🏳️🌈Here is all the LGBTQ+ representation in Valve games so far (Canon/implied/speculation) with as many reasonings I could find!🏳️🌈
This is incredibly long !! The mega list!! Feel free to let me know anything I missed, just have sources or reasonings!!
Most sources are linked within the text, there are no images so the post isn’t overly cluttered than it already is. Many of these are subjective and some reasonings here are not 100% accurate but I'm trying to include as much possible representation and research as I can. Some have more silly reasonings!
I’ll occasionally update this with new ideas or findings, so feel free to come back and find the most updated version.
!! Spoiler warning for most Valve series !!
canonicity codes
canon - very solid evidence that is undeniable or is confirmed outright externally
implied - solid evidence but not as much of it, or left more ambiguous
potential/probable - up to theory or analysis, still possible or it makes sense but it was likely not the direct intention
maybe - weakest evidence, sometimes I just add it just to add it, there is reasoning but it is definitely more of a reach
Some also have more silly labels or no labels because I wasn’t sure how to categorize it.
sexuality codes (for lesser known terms)
queer - anything unspecified under the lgbtq umbrella, or just someone not falling into traditional labels.
archillian - man loving man/non woman loving non woman, anywhere from bi to gay to pan. I use it for ones that are unspecified on if they like women or not
sapphic - woman loving woman/non man loving non man, anywhere from bi to lesbian to pan. I use it for ones that are unspecified on if they like men or not
let me know if you need anything else specified!
Also, for anyone’s convenience the order of games goes Portal -> TF2 -> DotA -> Deadlock - HalfLife -> Left4Dead -> Counterstrike -> miscellaneous
Portal
This includes characters/lore from both the main games and spinoffs/DLCs.
GLaDOS - bisexual, asexual (canon)
I’ll be mainly explaining GLaDOS’ feelings to Chell here. Unlike popular theories, GLaDOS isn’t Chell’s mom, confirmed by Erik Wolpaw (Portal Writer) explaining a cut bit and Makani (Portal artist) responding to theories (at the end of the post). GLaDOS is said to romantically like Chell in the Final Hours of Portal 2 such as originally supposed to accusing Chell of cheating on her with a core, Want You Gone is called a "breakup song about a computerized voice falling out of love with a mute girl", Chell and GLaDOS were supposed to sing a duet, and they’re referred to as having a twisted dysfunctional romance. In interviews, such as in one before Portal 2 released, GLaDOS was called Chell's jealous ex girlfriend. Jonathan Coulton said Want You Gone was a breakup song (twice, and a third time), and a writer said the game’s focus was on the intimate story between the player and Chell. In the game informer article hyping Portal 2′s release, it refers to the two as having an “intimate affair” with a “fairly exclusive fling” and that they are “like old lovers”. It’s implied in her songs such as the lines "even though you broke my heart and killed me" / "I used to want you dead now I only want you gone" / “I was always fond of you, Although you're not clever. You will never know how much I care” / “Oh, you meant so much”. And people interpret many of actions as showing her obessiveness towards Chell such as her voice lines like her learning to reanimate Chell when she dies, being curious about Chell's behavior, acting like a jealous ex in cut lines from the game, forgiving Chell in Lego Dimensions, and some people believe various things about what she says related to the Companion Cube represents her feelings. In Poker Night 2 GLaDOS has a line possibly alluding to Chell, “I cheat all the time, but only with people I care about”. Not as canon/actually a queer thing but one of the former developers (sort of?) made a gay joke with her, where he reposted an image of a Half-Life crate being cut open to reveal a rainbow cake, he captioned it “GLaDOS’ secret”. For liking men, GLaDOS dates Claptrap in Poker Night 2. Jonathon Coulton, writer of GlaDOS’ songs, said about the Lego Dimensions Portal DLC that GLaDOS probably had feelings for Batman. And for her being asexual, GLaDOS has a cut line in the Cooperative Testing Initiative in which she says human reproduction is ridiculous (not as related but the “testing euphoria” probably relates more to an addiction than to sexual desire, Erik Wolpaw also compares it to cocaine). In an interview with Kiwitalkz, Ellen Mclain described GLaDOS’ voice in Still Alive to be “asexual”, I assume this means because it isn’t meant to be “seductive” compared to how it’s described as sounding in her boss battle. For further explanation on ChellDOS evidence, humanwheatleyslefttoenail + Ossy Flawol’s posts on it were quite useful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZJuxvaG5nI / https://humanwheatleyslefttoenail.tumblr.com/post/640814755030908928/why-do-you-ship-chell-and-glados-if-glados-is. Here are other posts I recall having good information too. https://sapphofinch.tumblr.com/post/691178346793533440/portal-1 and https://youtu.be/eTEiypWRBqc?si=3h7eWOJXZgC99uI4)
Chell - sapphic (implied)
Although she doesn’t reciprocate GLaDOS’ feelings at all, I’m still including her (and showing some of the same arguments from GLaDOS). GLaDOS gets called her ex girlfriend (as stated in the Final Hours of Portal 2) and Chell was originally supposed to have a duet with her in Portal 2 before they settled on Want You Gone. Stated in an article by GameInformer, Chell was supposed to get married to a Turret (which was specifically called a bride, the turrets also refer to each other with feminine terms). In the italian version of Portal 1, when Chell is asked if she wants to marry the morality core, the core is reffered to femininely. GLaDOS’ bullying seems to at least have some form of truth to them (adopted, no friends, ect) so I find it curious that Chell has been continously pushed into a sapphic relationship, whether thats projection on GLaDOS’ part or something secret about Chell. In 2009, Valve posted a collection of Portal fan songs, the first one on the list was a love song from the player to GLaDOS with the caption “What better way to respond to GLaDOS's “Still Alive” than a musical love ballad?”. This isn’t as canon but in the Official Portal 2 Guide Book there was a question to some Valve employees on who would win if Chell and Alyx were in a fight and two people said they'd probably just hang out and go to a bar (I like to think that implies something haha). Same thing of not being canon but in Count to Three, a Valve fan-song (that got approval to have Gabe Newell and Ellen McLain in it, so- in a way official???), Chell is drawn as dancing with Gordon Freeman. A little bonus, I headcanon she’s transfeminine because the original Portal protagonist was male before they used Chell! They aren’t the same character but I like to think they are (if the guy wasn’t white lol). Fun fact, not as queer but Chell’s gender wasn’t chosen for any specific reason and was randomly chosen while GLaDOS was female because they already had the plan of using Ellen Mclain.
