Green Lantern is Gay

[search_rip]

... he's really not an 'iconic superhero.'

I say he could be iconic as a "Golden Age era, JSA superhero" but definitely not that popular anymore, there's even a big list of other well know and loved Green Lanterns

 

[spectrenihlus]

So what does this mean for his wife, and his kids.

That's the thing about changing the sexuality and/or race of a established character, it creates ripple effects that force the change of other characters. I have no problem with gay characters I just wish they wouldn't change already established characters to add more "diversity". If you need to have a character to be gay create a new character, like Obsidian.

Also look at it from the reverse can you imagine if someone decided to change an established gay character and make them straight?

 

[mindlesspuppet]

He's a man who draws power from jewelry, what did you expect?

Actually Alan Scott doesn't, he carries an actual lantern with a green flame in it. No ring.

Edit: Well damn, my bad. Just did some searching and it turns out he too has a ring now. My apologies.

 

[artanis_neravar]

So what does this mean for his wife, and his kids.

That's the thing about changing the sexuality and/or race of a established character, it creates ripple effects that force the change of other characters. I have no problem with gay characters I just wish they wouldn't change already established characters to add more "diversity". If you need to have a character to be gay create a new character, like Obsidian.

Also look at it from the reverse can you imagine if someone decided to change an established gay character and make them straight?

Well it's a reboot, so he might not have kids anymore. Also there are plenty of grown men (and women) who are married with kids before realizing that they are gay.

 

[ImSkeletor]

So what does this mean for his wife, and his kids.

That's the thing about changing the sexuality and/or race of a established character, it creates ripple effects that force the change of other characters. I have no problem with gay characters I just wish they wouldn't change already established characters to add more "diversity". If you need to have a character to be gay create a new character, like Obsidian.

Also look at it from the reverse can you imagine if someone decided to change an established gay character and make them straight?

I agree. I don't mind a gay Green Lantern but making Alan Scott suddenly gay feels off to me.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

I'd make a joke about his new sexuality and his somewhat flamboyant costume but I'm not sure what sort of person would design his particular outfit, truth be told.

Also, Alan Scott is Golden Age which means he was active during WWII. Not sure if the reboot of Earth-2 still holds to that timeline but would his homosexuality be really frowned upon back then?

 

[tzimize]

He's a man who draws power from jewelry, what did you expect?

Haaaaaaaahaha :>

OT: Why not make a NEW gay superhero? Reboots...blearg.

 

[Depulcator]

Well He was my second guess.

 

[Sovereignty]

He's a man who draws power from jewelry, what did you expect?

Be fair, there are lots of non-gay Green Lanterns who draw their power from jewelry. It just so happens that this one's weakness is wood.

(I am ashamed of myself.)

Oh boy did that one give me splinters.

Poor puns aside, kudos my good chum, kudos.

 

[spectrenihlus]

So what does this mean for his wife, and his kids.

That's the thing about changing the sexuality and/or race of a established character, it creates ripple effects that force the change of other characters. I have no problem with gay characters I just wish they wouldn't change already established characters to add more "diversity". If you need to have a character to be gay create a new character, like Obsidian.

Also look at it from the reverse can you imagine if someone decided to change an established gay character and make them straight?

Well it's a reboot, so he might not have kids anymore. Also there are plenty of grown men (and women) who are married with kids before realizing that they are gay.

Here is the thing though, he was never supposed to be gay, every-time he was previously written it was as a straight person. This is the complete wrong way to take a character with established history out of the closet. Also what happens when the current continuity begins to add the previous established canon into it's story? Stuff like the fact that he previously berates his own son for being gay is going to kind of stand out. I mean look at the way they wrote Renly Baratheon's character in A Song of Ice and Fire, that is how you write a proper gay character. You don't just arbitrarily decide that a character is gay now. The worst part about it is that he is now forever gay, can you imagine what would happen if they tried to change him back to being straight? DC would never hear the end of it.

 

[tzimize]

He's a man who draws power from jewelry, what did you expect?

Haaaaaaaahaha :>

OT: Why not make a NEW gay superhero? Reboots...blearg.

