DC’s Batgirl #19 revealed that a character in the book is transgender, the first such character in a Big Two universe.  The character Alysia Yeoh, Barbara (Batgirl) Gordon’s roommate, revealed that she is a transwoman in a scene with Gordon in the issue.


Writer Gail Simone said in an interview with Wired that she’d pitched the idea to DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio, who quickly approved.  In the interview, Simone described the lack of diversity in comics as an existential threat.  "It’s the issue for superhero comics," she said.  "Look, we have a problem most media don’t have, which is that almost all the tentpoles we build our industry upon were created over a half century ago... at a time where the characters were almost without exception white, cis-gendered, straight, on and on.  It’s fine--it’s great that people love those characters.  But if we only build around them, then we look like an episode of The Andy Griffith Show for all eternity."

Simone said she is also planning to introduce a transgender hero in a mainstream comic.