Ask John: Are the Gundam Wing Boys Gay?

Question:
Are Duo/Heero and Quatre/Trowa all gay? I have heard it from some people and websites, but I don’t really think so. It doesn’t seem that someone gay would want to kill people. Possibly Quatre, but…..

(Editor’s note: the above question is presented exactly as I received it.)

Answer:
The trend of putting the Gundam Wing boys into homosexual relationships with each other began with the doujinshi market and the large female audience Gundam W had in Japan. Japanese female fans loved the bishonen boys of Gundam and wanted to see them “together,” so began drawing their own, fan-produced “yaoi” homosexual Gundam Wing manga. This trend was then picked up by American fans and, with the sudden popularity of Gundam Wing in the US, grew to virtually mythic proportions. You may be interested to know that this isn’t the first time this has happened. In the mid 1980s, St. Seiya featured a cast of numerous “bishonen” heroes with violent tendencies. In the 1980s, teen-age Japanese girls swarmed over St. Seiya figures and merchandise, and created endless homosexual scenarios with the Pegasus, Andromeda, Dragon and the other St. Seiya boys.

As far as I know (and I don’t profess to be any sort of Gundam expert, although I have seen at least some of every Gundam series, from Mobile Suit Gundam to Turn A Gundam), the Gundam Wing boys are not homosexual. The actual animation never decisively presents them as gay. And I believe that an analysis limited exclusively to the animation alone leaves the determination (intentionally) ambiguous. The series’ animators could have made the boys’ sexual orientation obvious if they had wanted to, but intentionally did not in order to allow for the sort of debate and discussion among fans that this question has given rise to. In effect, different viewers are able see in the show what they want to see.

The consensus opinion, though, seems to be that at least some of the Gundam W boys, particularly Quatre and Trowa, are gay. The episode guide section of the Subtle Hints: The Trowa & Quatre Sanctuary and the Ultimate 3X4, 4X3 Evidence Page for specific citations from the animation and surrounding sources that point to a romantic link between Trowa & Quatre.