The Last of Us’ Bill One of The “Most Intriguing New LGBT Characters of 2013″ According to GLAAD

Naughty Dog's The Last of Us can line up another award for this ending year, as the LBGT media advocacy organization GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) named the game's quirky character Bill as one of the "most intriguing new LGBT characters of 2013"

[ssj4wolf]

Ellie: oh why are all these pages stuck together? XD

[ifistbrowni]

im just fucking with you.

EDIT: just read through all the comments. I thought they made it pretty obvious he was gay. Even before picking up the collectible letter that you could give to Bill (optional). Maybe there was some kind of optional dialogue you guys missed or something, but i was certain he was gay.

[mikeslemonade]

I'm a shallow story observer, but for some reason I read into Bill and Frank as partners like Joel and Tess. I thought they were just survival partners not romantic partners.

[sobekflakmonkey]

yeah, I had the feeling he was gay as well, the game never screams it at you, but they definitely hint at it.

[Salooh]

To be honest i didn't see it or feel it. I was shocked when i found it that i missed something like that lol..

[specialguest]

Oh wow i feel so clueless. Haha I truly had no idea and just thought they were duo survivers. For some reason I did not connect the dots.

[frostypants]

Yeah, I thought it was pretty obvious. The way he kept saying he was his partner, and how emotional he seemed about it, it seemed clear. I liked how they didn't scream it at you though. Very realistic. Probably the second biggest punch to the gut event in the game aside from the beginning. That character was awesome in general.

[Giul_Xainx]

I knew he was gay because I know some gay people who are drama queens. And boy was bill a drama queen.

[itBourne]

Not quite sure how people didnt realize he was gay.. it was pretty damn obvious. If you missed this I feel sorry for you, because you probably also do not see how truly deep this story is and most likely do not fully grasp the ending yourself. Let alone all the other subtle details.

[Thatguy-310]

Not just Bill but Sam and his brother and Marlene. They didn't stereotype those characters like many other games would. The Last of Us is a good game because of how it tackles everything from story to characters in a mature way

[JsonHenry]

How did I miss that Bill was gay?

[Eyeco]

How did you ? there's a cutscene where Ellie finds a certain kind of magazine that belongs to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[JsonHenry]

I didn't pay attention. I just assumed it was naked women in the magazine.

When you have kids cut-scenes become times for getting juice, telling them to stop coloring on the walls, or figuring out why they are crying so you miss half of what is on screen. :/

[medman]

Naughty Dogs brilliance in The Last of Us is all about the understated horrors within that game world. From pedophilia and rape to the consumption of human flesh, they don't beat the player over the head with any of it, but it's definitely there. Bill being gay was just another example of the team at ND leaving suggestive hints for the player, and letting the player fill in the blanks of the experience. They basically said it without needing to say it outright. Naughty Dog is awesome.

[Defectiv3_Detectiv3]

Never realized this. Not sure if it's all that significant but kudos to Naughty Dog?

[nutcase13]

I loved the Bill-Ellie scenes, so much emotion in them. Even though it is not related.......HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE :S

[Bimkoblerutso]

Yeah, Naughty Dog are some of the best around at writing characters. They don't write "gay characters" or "straight characters" or this or that type of character. They write characters that extend well beyond single word descriptors.

GLAAD is just another support group that revels in self-irony on a regular basis, but it's good to see that they got one right for a change.

[Killzoner99]

Sony is the most progressive thinking video game company in the world and this only proves it.This is one for the history books.

[1nsomniac]

!? what does that even mean, what does Sony have to do with it & what is for the history books?

If your going to make a completely irrelevant comment at least make sure it makes sense!

[1nsomniac]

It's not their job to censor. They're not the developer & they're not a governing body. I think your taking credit away from where its due & giving a little too much to the wrong people.

I know a lot of funding & help would of been given from Sony & they could of requested things be altered or removed but their not entitled to it by any stretch.

