Posts Tagged ‘gay’

An article by Andy Mangels at PrismComics.com analyzes in detail Marvel Comics ever-changing attitudes towards openly gay characters in their comics line. Seems like Marvel wants to appear open-minded but doesn't want to offend… well, anybody, really, but gays get the short end. My favorite bit is this quick run down of the last few characters seen:

- Freedom Ring – Introduced in Marvel Team-Up #21 (May 2006), he is violently killed in Marvel Team-Up #24 (September 2006). Series is cancelled with #25.

- Northstar – Between February 16th and March 9th, 2005, THREE versions of Northstar were killed in three separate Marvel realities: Wolverine #25; X-Men: Age of Apocalypse #2; X-Men: The End. The "main" Northstar is resurrected from the dead as a villain in Wolverine #26. Current whereabouts unknown.

- Wiccan & Hulkling — 2 of 3 characters singled out for torture in Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways (September 2006).

- Karolina Dean — now appearing in Runaways, the third of three characters tortured in Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways (September 2006).

- Frenchie DuChamp— the previously womanizing alcoholic sidekick of Moon Knight is revealed to be gay in Moon Knight #3 (June 2006), is now a double-amputee, and is nearly beaten to death with his prosthetic leg.

- Ultimate Jarvis – killed in Ultimates Vol. II #9 (Dec. 2005)

- Minor characters Flatman and Living Lightning, both outed in GLA in mid-2005 have appeared in current Civil War books. They are not yet dead, nor tortured.

- Ultimate Northstar and Colossus — currently appearing in Ultimate X-Men. Colossus apparently "came out" in issue #65 (January 2006), Northstar in #46 (May 2004).

Oy. That supercloset's looking safer and safer, an odd situation in a comics company that made its mark with characters that were all outsiders, misunderstood, human. You GLBT heroes might want to head over to DC and hook up with their new lesbian Batwoman. Safety in numbers…

'Star Trek' actor George Takei comes out

George Takei, who as helmsman Sulu steered the Starship Enterprise through three television seasons and six movies, has come out as a homosexual in the current issue of Frontiers, a biweekly Los Angeles magazine covering the gay and lesbian community.

Takei told The Associated Press on Thursday that his new onstage role as psychologist Martin Dysart in "Equus," helped inspire him to publicly discuss his sexuality.

[...]

"The world has changed from when I was a young teen feeling ashamed for being gay," he said. "The issue of gay marriage is now a political issue. That would have been unthinkable when I was young."

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I'm guessing this is not a big discovery for his friends and family if he's been with a guy for 18 years, but now I'm wondering what happens with his career. Does the Federation have a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy?

VFW motorcycles drown out protestors

God spoke with the roar of revving motorcycle engines during a protest Tuesday by six members of a Kansas church that believes God is punishing the U.S. for protecting homosexuals by killing soldiers overseas.

Chelsea residents, however, believed God spoke on their behalf as the engines of more than 100 Veterans of Foreign Wars motorcycles drowned out the voices of the Westboro Baptist Church members who were allowed to protest from 1-1:30 p.m. before the 2 p.m. funeral services for Staff Sgt. John Glen Doles.

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This cheered me immensely. Maybe a group of people will start following Rev Fred around just to drown him out…

According to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, television is still under-representing homosexuals far out of balance to actual population ratios. This is for scripted and network broadcast shows only; otherwise the Bravo channel alone probably makes up the difference.

In its annual report, GLAAD estimated that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) characters represent less than 2 percent of all characters in the 2005-06 television season on the broadcast networks, and most of those are in "wacky" neighbor roles.

It has reason to be disappointed, I think. Homosexual and transgendered people do live among us and, amazingly enough, also have troubles and issues and challenges and triumphs. The complaint that LGBT characters are almost always unfair and insulting stereotypes is a completely valid one.

Or it would be if gay people were the only ones being stereotyped.

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Welcome to our Gaypril Film Festival! Inexplicably ignored by those uppity film people, the GFF celebrates those hilarious movies with a strong gay presence (as opposed to movies with a strong gay undercurrent, like The Scorpion King). Great movies, movies that make even hardened heterosexuals laugh their asses off.

Or, as we put it around here, Homophobe Nightmare movies (HNM). See, we've got an acquaintance with a serious macho attitude, the type that cannot tolerate the concept of male homosexuality (although female homosexuality is pretty cool), and in fact gets infuriated when the slightest joke is made about his own masculinity. We, of course, are sensitive to his feelings, and respect his opinion as we respect all diversity, even those we disagree with.

But here's some of the movies we play, purely by happy accident, whenever he's around. To be a true HNM it can't just be about homosexuality or even guys in dresses. The Wedding Banquet is a hilarious film about a gay man, but it doesn't give your average homophobe the right queasy feeling. Some Like It Hot and Tootsie are great and funny movies that have men in drag, but it's obvious that the men are wearing frilly outfits as a desperation move, and not because they felt like being pretty. Pink Flamingos is funny and has a transvestite, but getting all the way through it could be seen as a heroic achievement all by itself and not right for our purposes. And The Crying Game is a perfect homophobe nightmare movie, but it's not funny, and hence ineligible for any list on this island. No, we want the funny movies that make macho men uncomfortable, uneasy, uncertain, and fun to watch.

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