'Star Wars' introduces first LGBT character

LOS ANGELES, March 10 (UPI) -- The upcoming Star Wars novel Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp will feature the canon's first LGBT character.

Kelly Shapiro, the editor at Star Wars book publisher Del Rey confirmed the addition of Moff Mors, a gay character, during an interview with Big Shiny Robot Friday.

Mors, a lesbian, is described as being an "incredibly capable leader" who works hard to prevent "absolute failure."

Shapiro said the character will be the first gay "character in canon" adding that other characters have been described, but not labeled as LGBT in the past.

"There was a gay Mandalorian couple, so it's not brand new. It's not something I really think about, it just makes sense," said Shapiro.

"There's a lot of diversity -- there should be diversity in Star Wars. You have all these different species and it would be silly to not also recognize that there's a lot of diversity in humans. If there's any message at all, it's simply that Star Wars is as diverse (or more so because they have alien species) as humanity is in real life and we don't want to pretend it's not. It just felt perfectly natural."

Kemp's Lords of the Sith will be out for sale on April 28.