In each, the writers and networks played on the hopes of queer viewers seeing ourselves reflected in our fandom, only to dash that hope. All this so the allo, cis het folks in the Midwest and Middle America don’t get offended by seeing honest to god LGBTQ+ folks living and loving.

And in the case of bisexuals, we are often left out of these conversations completely, our identities rarely depicted.

By the Way

Bisexual erasure is a real and pernicious thing. This is the practice of making characters either straight or gay, or downplaying or explaining away any incidents of their being bisexual. Recent examples include Piper Chapman from Orange is the New Black, who is shown having relationships with men and women. Yet when she gets back with her ex Alex Vos, her family starts referring to her as “going lesbian again.”

In The Legend of Korra, Korra is shown being attracted to men and women, yet it was only after the series ended that the creators confirmed she and her long-time female friend Asami were romantically involved.

In Game of Thrones, Oberyn Martell, the only out bisexual character, is ridiculed and despised for his openness about his sexuality. And in the Free Form series The Fosters, Jude Adams Foster goes from questioning his sexuality to identifying as gay, without the writers ever entertaining the possibility of his being bisexual.

Furthermore, in the SYFY series The Magicians canon bisexual Quentin Coldwater was killed off via death by suicide, dropping the number of bisexual main characters by half.

Now, this brings us back to Dean Winchester, who clearly was attracted to Cas and multiple women throughout the series. But the reality of Dean’s bisexuality has been repeatedly dismissed as wishful thinking. This is because bisexual erasure has been going on for decades.

Initially, bisexuals were depicted as villains, “greedy,” hedonistic, promiscuous, and confused, when they were depicted at all. And while these stereotypes aren’t as prevalent today, they still pop up.

Bisexual Erasure in Real Life

But Bisexual erasure isn’t just a problem in the media. The existence of bisexuality is challenged inside and outside the gay community. We’re told that we’re confused, greedy, disease spreaders, unfaithful and untrustworthy. And that we should pick a side, or that it’s just a phase and we should come out as gay.

And to make matters worse, famous bisexuals often have their bisexuality erased post humorously. Oscar Wilde, while claimed as a gay icon, was married to a woman whom he loved and fathered children with. Mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr., subject of A Beautiful Mind, was also bisexual.  Yet his history of relationships with men was left out of the movie. Likewise, William Shakespeare wrote love sonnets about men and women, but is claimed by gays. And Freddie Mercury of Queen referred to himself as bisexual, a fact confirmed by his friends and family. Yet, he’s often portrayed as being gay.

The fact remains that we bisexuals are one of the least represented members of the LGBTQ+ community and have to deal with biphobia from all sides because of how the media fails to portray us.

By not confirming Dean’s bisexuality as canon, the CW missed a great opportunity to improve bisexual visibility. It would have also been the uber progressive thing to do—because networks and corporations care about diversity and inclusion, right?

 Like those before them, The CW higher ups would rather pay lip service to diversity and inclusion then actually portray said characters.

The fact is bisexual fans deserve actual, three-dimensional characters who are more than just window dressings. If show runners, writers and network executives aren’t willing to have out bi and other queer characters and continue to queer bait viewers, then why should we continue letting them?

Conclusion

Thanks to the internet and social media there are thousands of content creators who genuinely care about making diverse and inclusive media. So, if the mainstream media continues to relegate bi and other queer characters to mere subtext or sanitized depictions, then why should I or any other queer person continue supporting such shows? We shouldn’t.

The truth is content creators don’t owe us anything, nor do we owe them anything. At this point it should be standard operating procedure to include bisexual and other marginalized people in your work because, hello, we exist in real life. Inclusion and diversity aren’t buzzwords to be thrown around in lieu of actual representation.

So instead of supporting people who don’t value people like me, I’ll be championing people who do. and I encourage you to do the same.

If Destiel Gate has taught us anything, it’s that we still have a ways to go when it comes to bisexual representation. And that networks need to either nut up or shut up when it comes to being progressive. I long for a day when queer lead characters acknowledging their love for each other on prime-time television isn’t controversial at all.

Ultimately, we must be the change we want to see. And If no one will tell our stories, then we must.