Caroline - biromantic, asexual (implied)
Caroline is biromantic/asexual as she is apart of GLaDOS/GLaDOS’ conscience was built off of her. Also the possibility Caroline could've dated Cave in her time at Aperture (The writers never clarified, just saying they were never married but there might be “more of a story there”. Although it’s not likely because Valve’s artist Makani once said she found shipping the two weird due to knowing the writers, implying they didn’t use it). Caroline and Cave’s art for the Steam 20th anniversary was done over a meme of a couple. The "Say goodbye Caroline" / "goodbye Caroline!" Lines are likely a reference to the 40s show Burns and Allen, who were a married couple (or a reference to Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In). I've seen people interpret the line "married to science" as her being asexual/aromantic or sapphic as she's taken by her occupation and not openly a man like typical of the era.
Turret Bride - lesbian (canon)
There was a cut scene in Portal 2 where Chell would save a group of Turrets and help them so in return they gave a Turret off to marry Chell, who was called the bride turret.
Turrets - sapphic (implied)
The standard turrets themselves are sapphic because most are girls or at least use she/her pronouns (besides Randolph, and probably the defective turrets). They had valentines cards to each other, the Turret Wife serenade and Cara Mia Addio can be brought up as well.
Fetchbot - nonbinary/agender (canon)
Fetchbot from The Lab was confirmed by two separate devs (one, two) to not be gender specific/neither a girl or boy.
Atlas and Pbody - queer (potentially??)
In The Final Hours of Portal 2 they were implied as a couple, calling them “the odd couple” with a photo of them holding hands in front of a sunset. One of Valves artists, Makani, made human designs and made them both the same gender, also stating the robots are pretty gender-neutral. Although in an interview Chet Faliszek said that Atlas was male and P-Body was female. Also you can color-pick the aro/ace flag off of them lol. Portal is literally aro/ace now, aha! Okay but the robots may also have a sibling like relationship?? Like how GLaDOS treats them? Please Portal writing team clarify because I’m incredibly confused.
Mel - sapphic (potential)
Mel and Chell were originally co-op test partners together, big stretch here but if following the same pattern as the co-op bots, then they could’ve been romantic??? I feel it has potential as well because Chell would likely get along with her since she’s not a robot and the first human she’s seen since she started testing. Chell has no reason to be angry at her like the other robots and they could connect on being trapped there. There is also just that huge pattern with Chell being put into sapphic situations, with GLaDOS and with the turret wife previously.
Charlie - nonbinary, bisexual (potential)
Charlie in Aperture Desk Job gets no identifying features of any gender and Charlie is a very gender-neutral name. Grady also asks them if they have a wife or husband and then says he'd like to meet them eventually.
Grady - gay (maybe)
Charlie and Grady are most likely meant to mimic the relationship that Chell and GLaDOS have. Or a mix of Wheatley and GLaDOS at Chell.
Cave - transgender, pansexual (maybe)
This one is more into headcanon territory but I’m keeping it anyways. In Aperture Desk Job, there is a billboard with Cave's face on it with specific parts having the colors of the transgender flag and the pansexual flag (if you ignore the fact its a popular color scheme in the 70s lol). In Perpetual Testing Initiative there are lines implying (in a sense?? Maybe??) he could've liked his assistant Greg (Similar to how Caroline and Cave could’ve had a relationship, as Greg and Caroline, while very individual, are essentially the same character). There is also a universe where Cave was likely a trans woman, meaning in a universe Cave is a trans man as he says the possibilities of universes is infinite. In Portal 2 there is implication he could've liked Caroline (they get a lot of strange implication. And once again, Caroline and Cave’s art for the Steam 20th anniversary was done over a meme of a couple.). In both PTI and the base game he makes remarks towards the hypothetical test subjects hearing it (as they're prerecorded), calling them a handsome devil or complimenting them. In the DotA announcer pack, he often makes remarks finding various characters attractive (or commenting on how characters of either gender aren’t wearing pants??). Also in the DotA announcer pack, Cave mentions having a first wife (implying he had other marriages) Also in that he says he doesn’t like Greg’s wife which if believing that Cave likes Greg then that would make sense. I do believe Cave as a character could be a good allegory for being trans in a way, in either direction. He tends to fall hard into being masculine, so much so that he insults others masculinity(like the line about “-The lab boys say that might be a fear reaction... coming from a bunch of eggheads who wouldn't recognize the thrill of danger if it walked up and snapped their little pink bras, that sounds like 'projection'.") I feel lines like that could be projection on his part of internalizing misogyny/considering feminine stuff bad.
Cavina Johnson and Sally Sue Greg - transgender (implied)
Like mentioned above, Cavina and Sally are the transfeminine versions of Cave and Greg respectively in Perpetual Testing Initiative. Cavina is heard protesting her gender of being a woman while Sally is trying to get her to calm down. There’s a chance they’re not trans but I just feel it works, especially since they kept the exact same voices.
Greg - transgender, achillean (maybe?)
Again, more headcanon-ish. Like mentioned above, Greg might be transmasculine with Cave, he too had a transfeminine version of himself in Perpetual Testing Initiative. (Big stretch, probably not the intention) how he acts with Cave could also potentially be romantic. Though he also has a daughter, and in the DotA announcer pack, Cave mentions how Greg has a wife, who Cave does not like.
