Homosexuality

Homosexual characters are romantically and/or sexually attracted to the same gender. If you want to be less formal, you can call them "gay" or "lesbian" or, y'know, just use their names.

There's a severe shortage of good homosexual characters in fiction; so people who write fanfiction often write a straight character as gay. This can be done well or done badly; and while it's technically an AU, it's usually just called slash, which refers specifically to same-sex romance and is usually the reason someone would write a canonically straight character as gay or bi.

Lots of characters don't have a mentioned sexual orientation; so, just as long as they're kept IC, the writer can take his pick.

List of Gay, Lesbian, & Bi Characters in Fiction
There aren't nearly enough of 'em, but some authors have realized that they don't have to be limited to straight characters and guy/girl pairings.

Literature

 * Dumbledore, Harry Potter (Gay)
 * Vanyel Ashkevron, Valdemar (Gay)
 * Firesong k'Treva, Valdemar (Gay)
 * Renly Baratheon, A Song of Ice and Fire (Bi-sexual)
 * Daja Kisubo, Lark and Rosethorn from The Circle Universe by Tamora Pierce (Lesbians)
 * Okha Soyan and Nestor Haryse from the Rebekah Cooper Universe by Tamora Pierce (Gay)
 * Lestat de Lioncourt, Armand, Nicolas de Lenfent, David Talbot and Louis de Pointe du Lac, The Vampire Chronicles (Bi-sexuals)
 * Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, Dune (Gay)

Doctor Who/Torchwood

 * Toshiko Sato (Bisexual)
 * Jack Harkness (Pansexual)
 * John Hart
 * Canton Everett Delaware III (Gay)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel

 * Buffy Summers (Bisexual, leaning straight)
 * Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay (Lesbians)
 * Andrew Wells (Bisexual)

Other

 * Number Six, Battlestar Galactica (Bisexual)
 * Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean (Bisexual)
 * Loras Tyrell, Game of Thrones (Gay)
 * Xena and Gabrielle, Xena, Warrior Princess (Bisexual/Lesbian)
 * Zed, Pulp Fiction (Gay)
 * Lexington, Gargoyles (Gay)

Sailor Moon

 * Michiru Kaioh/Sailor Neptune (Lesbian)
 * Haruka Tenoh/Sailor Uranus (Lesbian)
 * Kunzite/Malachite (Gay)

Neon Genesis Evangelion

 * Kaworu Nagisa (Gay)
 * Shinji Ikari (Bisexual)

Other

 * Itsuki, Yu Yu Hakusho (Gay)
 * Jakotsu, Inuyasha (Gay)
 * Motoko Kusanagi, Ghost in the Shell (Gay)
 * Sweden, Axis Powers Hetalia (Gay)
 * Haruhi Suzumiya, The Melencholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Bisexual)

Video & PC Games

 * Zevran (Bisexual), Leliana (Bisexual), Anders (Bisexual/Gay, depending on the gender of the player character), Fenris (Bisexual), Isabella (Bisexual), Merrill (Bisexual), Dragon Age
 * Steve Cortez (Gay), Samantha Traynor (Lesbian), Kaidan Alenko (Bisexual), Kelly Chambers (Bisexual), Diana Allers (Bisexual), Mass Effect (Note that Liara T'Soni doesn't techincally count as being anywhere on the LGBT spectrum, given that her species is monogendered.)
 * Juhani (Lesbian), Knights of the Old Republic
 * Heather, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Lesbian)
 * Leonardo DaVinci (not the real, historical one), Assassin's Creed II (Gay)
 * Arcade Gannon (Gay) and Veronica Santangelo (Lesbian), Fallout: New Vegas
 * Sims The Sims and any of its sequels can be played as gay, bi, or straight; in TS2 and TS3, they show a preference for the same or opposite gender depending on previous romantic interactions.
 * In the game Fable and its two sequels the player character can be played as gay, straight or bisexual.
 * Kanji Tatsumi (Gay/questioning), Jun Kurosu (Gay), Tatsuya Suo (Bisexual), Persona series

Webcomics & Graphic Novels

 * Wallace Wells (Gay), Ramona Flowers (Bisexual), Kim Pine (Bisexual), Knives Chau (Bisexual), and Roxanne Richter (Lesbian), Scott Pilgrim series
 * The trolls (Pansexual), Dirk Strider (Gay), Homestuck

Miscellaneous

 * Almost everyone in "Rent".
 * Glinda and Elphaba, Wicked (Bisexual)

Related Articles

 * Slash
 * Bad Slash