Why I Think Cas Shouldn’t Be Canonically Straight: and No, it’s Not Because of Destiel.

With Cas’s humanity and the promise of sexual encounters looming on the horizon for season nine, we can’t help but speculate what sort of experience that’s going to be for Castiel. While I ship Destiel as much as the next person, I don’t think that it’s a good idea for Cas’ sexual experiences as a human to begin with Dean (though of course he was married to Daphne so I’d speculate that he’s no longer a virgin… more on that another time). 

Because here’s the thing… this show could really benefit from a character exploring their sexuality. And who better than the “utterly indifferent to sexual orientation” Castiel? We’ve already seen Cas go the heteronormative route with Daphne, and that was when he’d forgotten who he was. I think that a fallen Cas with agency would be the perfect opportunity for a character who is figuring out what he likes - and maybe that’s males, or females, or both at the same time. If we’re heading for End!Verse, we’ve already seen that the Cas of that future seems to be very relaxed and confident in his sexuality when organizing an orgy with several women. What’s to say that Cas wouldn’t also enjoy sexual experiences with men? 

I think one of the amazing things about Cas is how we have always seen that gender doesn’t really matter to him. His relationship with Dean, which Misha Collins has acknowledged is recognized as something beyond friendship by the cast, crew, and writers, is a good indication of that. And what is it about Dean that Cas is attracted to? It’s his soul, his essence, the Righteous Man. 

Castiel has spent almost all of his millennia of existence as a multidimensional wavelength of celestial intent, and so really for him the idea of restricting who you’re attracted to to what parts you have must seem a little ludicrous. Angels are agender beings, and for it to be expected for Cas’ sexuality to operate within the traditional confines of the gender of his vessel is unrealistic - because while Cas’ vessel is now more than ever before a part of him, it is not all of him. 

For these reasons, I think that Castiel’s character lends itself to a canonically bisexual or pansexual individual. Regardless of Destiel, having more positive queer representation on Supernatural can only be a good thing. And in regards to Destiel, I think that Dean would benefit greatly in his own sexual narrative from watching a character that he is close to and respects exploring their sexuality in a healthy manner and exposing him to new ideas, granting him a new sexual awareness.