Bendy - nonbinary (potential)
Bendy was never given a gender in Perpetual Testing Initiative and only has the little stick figure sprite. Same for other Aperture universe games such as The Lab.
Cores - agender (possibly)
Many (but not all) Cores and robots in the Portal games that you see do not get assigned a gender (or get it/its used on them).
There’s a clipboard in various areas of the games that says “Gender Neutral, Polyamory-Friendly Partnership Project”.
Team Fortress 2
Miss Pauling - lesbian (canon)
Miss Pauling was confirmed lesbian by Jay Pinkerton, one of Valves writers. He said she’s gay but all the current female characters are antagonistic to her, making it hard to pair her with any of them. He felt if this fact was randomly included as a large point in the plot then it would feel forced. She's shown in Expiration Date, her voice lines, and the comics to not like Scout back or ever date him. She goes to many women themed events in her time off in the Tough Break update. She had an ad listing in the Teufort Reader on the TF2 website in which she was looking for someone to go on a date with her but did not specify the gender of the partner, unlike Scout who specified he wanted to date a woman. Jay Pinkerton also specified that she was not looking to date men (even though Pauling clearly states she wants to start dating someone). Ashly Burch, Pauling's voice actress, came out as pansexual and added in her coming out post that many of the characters she voiced were apart of LGBTQ (if it means anything for her other Valve roles, she is also in DotA 2 as Dark Willow and in Portal The Lab as the out-of-breath core). She was also apart of Expiration Dates writing team so Pauling’s queerness could totally be intentional from her as she is a writer on many other queer TV and video games. In the TF2 comics, Pauling is repulsed by Soldier being naked but was unbothered by Zhanna, possibly implied to develop a crush on her. Miss Pauling might also have a crush on the Administrator by some of her remarks towards her in the comics (And in the possible comic 7 leak documented by Richter Overtime where they almost kiss?? This leaked script was confirmed to not be true though). In comic 7, she still is adamant about following Admin all the way through, wanting to become her second in command. Also Scout moves on from her and she says it’s fine because there are always women hotter than her for him to like. The only evidence against explicitly lesbian Pauling is TF2′s comic artist, Makani, saying in an ask about her Pauling sexuality ideas that in Expiration Date, Pauling was planned to date one of the other mercs as a reveal at the end but it was scrapped, meaning if they went back to this then she’d be bisexual. I made a whole post going into more detail on Pauling’s lesbianism, so here it is if you haven’t seen it! I recently updated it and it is now twice the length! https://www.tumblr.com/thatvalvefanatic/785457230851014656/miss-pauling-from-team-fortress-2-is-confirmed-to?source=share)
Medic and Heavy - bisexual and gay (implied)
Medic and Heavy being a couple is heavily implied! The main TF2 comic artist, Makani, has posted a lot of Heavy x Medic art in the past (slight nsfw warning if you click on the links), as well as another TF2 comic artist Kanataria. Medic and Heavy are shown to be extremely close in their voice lines, (Heavy has more lines for Medic than everyone else, they’re a lot kinder as well), official sfms (they're usually paired next to each other), and in the comics. In the comics they become the implied parents of the monkey from Classic Heavy (and they stand together on the side with the other couples). Heavy had a line to Medic for the Kiss King item saying to kiss him. Robin Atkin Downes, Medic's voice actor, at Pax West 2022 said that he thought Valve should make a love story for Medic and Heavy and later on as Medic "just for the record, I love Heavy!" And posted it to his Twitter. Heavy and Sniper's voice actors replied supporting this decision. Medic and Heavy’s actors also improved a date, once reaching a certain donation goal on the Kritzkast streams. In comic 7, they’re seen holding each other, and some speculate that at the Christmas party, they’re now living together. For him being bisexual, Demoman had a line to Medic saying he was having sex with his wife, as well as Makani made a design for her (although she’s also said that none of the mercs canonically have wives). For further info on HeavyMedic, here’s a huge post I found of people compiling Heavy-Medic stuff! (although it is probably not the fully updated version but it includes A LOT more that I didn’t include here!). https://www.tumblr.com/heavicislit/638295696204857344/more-art-by-makani
Pyro - genderqueer (implied)
Basically Pyro’s gender does not matter and can be called anything. Pyro in their updates and in Valve interviews has gotten all he/she/they pronouns used on her. He also was joked at having a menstrual cycle in the comics. But they also have a male voice actor and masculine concept art. There was also a lot of implications of different genders for her, such as in Meet the Pyro with the female symbol in Pyroland and showing him liking stereotypical girlish things (plus the “he’s not here, is she?” line in the official captioning/transcript). During the engineer update, a text with Pyro on the homepage saying “why don’t you give her a shot” (sometimes saying “him” instead). In the Meat Your Match update, there’s a section saying “[the winner] was good ol’ lovable Pyro! He won! We mean, she won! They won?”. And the Pyro’s description hints at them not being a man. Their cosmetics can be pretty androgynous or of multiple genders. Many character’s use different pronouns or gendered insults on occasion in-game. One thing that inspired people to have the theory they are a girl is when a file of an unused female face turned up around the time of the Sniper vs Spy files, but never confirmed what it was used for. Also during the Sniper vs Spy update, one of the TF2 blog posts said "When Pyro hears about this she'll be inconsolable." but a few hours later was changed to having no pronoun. In a QnA, John Patrick Lowrie, Snipers voice actor, was asked what Pyro's gender was and in response he said Pyro was beyond gender. Pyro’s voice actor also uses different pronouns on Pyro (usually he/they). Besides Sniper, Pyro was the only mercenary to not receive genderbent concept art. There is way more to the Pyro genderqueer theory so if I find a good post analyzing it, I’ll link it here: I saw an analysis saying Pyro could be a woman at birth due to their skull shape among other things https://steamcommunity.com/app/440/discussions/0/154644928864719191/ . I also saw this analisis on Pyro being transmasc which was interesting too https://docs.google.com/file/d/101nEktudgJFfR0pCf6KXhz23DozrfzdJ/edit?filetype=mspresentation
Demoman - bisexual (implied)
Demoman has the line "If I wasn' the man I was I'd kiss ye!" when thanking someone (and in the Spanish version it translates to "If I weren't so macho I'd kiss you", meaning it’s less about him being straight, rather he’s trying to keep up a manly image). Also a lot of people interpret his lines to Soldier as romantic coded- (I’m acknowledging that yes they probably just platonic and that’s great if they are! Of course friendships exist and are equally as important but I thought people pointing romance out was interesting and valid!) -Voice lines include: ”I love you, man...", "DOMINATED! But you're a good man and I love you.", "EVERYBODY! I DON'T LIKE THIS MAN. HE IS A SOULLESS MONSTER! I do like you, it's just for show." and not to just Soldier I found this "Dominated! Accordin' to unicorn law, yer me bloody wife now". For liking woman there’s the line, previously mentioned above, where Demo tells Medic "Dominated! ...And I've been shaggin' yer wife! Hahah!"
