I attended the Tipping Point for LGBT Portrayals in Comics panel. It
was an interesting discussion with professionals in the biz who are
gay and/or have a major hand in the gay portrayals that are appearing
in comics currently. The discussion was initially heavily directed at
Greg Rucka who is writing Detective Comics (the title that DC Comics
gets its name from) which has recently been taken over by two lesbian
characters. It is the first major book to be headlined by a gay
character. Rucka made a lot of good points over the course of the
panel, whether I agree with them or not. He talked about the
mainstream comics audience (young straight males) being more receptive
to lesbian characters, and while that is a sign that there is more
work to do it is also a window through which to affect change. Rucka
also talked about his wariness to depict gay characters negatively -
as villains or flawed - because he doesn't want to give the opposition
any ammunition. This point met with some opposition, myself included,
but I see his point. I want gay characters to be treated like any
other character in a good story, but they are scarce. If most of the
gay characters we have in comics are villains what does that do to
change the perception that bigoted or ignorant people have of them?
Show me 20 sustained, featured gay good guys and I'll start giving you
villains. It is going to be hard to treat gay characters equitably -
good and bad - before being gay is irreversibly separated from the
concepts of good and evil.
To address the title of this post. Perry Moore spent much of his time
trying to convince the comic-loving audience that comics are evil to
gays and only books could possibly be seen as getting it right - or,
at least, that is how it seemed. I don't know if the man was just
offensively bad at making his point or if he was really so
dissatisfied with incremental change that he was willing to attack the
people attempting to make it. As much as I would like there to be a
monumental shift, an easy button for gay equality, there just isn't
going to be one. I appreciate Moore's sentiment, it was an integral
part of drama-con, but to say that every gay character and every gay
moment ought to be the main feature the comic that contains it is
ludicrous. Asking the authors and artists of these books to tell a
bad story for the sole purpose of ramming the gay agenda down readers'
throats is the worst possible tactic. To Moore's defense, I too am
anxious for change. It is easy to become frustrated and discouraged.
It was all too easy for me to look at Joss Whedon, who has done a
beautiful job of writing lesbian characters and ask why his only gay
character is closeted comic relief. It is hard to be excited about
incremental change, it is without comfort to accept slow progress when
all you're asking for is a chance given to everyone else you know. I
want to have heroes, I want to have role models, I want to characters
in books and film and comics, that I can look to, emulate, connect
with and be inspired by with out the nagging realization that they
aren't quite like me. My relationship with so much of culture is
experienced from behind a glass wall. I often forget it is there, but
then I collide with it all the harder.
I've got to believe it's getting better, getting better all the time...
