Stranger Things: Queer Representation in Media

When LGBTQIA2S+ children grow up seeing people that look like and/or identify like us on screen, we learn about how we fit into social systems. We learn that our stories are important and that we deserve to be happy, have healthy relationships, and achieve their dreams. We learn that we are allowed to be complicated, fully developed, real humans. We may align with characters that help us realize and accept parts of ourselves. When we are exposed to media that repeatedly harms, minimizes, or excludes people like us, it can have incredibly detrimental effects. These may include enforcing stereotypes, inducing shame, and perpetuating discrimination, among other effects.

LGBTQIA2S+ individuals have been one of many communities that face the challenge of underrepresentation or misrepresentation across media. Across the years, we can see patterns of erasure and delegitimization occur. An important example is the Netflix show Stranger Things, which concluded with its fifth season in December 2025. Stranger Things was one of Netflix’s most successful and wide-reaching shows. This scale of success made the representation within very significant. The show has three LGBTQIA2S+ characters: Will Byers, Robin Buckley, and Vickie Dunne. These characters are a Gay boy, Lesbian girl, and Bisexual girl, respectively. All three are White, Cisgender teenagers.

These characters and their relationships are portrayed in minimizing and harmful ways. Will is part of a storyline where his unrequited feelings are used to prop up and fix a Heterosexual relationship. Robin and Vickie are in a relationship that is developed off screen and then discarded with no closure in the finale. Vickie is written with surface-level depth and then disappears from the show with no warning. 

The way these character’s stories are handled portrays ideas that LGBTQIA2S+ people hold little significance and are meant to be tossed away when no longer convenient. Some of the Heterosexual characters and relationships in the show are also treated poorly, but the effects are magnified on marginalized groups due to our continuous challenges gaining acceptance and protections. The show does not offer its viewers the chance to learn about nuanced, LGBTQIA2S+ characters and relationships. It does not teach viewers to place equal weight on our lives and stories. It also does not present positive, healthy examples that help us understand and define ourselves. What it instead does is perpetuate systemic marginalization of LGBTQIA2S+ people. It teaches viewers that it is okay for us to sacrifice our happiness for Heterosexual relationships. It teaches that our love and our journeys are not as important as those of non-LGBTQIA2S+ people. It teaches that we can be ignored and forgotten with no consequences. 

These lessons may not initially seem important on a larger scale, but they compound to something much larger and insidious. Each misrepresentation is a drop of water in an already overflowing bucket of discrimination and prejudice. These impacts may not have been the showrunners’ intentions, but they are real and they are important to address. A bit more care, love, and consideration go a long way when creating inclusive, meaningful media that includes LGBTQIA2S+ characters. We deserve to have those kinds of stories just as much as non-LGBTQIA2S+ communities.

A Final Word

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