Soldier - transgender, bisexual (potentially)
Soldier might be transmasculine as people who are unidentifiable for a name, mainly used in war, will be named Jane Doe (for female) or John Doe (for male) based on genitals. Soldier's name is Jane Doe, but he still refers to himself as a man, meaning he could be transmasculine. He later uses the name John Doe which could be him changing it. (I found this good post discussing it! https://www.reddit.com/r/tf2/comments/971fix/comment/hsadirk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) And for bisexual it’s the same as above with Demoman examples being "I love your death, cyclops; your death is sweet to me like love is sweet.", "DOMINATED! Call me later, we can talk about our day.", “DOMINATED! I cherish these moments we spend together." (to Demoman), "C'mere, sweetheart.” (to Medic). In the comics he gets married to Heavy’s sister Zhanna. In comic 7, he asks for Zhanna’s hand in marriage by proposing to (in reality just asking) Heavy first. Also he compares living with Zhanna to living with Merasmus, saying Merasmus has been replaced.
Spy - genderfluid, polyamorous (implied)
Spy has the line "I like my teams like I like my romances: in groups of six". In the Scream Fortress event for 2022, there is a sticker on the briefcase for Spy's taunt, Travel Agent, that has him in pinup type attire with a more feminine/sexualized figure for both Red and Blu team. In the Steam 20th anniversary art, both Red and Blu Spy were drawn in the blue-black, white-gold dresses. Not as official, but in the Russian and German dubs for TF2, Sniper calls Spy the f-slur. It’s not as fun but also very interesting as I think it’s been the only time that word/translation is used, especially across multiple languages. I’m not sure what lines it’s replacing though.
Sniper - archillian (maybe)
Along with Sniper calling the spy the f-slur in the German and Russian dubs, he also calls Spy a princess and a bimbo(attractive but dumb woman). That’s gotta need some kind of self reflection.. right? Obviously not canon but i prefer to think he’s just projecting with the slurs. Also it’s fascinating to me that slurs like that have been translated and still hold the same weight?
Engineer - bisexual, transgender (maybe)
During the 2024 summer update, Engineer got a new cosmetic called Desk Engineer. It had an ID card with the bisexual and transgender flags on the back (depending on which version of the cosmetic you wear)! It was not visible in game, you’d have to be looking at the model in another program to see the flags in full. Note that the cosmetic was not created by Valve as it's community made, therefore it has no canon weight. Engineer outside of this has not had any romantic interests/gender divergences. 3 weeks after the flags got added to the game, Valve asked the person who made the cosmetic to remove them, so the flags are no longer there. This was likely due to the fact the flags were hidden without Valve knowing and not the fact that it was gay.
Merasmus - bigender, asexual (implied)
Merasmus in the comics would have feminine terms used on him (usually for wearing a dress) but never corrected anyone (while still using he/him pronouns on himself). Soldier has a voice line calling Merasmus an enchantress (used for a woman who uses magic, or used for a woman who is attractive), he is also called a “witch woman” in the newspaper that Pyro reads in Ring of Fired. In Blood Money he implied he was ace by saying his blood was that of a virgin. In comic 7, Soldier asks if he’s jealous of Zhanna being his new roommate (when Zhanna is Soldier’s wife), also Merasmus seemed really in awe when he thought he was to be asked to join the team. At the end of comic 7, he’s shown doing karaoke with Tom Jones, which they could just be friends but considered the whole roommates is on a similar level to romance thing, it makes sense..
TFC Pyro - transfeminine, intersex (canon)
Beatrice (TFC Pyro) is canonically a trans woman as in the original Team Fortress game she was assumed a guy, having a male voice actor and her design was mostly covered up. She then is a woman in the comics. She technically got gender reassignment surgery from Medic when he put baboon uterus' inside everyone!
TFC Soldier and TFC Spy - gay, intersex (implied?)
Ross (TFC Soldier) is implied to like Greg (TFC Spy) in the TF2 comics before they die by Pyro. The pair talking emotionally about going to make orphanage together and following their dreams.
The Administrator - aroace spectrum (maybe)
Administrator shows no interest in relationships of any sort (besides once having a relationship with Saxton Hale). Someone suggested she was aplatonic, which can fall into aroace categories. Administrator in comic 7 was shown to only be interested in her goals and stayed away from people.
Redmon and Blutarch Mann - intersex or trans?? (almost)
In the comic Blood Brothers, they consider creating a pregnancy machine to continue their family line and to continue the fight over gravel, but they are stopped when Gray Mann kills them. Absolutely wild but I guess it counts?