[Killzoner99]

Who published the game? This is a Sony game that features a gay character that GLADD is praising. When has that ever happened before? Sony is building relations between the gay community and gamers . How can you not recognize that? The bigotry on this site makes me sick.

[MadLad]

Another pointless, and this time wholly unwarranted, praise of Sony from Killzoner.
Not surprised.

While I am generalizing a bit, I always thought the Japanese, as a whole, were a rather traditional and fairly conservative people.
I wouldn't exactly classify them as the face of a libertarian society.

[E2S]

couldn't agree more.

[AndrewLB]

Oh man... if you had any idea about the true nature of the progressive agenda.

People who call themselves progressives are what the commies used to call "useful idiots", and are someone who believes they are supporting a specific political agenda, while in reality they are supporting its exact opposite. The term was first coined by Vladimir Lenin to describe American Progressives in the early 1900's who thought they were working for a utopian society while in reality they were unwittingly supporting Communism. Under Communism, over a hundred million people were murdered in the 20th century. Hundreds of millions more were raped, tortured, enslaved, and beaten. Lenin used divide and conquer tactics, as well deceit to convince useful idiots to help put him in power. And once he took power, these divided groups were easy prey, and those posing any significant threat were murdered by the government. He essentially wiped out the people who enabled his revolution, the useful idiots.

[GraveLord]

Didn't notice any gay characters in the The Last Of Us...

Edit: Thanks for the replies. I may have noticed that if I played it through more than once :D

[1nsomniac]

There isn't any direct references apart from as @ssj4wolf mentioned, the magazine Ellie steals from Bill before they leave is a gay porn mag - with the pages stuck together.

[cyclindk]

How would you "notice" anyway... they might all have been gay for all you know, just closeted. That's the thing about it, no one can know except people themselves... you might be, I might be... 1nsomniac might be, lolrus might be...

[cyclindk]

Opinion doesn't mean you don't have to support your statements, though technically you don't HAVE to do anything, but if you expect people to take even your opinions seriously you MUST support them.

paraphrasing, "they've done more bad than good."

Support this... ready, set, go!

[rambi80]

SPOILERS

Joel can find a letter from Bills male partner in a house that he never shows to Bill.

[The_Troll_Whisperer]

Which house?

[SkippyPaccino]

You should hand bill the note next time... It's priceless

[cyclindk]

I read that... didn't take anything overly intimate about it though.. maybe I should reread it.

I mean I always read in between the lines, but I just took it as a partner to partner sort of note, not "partner" to "partner."

[jino]

Huh? He was gay? I thought he was just friends with the guy.

[frostypants]

Did you find the letter? That was kind of a giveaway as most people wouldn't write such a note to a regular friend.

[Simco876]

This gay man is *spoilers*

a zombie killing machine in the game!

[Eonjay]

LOL. He turned them into a defense force.

[theshredded]

kindof surprised how people didn't know he's Gay

[JediDiah]

LGBT is tolerant until you have a different POV.....Duck Dynasty says Hi!

[L0Lcano]

I agree, they are almost fanatical now and anyone who shows personal disagreement is smeared as some hateful homophobe likened to racists and bullies. I guess they really capitalised on the momentum and campaigns and are like juggernauts steamrolling opposition..

[MadLad]

To be fair, and not really meaning to add fuel to the fire, didn't his comment make bestiality the next step from being gay?

[E2S]

Did LGBT cause his to lose his job? No, A+E made that decision.

[Conzul]

That's like saying people don't kill people, guns do.

[DevonW]

That's an idiotic statement. He was suspended because he broke his contract. Or do you work in a business where you can just do whatever the hell you like, your employers be damned?

[frostypants]

Oh wow...did you really just use the "they're being intolerant of intolerance" line? Wow, man. Just...wow. Guess what? Racism is just a point of view too. Doesn't make it ok.

