When I started Father Brown I began to wonder if it was another case of “bury your gays”, so I made a list of every canon lgbt character and their fate.
Draw your own conclusions but I think they kinda overcame the trope, of course there are many tragedies but that’s expected in a murder mystery.
(Warning: obviously there’s A LOT of spoilers of the whole series)
1x1 The hammer of god: Norman Bohun, evil bisexual, murdered for his sexuality. His lover, Philip, ends up alive and sad. First episode sets the tone that Father Brown will not condone homophobia.
3x5 The last man: Charles Milton, gay, killed himself to avoid being outed/to not “live in a lie”.
3x8 The lair of the libertines: Mimi, evil hunter lesbian, the one that did the killings and died in a leg trap at the end.
4x1 The mask of the demon: Rex Bishop, gay, blackmailed by the murdered, ends up alive and well.
4x7 The missing man: Ned LeBroc, transvestite/ transgender(?), killed while crossdressing.
5x5 The hand of Lucia: Lucia Morell, Úrsula Lansford and Scarlet Finch, evil bisexual, ex evil bisexual and maybe lesbian? Murdered, suicide and arrested (possibly hanged). All very tragic.
5x8 The crimson feather: Fifi Caviara, lesbian. Framed a man to elope with her straight crush and murdered a girl for laughing at her having said straight crush. Locked up in a mental institution.
5x12 The theatre of the invisible: Richie Queenan, gay. Murdered.
5x15 The penitent man: Samuel Jacobs, gay. The prison director. Had a reluctant crush on Flambeau (can’t blame him) and it backfired. Alive and outed.
7x2 The passing bell: Ruth Thundersby and Phoebe Sims, lesbian and bi. They like each other and end up together 🎉🎉🎉 the black man that helped them, on the other hand…
9x6 The new order: Stanley Buchanan, gay. Was exposed in the press and was forced to undergo chemical castration. Gabe Hawthorne, gay, stanley’s boyfriend, his father was the one who exposed Stanley, so they shot him and later blackmailed him. In this episode they talked a lot about the injustice of it all, the father was punished (kinda) and the lovers ended up traveling the world together 🎉🎉 (minus one for the chemical castration)
10x8 The sands of time: Stan Hoskens and Oswald Hartigan, gay. Fell in love young and went their separate ways, Hartigan married his young maid, she killed Hartigan’s son in self defense and framed Stan, but later she confessed and forgave her husband. Stan and Hartigan ended up together 🎉🎉🎉
11x5 The father, the son: And the Holy Spirit Father Brown, bunch of queers I’d say. Now, Gabriel Hawksworth, bi. Flambeau’s father, fell in love with a guy named Finny in the army. Finny died in war, Hawksworth got caught grieving, then escaped and abandoned Flambeau’s mother. Got shot trying to atone for killing a man and died. At least he didn’t apologize for being gay while recalling his sins. Great episode.
12x3 The horns of Cernunnos: Benedict Gellert and Dr Marcellus Lasden, gays. Benedict was cheating on his wife with Lasden and she killed him. Against all odds, it didn’t have anything to do with the cheating or the homosexuality, but with a pagan mission she was delusional about. Lasden ended up kind of adopting Benedict’s daughter.
12x6 The lord of the dance: August Bestwick, gay/bi. Producer of a dancing show, was blackmailed by one of the dancers to show him favoritism so he could win. In the end he came clean to the blackmailer’s grandma and she supported him and disinherited her grandson 🎉🎉🎉
12x8 The sisters of Aeschylus: Maxine Mortimer and her girlfriend, lesbians. Writers, in love, lived together. Maxine died after her girlfriend took her name (consensually) for publishing. She remains unnamed and after a period of grief she starts publishing again.
13x3 A palace by the sea: Max Bishop and Raymond, gays. They were lovers when they where young but Max turned evil and Raymond married their friend. Years later Max tried to blackmail him with his sexuality and Raymond killed him.
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