Bingo!
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Alternative perspective: Many groups of people have felt like outsiders in their own environments. Not invited to the club. And that absolutely sucks. We are now very intentionally trying to help people feel more included. More part of the club. To do that, we have to be a bit overt. Maybe even over-correct to some degree. Once people are feeling more included and welcomed and part of the club, this will probably course correct again to feel a bit less overt. But, even though some of this overtness feels heavy and even uncomfortable to me, itâs not really about me. As a white, straight male, Iâm in most of the clubs the day Iâm born, for better or for worse. But my world is not everyoneâs world. I want more people in the club. Weâre a far better community when everyone is in the club. If a gay Captain America isnât for you, donât buy the book. Hell, X-Men isnât for me, so I donât buy it. But, itâs about opening the door to let others feel invited in.
Again, this is just my take on this topic.
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Bingo! Representation matters.
I agree, but constantly telling people they are victims or victimizers doesnât unify anybody. It just divides.
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There are some great examples of subtly-handled queer stories out there. Mitchells Vs. The Machines comes to mind. The main protagonist is gay, but it somehow is completely beside the entire point of the film. By the end youâre like, oh she ended up with her? Good for them. And thatâs about it.
There are also tons of great stories involving women right now. I heard of a women representation test for film and television. If the particular work has one single conversation between two women about a topic which is not a man, the film or series passes the test. It sounds easy, but youâd be surprised how few film and shows actually pass that test.
Ozark is a good example of a show that passes that test. Dead to Me passes. There are more and more going that direction which is great. However, I usually end up about a season in before I realize the show passes. That means to me they are telling a good story and the chess piecesâ identities are beside the point. Anyway, point is, the course correction is out there. The subtle narratives are happening.
There is rampant homosexual, non-binary gender roles, group relationships and other queer orientation examples in animal behavior. Just ask any biologist or scientist specializing in animal cognition.
Animals are normative in behavior. They donât refrain from behavior through complex social and moral justifications. Humans are the only animals burdened with complex and cultural moral codes. Most of those codes do little to actually advance the species either. Whether or not an animal chooses to have sex with a similarly sexed animal isnât a detriment to that species unless it decreases their numbers to the point of being endangered or extinct. Thereâs little evidence that has ever happened.
â[U]p to 8% of rams engage in exclusively homosexual relations.â
â Up to 50% of all male killer whales have engaged in gay sex before!â
â[U]p to 10% of penguins in zoo populations are in a same-sex relationshipâ
â 94% of sexual activity observed among giraffes is actually gay sexâ
The list goes on and on.
So, given that we have time travel, space aliens, super powers, light speed spaceships, ghost, cryptozoological creatures and all manner of other things far less common than gay relationships represented in comics, Iâd say gay relationships are normal enough to be represented in comics.
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My daughterâs friend has two mommies. She talks about her two mommies quite a bit. Should I be concerned that my daughter may now be nudged down a path of becoming a lesbian because her friend is talking about her two mommies? Not in the least bit. If thatâs the path she chooses, so be it, but it wonât be because her friend has normalized her two mommies.
Also, whatâs ânormalâ to you? A white male who is dealing with things a teenager deals with? Thatâs Peter Parker. People deal with other issues based on their backgrounds. Again, representation matters. Being able to relate to a story matters. It makes you feel less alone.
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I welcome comics that reflect a variety of life experiences and tell new stories. A chunk of those experiences are people who are LGBTQ+. That is my short and sweet take on it all.
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Thatâs what happens when kids and young adults KNOW they are queer and are in a home/environment with no support - or worse, their safety actively endangered - repressing and lying to themselves and others, think their religion is damning them, etc. In other words, excluded and condemned.
Ask yourself how old you were when you knew you were straight and if a gay comic book character would have changed your preference. I think that notion is absurd.
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I remember being 11 years old and finding out my favorite rock star Freddie Mercury was gay. Still my favorite. Still straight.
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Everything you basically said here is just complete and utter bullshit! You should go crawl back under that rock you live and come from. Thatâs all I have to say.
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Bigger question: Do children under 13 even read comics anymore? I know children under 40 do, like myself.
A ton of kids and teens these days seem to be really into manga. Regular comics quite a bit less. Lots of original graphic novels are popular tho. The school my wife teaches at has a lot of popular books.
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I will say, Iâve noticed more younger kids in the comic shop lately. Itâs very possible they are tagging along with their dad while he buys stuff. Iâm not sure if I see a lot of kids (or really any kids) buying new weekly comics.
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Im not so sure we, the human species, should be using animalistic normative behaviour as justification for the things we do. A lot of animals eat their own children, abandon their young, they sexually assault other animals, and theyâre murderers and cannibals among other horrible things that have no place in a civilized society. They may also be gay. I just donât think we can look at the behaviour of wild animals and correlate them to the human condition. Im not looking to argue, I just think your premise is flawed, or incomplete. 
So what does any of this discussion have to do with a gay Captain America and their spec value? We are so off track there isnât even a track so much as a dirt road with a creepy gas station attendant telling us he knows a, âShortcut,â that will obviously get us murdered out in the hills where there isnât cell reception. My point is, letâs get on track or Iâm gonna lock this subject down.
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From the article (creator of the character), âI live in L.A. I live in the city, so thereâs an unhoused population that is really unfairly filled with a lot of LGBTQ+. Aaron is a teen runaway and kind of reflects that reality.â
Character makes a lot more sense as a real world problem many of us do not ever see ourselves but the writer does.
Is telling a gay writer he canât write gay characters any different than telling a black writer he canât write black characters as it may offend somebody?
Gay Cap is an animal lover, hence the discussion about animals. Its all very apt.
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Slightly off track here but within the context of the last several postsâŠ. I have no way to confirm this butâŠâŠ at the LCS this week some dude was chatting up a storm and I heard him say the average age of people buying current comics (new monthly releases) is people in their 30âs. ???
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âCivilized societyâ tends to house all those things as well, though.
All other animals have the distinct badge of honor that they arenât the species actively ruining the planet chasing shiny coins and digital numbers. Iâd say thereâs still a lot to learn from them.
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