Team Fortress Classic team - intersex (I guess)
The TFC team had baboon uterus' put inside them from the TF2 Medic. Most of the team is assumed to be assigned male at birth and assuming none of them noticed this surgery, Medic probably kept in both parts, making them all intersex. Specifically mentioned for this is TFC Heavy and TFC Demoman (shown in the links above).
One of Valve’s artists, Makani, used to post a lot of queer art of the mercenaries. Many were genderbent, (or just remained cis/gay or polyamorous). Examples include Spy x Sniper, Heavy x Medic x Medic’s wife, ect.
There is a door on one of the Swissmiss 2023 maps that says “Tran S. Wright” on it (which is a reference to saying trans rights). This was from a community map, not from Valve, but Valve hasn’t removed it yet so they’ve likely seen it and thought it was fine.
DotA
This includes both the game and anime characters.
Storm Spirit - gay (canon)
Storm Spirit is implied to not like women in his voice lines (Batrider also says his bat likes fruit, a term used to refer to the LGBT community, when the bat hurts Storm Spirit). Him being gay was confirmed by an employee on Steam on a Steam forum.
Legion Commander - transgender, lesbian (canon)
The Legion Commander was originally male in DotA 1/World of Warcraft (?) but was later changed and remained a girl in DotA 2 and it’s comics. Legion in the DotA comic, Call to Arms, is hinted at dating a male Satyr named Belasanno, but this is contradicted when Legion was confirmed lesbian by a Valve employee on a Steam forum (where a user stated she was lesbian and a Valve employee marked it as correct). Not canon but the Valve artist Makani made a post drawing DotA characters as Undertale characters and Legion was drawn as Undyne, who is lesbian as well. (and if you’re curious who Alphys was, it’s WInter Wyvern/Auroth)
Luna - lesbian (implied) Luna worships Selemene, Selemene multiple times saying she loved her and Luna says she is fully hers. Luna is hinted at not liking men in the anime when she rejects all advances from Hieronimo. Later when Luna, Davion, Hieronimo, and Mirana meet up Davion asks what’s going on, Hieronimo responds that it’s a “lovers quarrel”. Luna seems to have some kind of feelings towards Mirana, at times dedicating her life to her. She is very intense about serving her.
Mirana - bisexual (implied)
Mirana worships Selemene (& her potential relationships were Marci, Wei, or Luna??). She is in the anime called “Usurpers whore”, the usurper being Selemene in this situation. She does fall in love with Davion the Dragon Knight, and is implied to have his child.
Zeus - bisexual, polyamorous (canon)
Zeus in DotA 2 is just Zeus from Greek mythology, who was known to sleep with both women and men, usually multiple at a time.
Queen of Pain - pansexual (probably)
Queen of Pain is a succubus, and while succubi are usually attracted to men, many can have attractions of multiple genders.
Anti-Mage - asexual (implied)
Anti-Mage is a monk and monks aren’t supposed to have sexual interactions so I’m using that to say he’s ace. Also a Queen of Pain line to him is "Oh, Anti-Mage, I'll make you break your vows." furthering that fact.
Selemene - pansexual, polyamorous (canon)
Selemene has multiple very intimate worshipers of any gender, previously was dating Invoker, she is also an elf, in which the elven race is naturally pansexual and polyamorous.
Fymryn/Mene - pansexual, polyamorous (canon)
Fymryn in the Dota 2 Dragons Blood anime is seen in a polyamorous relationship with Adara, Dyfed, and Idwal. Adara being a woman and Dyfed and Idwal being men. When she is returned to being Mene, she is shown to be very loving to everyone and similar to Selemene she is seen with multiple gendered worshippers.
Adara, Dyfed, and Idwal - polyamorous, bisexual (canon)
Mentioned above, these three are apart of Fymryn’s pod and all love each other equally.
Lina - transgender (kind of)
Lina in DotA 1 was a male character named Link Inverse. They were inspired by the character Lina Inverse from Slayer. She was later changed to female.
Hieronimo - bisexual (implied)
In the anime he makes flirting(ish) comments to both Luna and Invoker
Black Market Overseer - queer
The black market overseer in DotA: Dragon’s Blood is incredibly androgynous with slight drag (?) elements. They have a masculine voice but a more feminine look and could easily be interpreted as both male or female in appearance.
In the black market Mirana and Marci pass a room with a bunch of people having sex. It was pairs of multiple genders and some of the pairs were polyamorous. I don’t know where to put this.
Once again, most elves in DotA are confirmed polyamorous, calling their relationships pods. Fymryn says that the elves find one on one relationships strange when talking to Davion. Fymryn mentions her mom being polyamorous too and her primary lover was a woman. This elf also mentions his pod. Polyamory is apart of elven nature and society to do this.
