The CW finally casted their newest DC superhero, Batwoman. After focusing directly on casting a lesbian actress to realistically fill the role of an LGBTQ Batwoman, casting directors landed on “Orange is the New Black” star, Ruby Rose. Rose will first appear in the network’s annual crossover episode that airs in December and will eventually hold her own stand-alone series premiering in 2019-2020.
Even though CW has emphasized the fact that Batwoman’s sexuality will be a major plotline in the new show, many fans feel less than thrilled about the choice to hire Rose for the iconic role. After beginning her career on “Orange is the New Black,” Rose became known as everyone’s girl crush, but many Twitter users complained that she’s the basic girl crush for straight girls.
https://twitter.com/gretagerwg/status/1026897958867021825
Straight girls posting tweets such as “Ruby Rose turned me lesbian” or “I’m not lesbian but I would be for Ruby Rose” was a problem back in 2015 when “Orange is the New Black” originally aired. For obvious reasons, comments such as these bothered the LGBTQ community and intensified the stereotype that being gay is a choice.
Not to mention that Rose identifies as gender-fluid, so these comments are uneducated. Four years later, fans of the CW want to have proper representation on the network that does not enforce a misconception.
On top of this backlash, Twitter users argued that CW had an opportunity to introduce new unknown lesbian actresses into the industry, but instead the broadcasting company chose one of the only lesbian actresses known in Hollywood.
Ruby Rose being cast as Batwoman feels like The CW didn’t even try to look for actual talent.
They grabbed the ONLY lesbian Hollywood knows of and called it a day like ¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/4Rqz8q9JKa
— dened rey moreno 🌈 (@Hajabeg) August 7, 2018
Batwoman isn’t the only LGBTQ superhero to get her own TV show, and the CW recently revealed that a transgender superhero will be appearing in the series “Supergirl” in upcoming episodes. The new transgender crime-fighter will be played by trans activist and actress Nicole Maines.
Although this casting is a step in the right direction, especially after the cringey incident of Scarlett Johansen being casted as a trans character in “Rub & Tug, which she has since dropped, fans seem to think selecting Rose as Batwoman is a backward move.
With the lack of LGBTQ representation airing right now, creating LGBTQ characters played by LGBTQ actors will be representative of the queer community and even provide kids role models to look up to. Although some fans may not agree, Ruby Rose is not the most problematic casting choice for the role of Batwoman and hiring her is a tiny move forward.
