Reading Bernard as Queer in his Early Comics
Bernard Dowd is, frankly, VERY easy to read as queer way before he started actually dating Tim Drake, and right back to his literal introduction in which he is quite literally checking Tim out, let's not lie. Followed by a lot of stuff that can be read as flirting.
But to me the most definitive moment that I point to is actually when he implies that he thinks Tim is gay, and it's because of the way he says it.
"We're two modern, enlightened men in the third millennium, Drake. No need to make up imaginary girlfriends."
[Robin #123]
Tim has at this point rejected Darla, certified hottest girl in school, explaining that he already had a girlfriend, Stephanie, and he's happy with her. Neither Darla nor Bernard believe him (Darla thinking the reason he lies is because he's afraid of her mob boss dad, interestingly also revealed to be a reason Bernard told her for why guys don't ask her out in general), and with Bernard here thinking she's a cover for Tim being gay.
And while that certainly isn't an odd thing for a straight guy to assume, when you think about straight boys in the early 00's, I'm sure you'd know pretty well that this would come out more directly like "what, are you gay?"
And Bernard in particular does not have a history of beating around the bush about accusations he isn't actually sure are true. Like when he just went "admit you have an abusive father who beats you" about Tim's black eye.
What he actually says accomplishes three things.
One is clearly implies that he thinks Tim is gay without actually saying the word, which is kind of inherent to this time period's queer culture when talking in public spaces.
Second is that he indicates he is a safe person to tell.
And third, and most importantly for this particular essay, he indicates he is part of the same category.
Now I'm sure someone could argue that what he's actually saying is "we're both not the type of people who would CARE if someone's gay", but I think that falls apart in the context of using this sentence to tell Tim he thinks he is.
Because how do you backtrack from that if Tim was like, "yes, you too?"
And I think the answer is that you don't.
My best guess for if Bill Willingham really didn't intend Bernard to be queer is that he only avoided the word "gay" and phrased it this way because in the public medium of comics he didn't want Bernard to come off as rude as actual teenage boys would to avoid complaints. (Or editorial stopped him.)
But whether intended or not, Bernard declares himself queer here.
And so when people are curious as to "Why Bernard?" in the subject of out of all the guys Tim was close with, for one to be chosen to end up dating him, I point to this.
And so we get blessed with this smug asshole (affectionate):