[Underworld]

It is not intolerance. People have legitimate, deeply held beliefs, many religious. They don't hate gay people, they don't wish to see harm come to them, they just have a moral disagreement. That is far different to racists who just straight up hate and want harm to come to people of other races for no reason. Being tolerant doesn't mean you have to agree with everyone and everything everyone does.

[DevonW]

Underworld> I'm sorry, but are you honestly saying racism is different from the hate people express towards the LGBT community? I could be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure just as many people are beaten and killed due to their sexuality as they are because of their race. Get a clue.

[E2S]

If you want to be a hateful asshole, you have every right to be. You have rights as in you can't get beat up or shot or get put in jail for being said asshole.

However, everyone else has the right to fire you, laugh at you, mock you, basically make you feel like the piece of crap you are. Freedom of speech is not freedom from others reacting to your speech. I wish more people could tell the difference.

[Evilsnuggle]

I just thought they were good friends didn't know there were "lovers". I think two men living together all alone in a abandoned town don't mean your gay in a apocalyptic world. caveat now two men living together in a abandoned town in a non apocalyptic world means you are gay. LOL LOL lol

[TheLostCause]

Best LBGT characters according to GLAAD.... Am I the only one who saw the headline and didn't have a clue what they were talking about? :p

[BABY-JEDI]

ND are going to have to buy a bigger shed for all their trophys
LoL
Thankfully ND didn't give us a flash back sequence with regards to the sticky pages of the mag. I don't think I could cope with that in a video game
> : O

[dmonee]

I'm either ignorant or just accepting of it but I didn't even notice while playin that the character Bill was homosexual. It went over my head. I loved his character though.Maybe he will be playable via some long awaited DLC! Then it will be a super win for the GLADD and gamers and we will rejoice together!!!!!!!!!

[jino]

Wow that went right over my head while playing. I did only do one playthrough though.

[ajax17]

I'm surprised so many people didn't know he was gay. I mean wasn't the gay porn magazine enough?

[Noctis]

wasn't it like super obvious tho??? i loved that he wasn't a stereotypical gay guy too.
4 for you naughty dog, you go naughty dog

[pop-voxuli]

Oh lord.......

[Bathyj]

Bill was a great character because W Earl Brown is a great actor. Anyone who hasn't seen Deadwood or his one off role in Justified should check it out.

[Gardenia]

So did Naughty Dog officially made him gay or was it made up by the GLAAD. Because nobody here, including me, had any idea that he is gay

[Sevir]

Then what happened to you is you missed the smaller tidbits. But it's clearly obvious! Elle jokes about it when they meet, The "Note" you find which you should have read and given it to Bill, in the house where his partner was hung after he "turned" and bill gets super emotional. Hell the most OBVIOUS telling is the male porn magazines Elle picks up from Bill's base/fortress and reads while Joel and here head,in to Philly where she asks "why are the pages stuck together" and you can clearly but briefly see naked men on the pages.

It's an expertly handled dipiction of characters that simply addresses the human element. No superfluous labels or crazy stereotypical depictions of a particular subset of people that overemphasizes the irrational and often negative outlook that society has on the LGBT community.

It wasn't thrown in your face, it was hinted at with enough evidence for you to fig up and confirm, if you were really looking to explore each of the characters ND introduced in the Story. If you simply played it for the action you'd miss the smaller important details of each of the characters.

It seems like most here missed it while others picked up the clues and went deeper in exploring the characters the way ND intended it when they wrote each and every one of them.

[DevonW]

I myself am gay and have played The Last of Us four times, from beginning to end. Not once did I ever think Bill was gay.

[Sevir]

You missed it then bud. If you really paid attention to the clues ND left you'd see it.

[Rhezin]

Yeah I know right? I just thought he meant partner as in partner like a partner you have in the westerns, a friend you can rely on. Now, partner means something totally different now *sigh*

[AceBlazer13]

When ellie brought up the mags i thought she was just messin around. Wow, bill being gay flew over my head. He's still badass though.