Photo credit: Jasin Boland/Marvel Studios
Tessa Thompson says that showcasing her and Valkyrie’s bisexuality in Marvel Studios‘ Thor: Love and Thunder has also helped others embrace their own bisexuality.
“It’s been tremendous,” she said to Variety regarding queer youth who come up to her to thank her for helping them be fully who they are. “I’ve had so many folks write me and say that they were able to come out or to talk to their family, which is a dream.”
She said that she’s never felt like she had to block who she is from the world.
“I feel really lucky in the sense that I work in real close proximity to people that I think want to advocate for me to be myself and be the fullest expression of myself,” she said. “I think the industry at large might put a tremendous amount of pressure, never mind their sexuality, but a real pressure, I think, to be a certain kind of thing. And I think that’s intensified particularly where sexual orientation is concerned and that’s a real problem. And it’s still a problem that I know friends of mine, dear friends of mine, have been deeply affected by.”
“I think we have a tremendous amount of work to do, but I feel really lucky to exist inside of a space, both in my professional space and my personal space and familial space, where I feel really loved and supported for who I am,” she continued. “And I know that is a privilege that not a lot of people share. So to folks that don’t have those spaces, I see them.”
Thompson also said how important it is to bring more queer characters to the forefront.
“I think part of really being able to normalize queer characters, LGBTQIA characters, is to allow them to exist in their humanity and that doesn’t always mean that they’re in love or in a partnership because plenty of us know that sometimes you’re know. So yeah, we’ll see if she finds love,” she said regarding her character.