Hmm

Gail, I’m gay and even I’m perturbed by the hooplah over the DC outing (I don’t know what to call this event yet.) I feel like my sexuality is being used as a stunt.

Furthermore, I’d rather see a new gay male character in the DCU. I’d rather see new characters period instead of more rehashes of characters we already know.

P.S. I also want my Catman back! (And I was even a little upset when you said he’d be bi when he returns but at least that doesn’t contradict anything.)

— yachirobi

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, hmm.

First, I have some mixed feelings about some of this stuff as well. I don’t want lgbt people to be publicity stunt fodder.

 

In some ways, some of these things feel like baby steps. But it’s clear that these baby steps do still need to be taken.  And while I am concerned about the ‘stunt’ potential, it is at least a positive thing to see companies COURTING a gay and gay-friendly audience, rather than merely ‘tolerating’ them. That seems positive to me.

 

Catman spoke to me as a bi character, from fairly early on. I wish I had gotten it in canon while the book was still around instead of Dumbledore-ing it, but I make no apologies for outing him as bi. That is who the character is, to me.

 

I think people can have valid objections to changing a character…I pointed these examples out because they seemed genuinely hostile to the very idea of a prominent DC character being gay.

 

I often hear, “I would rather DC create a NEW character that is lgbtq or POC than remake an old character lgbtq or POC.”  I get the thinking, but I think it is unrealistic in some ways. We are in an industry where the tentpole characters were almost ALL created during the times of the Comics Code Authority, where even the mention of an lgbtq character was not allowed.

 

If our tentpole characters are all from that time, it is going to skew the DCU (or MU) heavily towards a white, cis-gendered, straight default EVERY TIME. Creating new characters is wonderful and important, but we can do both. We can have a Latina QUESTION and an Hispanic BLUE BEETLE and an Asian ATOM, and a gay BATWOMAN, and still create lots of new characters to help make the DCU and MU look more like a modern, breathing, growing fictional landscape that INCLUDES diversity.  One thing does not preclude the other. If it’s done tastefully, and with care, look at what happens…you get a Renee, a Jaime, a Ryan, and a Kate. I think they, among others, are the perfect argument for why this is worth doing and that it can be done well.

 

No one is saying people can’t be upset their favorite characters get changed, sometimes. I just think these posters on Dan’s board were mad for the wrong reasons.