Here’s a video I posted of the majority of queer moments in Dota Dragon’s Blood! https://youtu.be/o_E_ZikaCVY?si=KS8RNUpLdBxZrG-O
Deadlock
Pocket - nonbinary (canon)
Arin Fairfax, who named themself Pocket, canonically uses they/them pronouns. They’re trying to keep their identity a secret to hide from the people who’ve tried to kill them (but their secret identity doesn’t mean they’re actually a boy or girl, especially if we already know their name and face but are still genderless to the player). Some argue that their pronouns are actually plural, referring to them, their briefcase, and their frogs, which is not true as even when addressed as Arin and not Pocket, “they” is used singularly. Paradox is referred to as multiple people in her lore but in her ability blurb, it’s singular, which also applies as Pocket’s is still neutral in that blurb too. Pocket has an androgynous-ish appearance. The only time Pocket is gendered is in Lady Geist’s visual novel where their dad calls them son and Geist saying “I thought he died”. This was before the events of Deadlock, and before the lore was more set in stone, so it’s likely neither of them know or care about Pocket’s identity at the time. There is a voice line from Krill addressing the fact Pocket’s father disowned them (and one from Shiv saying their parents are monsters), which can relate to being genderqueer as many trans people have faced criticism, constant misgendering, or being disowned from family. Other characters do use neutral pronouns on them though, like McGinnis saying “They should’ve stayed in witness protection” and Dynamo saying “they couldn’t stay in that case forever”. There’s a voice line from a Patron towards Pocket at the start of a match saying “you are so much more than people label you”, which can also relate to Pocket wanting to escape the gender binary and their parents. Pocket’s placeholder model in Neon Prime was a female head placeholder with Scout’s (TF2) body, which can represent both their masculine and feminine aspects and defiance of the gender binary. Pocket also has some stereotypical nonbinary/queer traits such as their name being an object, having an undercut, and being associated with frogs (lmao they’re used as a weapon). Even in newer updates, Pocket has consistently used they/them pronouns, even after many of the characters designs and lore were updated. For sexuality, if any, Pocket has a line where they call a male character, Shiv, a “handsome bastard”, so take that as you will. They were in an arranged marriage with Mina but their attempted assassination and running away happened before they were married. We don’t know if they had any feelings towards her (though it could also go into the idea that they were forced into hiding being lgbtq at home and they had no interest in her at all). Saw someone mention that Pocket can be a nickname for gay men in New York (which is where DL takes place) but I couldn’t find much about that??
Vyper - bisexual (canon)
Vyper is shown to flirt with multiple characters, both men and women, trying to take them to bed (one, two). She mistakes Paige as being a stripper she saw in a nightclub, attempting to flirt with her. In other dialogue she’s tells Paige to say she was with her the night prior, to cover up her crimes. Vyper’s voice actress posted a tiktok video doing Vyper’s voice where she references the attraction to Cinnamon, the stripper, “and if anyone’s seen Cinnamon, tell her daddy called”.
Holliday and Mcginnis - sapphic (previously canon)
There are voice lines from Lash, during the Neon Prime era of Deadlock, when killing McGinnis that talk about McGinnis and Holliday being close such as "I see her at the bear pit every Thursday with [Holliday], that lady is a student of the game." and "[Holliday] is a lucky lady to be with someone like [McGinnis]." (in the audio file their names are Forge and Astro respectively). There has been more lines found in which it was confirmed the two were dating, such as Paradox (previously named Chrono) saying “I do not know what [Mcginnis] sees in her” and Krill saying “Oh, look. [Mcginnis’] lover shot us.. Who would've guessed”. We know from all those lines that both characters were women and in a relationship. At that time Mcginnis had a carabiner on her tool belt, which could be lesbian signaling, as in the 40s and 50s women had to start taking on mens jobs and butches used it as a way to wear more masculine clothing. Slowly the carabiner was used by these lesbians outside of work to indicate they were queer and find each other. Mcginnis could fit into this as at the time wielding would’ve been more of a “mans job” and she seems very masculine/butch in her personality. In the game now, the Holliday and Mcginnis don’t know each other prior, they have no existing relationship and have very different moral standpoints so they’re probably not going to be in a relationship again. But knowing they at some point were explicitly written as a lesbian couple really does open up the possibility for Valve to continue adding very visible queer characters. Someone asked the VN artists why the girls (so, Mcginnis and Geist) looked like lesbians and one responded that they were spreading the lesbian agenda. Holliday has had at least two marriages though we don’t know who the other person was, she also makes a comment about not wanting kids and getting her tubes tied so we can infer she at least sleeps with men or amab people.
Lash and Ballista - queer (previously canon)
Lash and Ballista (a hero from the Neon Prime era, removed from Deadlock) were known as exes, but Ballista’s gender isn’t known, and we do not 100% know what they look like. Their placeholder voice is very androgynous. Lash refers to them as “’em” or “them” (”Ugh, They look good”), (”Get it together, Lash! You’re not gonna win ‘em back by losing!”) & so does Paradox (”They wanna play with explosives? I’ll show them explosives.”), (”God, I hate them”). In Ballista’s background they only use they/them, “Ballista declared themselves the founder of The Wreckage Movement,”. The only time they have gendered pronouns used is in their abilities, “Ballista wields a massive flak cannon, dealing damage and knocking back enemies in front of her.”, there is no evidence elsewhere that this character is a girl, especially as Deadlock has messed up pronouns for multiple characters before being fixed. There is also no indication that Ballista refers to multiple beings or is a non-humanoid creature. Lash currently flirts with women (actually, the lines he had towards Holliday about dating Mcginnis were replaced with flirting towards her..). But I do feel Lash could still be bisexual. Lash does think Shiv is handsome and says he has a pretty face. It would be awesome to have this very typically masculine, egotistical guy secretly be queer, defying stereotypes. He wears jewelry and has a red handkerchief hanging out of his pocket which some take to be queer indicators. Some people believe his feud with Bebop could be gay coded in a way.
Celeste - lesbian (implied)
Celeste has multiple lines complimenting the appearance of women. She asks “Why is it always the pretty ones who try to kill me?” about Geist, she calls Haze cute with a tie, and Wraith pretty charming. She even says that she doesnt see the appeal of Shiv (which contradicts most other characters being flirtatious towards him or commenting on his appearance). Also Celeste is a circus sideshow performing unicorn! Which both circuses and unicorns have had lgbtq associations and symbols. Many interpret that she is also a trans allegory, due to her color palete and story being about trying to fit in or hide her identity(of being a unicorn), as well as protect her circus side show family, which can also fit how historically queer people have stuck together.
