The entire time I was reading this, I kept thinking of the CW shows, Batwoman, and Black Lightning, and the difference in the depiction of its Black lesbian characters. One show is written by white writers, (Batwoman with a white lesbian protagonist — the first lesbian superhero “lead” character in a tv show), and BL is written by Black writers, and I could really see the difference in the writing of these characters.

In BL, Anissa isn’t the lead (although she starts the second season as a solo act), but she is unrepentantly, unabashedly, queer, hangs out in queer places with other lesbians of color, dates other WoC, (like her girlfriend Grace, the only Asian lesbian I’ve seen in these type of shows), and has Black friends, family, and community. There are the bare minimum of White people on this show, ( I think it’s just one guy), which is kind of groundbreaking for the CW.

On Batwoman, there are all the issues you observed, just without the racial coddling, (as Sophie and Kate are not a couple, although they are, as in the comic books, endgame.) Sophie spends much of her time in the presence of White people. She has no friends, family, or community of color, which is something that bothered me about all the characters of color on the CW shows, until Black Lightning. To be fair, Batwoman has only aired about three to five episodes.

I wish there were more examples of QPoC in relationships with each other on tv, as I would love to hear your thoughts on how they’re being depicted.