Wraith - sapphic (potentially)
Wraith’s design has elements, especially in her earlier design, of lesbian fashion trends from the time period, such as women wearing masculine fashion (bowtie, coattails, suit). Her color theme is also purple, a color historically queer and associated with lesbians. In Wraith’s background, there was initially a typo that said “trivial amount of brides” instead of bribes. When pointed out on the forum, a Valve dev joked that they would fix the issue and that Wraith would no longer have a TLC show with all her brides. I add that because that dev could’ve stayed “neutral” and not made a joke in response and yet they did, which leaves interpretation kind of open.
Infernus - bisexual (potentially)
Infernus asks Holliday to go on a date with him and potentially is an ex of Wraith (though these are very up to interpretation). He calls Shiv "pretty boy" and says "all things considers, he's a pretty good-looking corpse" about Victor.
Mina - sapphic (potentially)
Mina might be considered sapphic due to her fangirling over Lady Geist, “I hope I get to work with Lady Geist. She's an icon!”, “God, she looked fabulous!”, “She. Is. Perfection!”. Mina was also in an arranged marriage with Pocket, though she was really marrying them for the money and considers her life ruined because of them. She does continuously respect their pronouns, even when calling them directly by birthname. Mina also apparently hosts or contributes to fashion shows, considering multiple characters like Victor, Haze and Geist a good choice to dress them for one. I will say that fashion history is rooted in LGBTQ influence so it would make sense if that was correlated. As she is a vampire, I must say that vampire media in history has always had homosexual undertones as well. Mina was named after Mina Harker from Dracula, in which Harker was a heavily bisexual coded character, and the majority of the novel has LGBTQ undertones.
Big maybe here but Paradox could potentially represent LGBTQ as the Paradox organization is purposefully mysterious on who their members are, hiding behind masks and remaining anonymous- like some queer people hiding their identity. Elements of her outfit seem masculine or androgynous. She has a lapel, or a boutonnière, which have typically been worn by men in history, but also have been used in queer flagging/support. Examples are women in the 20s wearing violets to support the lesbian play The Captive. Green carnations were used in the 1800s as a sign of men loving other men. Paradox’s flower seems to be a blue rose, which can stand for being mysterious and unique. While probably about her organization, it could be about her personal features such as appearance or romance. She also is wearing garters which can also be queer symbolism as garters like hers are popular in many alternative fashion/style communities, which can often go side by side with queer culture. She could very easily represent gender androgyny through her fashion implications and history through her organization.
People think Kelvin and Seven could’ve had a relationship as Seven is implied to be Kelvin’s old friend Edrick. Seven also has a line related to throwing away power for loving someone, which could potentially be referring to Kelvin
Shiv seems to be a magnet of all genders, having multiple characters call him handsome or pretty, such as Pocket calling him a “handsome bastard”, Infernus calling Shiv “pretty boy”, Lash saying he has a pretty face, and others complimenting him as good looking in some way, though not always flirtatious.
Geist is reminiscent of the femme fatale troupe, which is often bisexual. Also Geist’s Neon Prime counterpart, Spectre, was a man. Again, someone did ask the VN artists why the girls (Mcginnis and Geist) looked like lesbians in the art and one responded that they were spreading the lesbian agenda. Whether this goes into actual queercoding for Geist is unknown lol.
Trapper, a scrapped Deadlock hero used he/they upon release, using they/them in their character description. Everyone else uses he/him on Trapper and the neutral pronouns probably came from being modeled after Pocket.
Victor is based on Victor Frankenstein’s monster from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818). Frankenstein is occasionally interpreted as a queer story. Victor’s design aligns closely with the book description of the monster, meaning the lore could be closer/more inspired by it too.
The Shopkeeper calls Pocket “one good looking son of a bitch”, if that means anything.
Someone suggested this image of a spirit man helping another man play guitar could be queercoded due to how the spirit is holding the man.
Vindicta originally used she/they pronouns in her bio, though this was later changed.
I was told Viscous could be considered asexual due to him being a sea amoeba??
The scrapped character The Boss uses neutral pronouns, Wrecker uses it/its pronouns.
One of the lanes is called Greenwich, which is an actual place in New York, where Deadlock takes place. Greenwich Village is known for being very queer inclusive since the 1900s, the famous Stonewall riots happened here in the 1960s. Even though Greenwich in Deadlock was named simply for the pun of being a green street, it would be neat if it related to the lore of there being so many casually LGBTQ instances.
Half-Life
Gman - genderless (implied)
There's a line in Half-Life 1 from the Nihilanth that says G-Man is not man like Gordon is "you are man. He is not man". G-Man isn't really human so I don't think gender or sexual orientation matters but a bonus is you can also color-pick the asexual colors from him. I think G-Man is perfect for queercoding as he is an alien and can be relatable for not having “normal” standards (like through gender or orientation). He made the choice to appear as masculine.
Barney Calhoun - bisexual (possibly)
Barney in Half-Life: Blue Shift is implied to have a girlfriend based on his locker but it’s been analyzed that Barney’s feelings towards Gordon could be romantic, due to holding onto his crowbar for 20 years when no one else held onto Gordon’s stuff after he disappeared (while he never mentions his girlfriend after Blue Shift). Barney also tells him “You're in pretty good shape for a man of science” which can be interpreted as flirting. This video from Portalpilled is where I got these points from and it explains the idea really well, https://youtu.be/7hEvB_Oow9I?si=c10RDettZ2OhMITp.
Alyx - bisexual (possibly)
Alyx was meant to have a crush on a resistance member who's gender was not confirmed. Alyx in Half-Life 2 is shown to develop a crush on Gordon Freeman. Like I said before this doesn’t really count but in the Official Portal 2 Guide Book thing with the question to some Valve employees on if Chell and Alyx were in a fight and two people said they’d hang out and get a drink instead, I’ve found a lot of talk from Valve employees where they’re paired together. “I'm curious how Chell and Alyx would get along given how I think about those two characters and what it would mean in these worlds (...) I don't think they'd get along at first”
Cut Resistance member - nonbinary (possibly)
(Same as above) There was a cut resistance member for HL2e3 that Alyx Vance would get a crush on. They were deaf so Alyx learned sign language to communicate with them. They later on go away from Alyx to someplace else to fight the Combine and Alyx was left to use her sign language with Dog. Gabe Newell did not specify the gender of this character.
Some people consider Laszlo and Sandy in Half-Life 2 to potentially be gay, Sandy is very endearing towards Laszlo, saying he was the greatest mind of our generation and tells Gordon there’s no reason to go on without him after his death.
Technically you could also count many of the humans in Half-Life to being asexual due to the suppression field.
A Valve dev called Breen “vaguely homosexual” in a certain design of glasses
Adrian Shephard is another potential gender queer character because him as a person is meant to be up to player interpretation
The Lambda symbol, in Half-Life’s context is used to represent radioactive decay, but the Lambda symbol has been used historically as a gay pride symbol.
When Deadlock was originally Neon Prime, it was still in the Half-Life universe. Therefore characters like Ballista & Lash, Astro & Forge, Synth, and possibly Wraith also count as Half-Life LGBTQ characters!
Left 4 Dead
I am including Back 4 Blood and Left 4 Dead Survivors in this as well, even though those aren’t directly Valve made. B4B was a spiritual successor to the L4D games, being created by Turtle Rock Studios, who used to be Valve South. L4DS is the Japanese version of the game, which features entirely new characters, relationships and dialogue. It was created by Taito but it was still approved by Valve/technically official in some capacity.
Ellis - bisexual (implied)
Ellis says "If the laws of nature would allow it, I would bear that man's children." Towards a race car driver. Some believe the voice lines towards Keith make it seem like the two could be in a relationship. Ellis does develop a crush on Zoey, though. Someone suggested his voice line "My name is Ellis, some people call me El. But I really prefer Ellis 'cause El kinda sounds like a girl's name. But if you prefer to call me El, I guess you can." can relate to being transgender.
Nick - bisexual (maybe)
Someone informed me that Nick having a ring on his left pinky finger could be used as a gay sign. Although he has rings on many different fingers, the pinky ring could still indicate he’s MLM in some way (although it can also be used as an indicator of a gang, which we know he was probably apart of one). Nick has been divorced from a woman at least once, going by some of his voice lines.
Rochelle is sometimes referred to with male pronouns for certain actions, but it seems to have been an oversight of forgetting to add female variants.
The Church Guy when revealed can be a Hunter, Smoker, or Boomer of either gender
Blake Jordan (L4D Survivors) - gay (implied)
Blake is Ellis’ equivalent in the Japanese version of Left4Dead. Though every character is given their own personality/motives, Blake still obsesses over Jimmy Gibbs, just like Ellis. Although in this version (translated through google translate, so it might be wrong) he says “If I were a woman, I would definitely have married Jimmy” and “If I had to describe Jimmy, I'd say he's a hard-working genius. I love him too”. He basically admits he has a celebrity crush on this guy! Even if it’s played up or a joke, I think wanting to Blake wanting to marry him is definitely pretty queer. In this version he doesn’t gush over Zoey like Ellis does, even though Zoey is still in the game (though I could have missed it when searching through files).
Mom and Doc (Back 4 Blood) - sapphic (canon)
Mom and Doc are said to be written as a relationship by one of the developers. Mom was married to a man and had children previously. They seem to really care about each other in conversation. There’s a conversation where Doc acknowledges that Mom had accepted her where others in her hometown had not, potentially being about sexuality.
Holly (Back 4 Blood) - sapphic (potential)
Holly has a pin with a rainbow on her bag, the colors are similar to the pansexual flag. Some people interpret her and Karlee’s interactions as flirting (I have yet to find which ones but I’ll link to them when I find them). Someone pointed out that Holly playing softball and roller derby are often lesbian stereotypes so that could be a hint at her sexuality.
Karlee (Back 4 Blood) - lesbian (potential?)
Some people interpret Karlee’s interactions with Holly and Sharice as flirting or think she’s queer because of her punkish design and demeanor. Although Karlee was confirmed to not be trans (some people had confusion over her gender from a texturing error).
Counter-Strike
There are characters missing from this (from both the Asian and American versions of the series, apparently, as I’ve seen people talk about online), but this is what I’ve found so far? Please let me know if you find anything else! And to people who harass others trying to find queer rep in CS.. before y’all start about how gay people shouldn't exist in a terrorist game. Yeah. It doesn’t matter! But it matters even less when you sit here arguing with us about it. Some people just like the character lore okay. We aren’t supporting gay terrorism or whatever tf😭
Trapper - transgender (eh)
Many people thought this character was transgender due to the fact that when first released, she used the male variant of voice lines. It was later updated to the female version. The design is very gender ambiguous.
Safecracker Voltzmann - lesbian (maybe)
While no voice lines make this apparent, Voltzmann’s design is similar to the butch lesbian style. She’s very masculine in appearance and has short colored hair which is a popular stereotype and expressive choice among lgbtq. Her personality is very fun and eccentric, she’s described as being weird, this could be like how queer people are othered for being themselves and seen as different.
This also doesn’t count as much but in the Steam 20th anniversary art, there are two Counter-Strike dudes doing the Barbie and Ken mugshot meme. Usually people used this meme for ships (as well as Ken has a crush on Barbie in the movie).
Miscellaneous
Steam Pal (Steam Deck) - agender (canon??)
Steam Pal is the Steam Deck mascot for the Asian release. They have not been given a gender so far. The only possible instance was when Steam Pal was referred to as “Pal-Chan”, (the honorific “-chan” in Japanese is often used for young children or girls).
Player character (Ricochet) - transgender (maybe)
There is a cut female model from the game, potentially the player character instead of the male. (They were probably different characters though).
thats all for now! i have an lgbtq themed valve twitter where you can see updates as I find these.