The reboot happened 10 months ago, what would be the point in it if they didn't actually change characters with it?

Not sure what your point is. I'm saying reboots are more or less stupid. If it happened 10, 1 or 0.001 months ago is not really relevant is it?

 

[Rule Britannia]

Take that One Million Moms!

 

[spectrenihlus]

So what does this mean for his wife, and his kids.

That's the thing about changing the sexuality and/or race of a established character, it creates ripple effects that force the change of other characters. I have no problem with gay characters I just wish they wouldn't change already established characters to add more "diversity". If you need to have a character to be gay create a new character, like Obsidian.

Also look at it from the reverse can you imagine if someone decided to change an established gay character and make them straight?

I agree. I don't mind a gay Green Lantern but making Alan Scott suddenly gay feels off to me.

Neither do I, I mean they could have done an interesting story where his already gay son becomes a green lantern like his sister Jade. Or just make a brand new green lantern, it's not exactly that difficult.

 

[Nurb]

Gay dude with big flashy rings? Liberace approves

 

[RatRace123]

Kind of a cop out. I guess Alan Scott is technically iconic given his title of "Green Lantern", but it's not the Green Lantern that's familiar to non-comic fans.

Add to that, he's not even of the same universe as the mainstream heroes.

 

[ReiverCorrupter]

What's next? Lois catches Superman fucking Jimmy Olsen?

The genuine cover art for a non-parody in-canon Superman Comic. Oh the innocent times. I am afraid I do not have context.

But seriously, you just made a slippery slope argument, a serious one unlike my joke one. You aren't giving any mechanism for how one can lead to another, only how it is apparently an equal step but to an unacceptable place.

Just because We go from A to B doesn't mean we will go from B to C.

Nope. But, in this specific case, you're altering the genetic make-up of a superhero.

If you want a comic analogy, this is akin to removing Cyclops's eye-beams or Wolverine's healing factor.

Sexuality isn't something you can "alter," this is the wrong message.

Argh... for the love of... why? Why do liberals have to go way overboard and make outlandish scientifically unproven claims in order to counter Christian fundamentalists? WE DON'T KNOW WHAT CAUSES PEOPLE TO BE GAY. Sheer common sense will tell you that it isn't a choice that someone makes overnight; no one wakes up one morning and says to him/herself, "huh, ya know what? Heterosexuality is kinda boring, I think I'll be gay!" But on the other hand, there is little-to-no evidence for it being genetic either.

Considering homosexuality makes you less likely to pass on your genes there would be a pretty strong selective pressure against it on the individual level. Now, you might argue that it could function as a population control device and that there might be a group selective pressure for the trait. However, not only is group selection much more complex and harder to instantiate than normal selection, but this would also imply that the phenotype would have to only present itself during conditions of overpopulation. This means that the gene would only activate itself under specific developmental conditions (e.g. perhaps mothers produce a certain hormone during pregnancy when exposed to stresses associated with overpopulation). This would mean that genotype =/= phenotype; i.e. that homosexuality is not purely genetic but rather a product of a genetic predisposition combined with certain developmental factors.

And that is just from the abstract level of evolutionary theory. Sexuality encompasses an extremely broad range of behavioral phenomena. It likely has both hormonal and neurochemical aspects as well as higher cognitive (computational) aspects, and it probably involves a complex interplay between very different parts of the brain. To be perfectly frank, cognitive science is still in its infancy. We can't even fully explain memory or dreams, much less something as complex and multifaceted as human sexuality. And we do know that at least some aspects of human sexuality are learned from society (fetishes, bodily ideals, etc.), so we cannot reasonably claim that sexual orientation is entirely innate.

If you start being a contrarian and claiming the exact opposite of what your adversary claims without forethought or context then you only hurt your cause.

Or as Nietzsche put it: "at times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid."

 

[tzimize]

He's a man who draws power from jewelry, what did you expect?

Haaaaaaaahaha :>

OT: Why not make a NEW gay superhero? Reboots...blearg.

The reboot happened 10 months ago, what would be the point in it if they didn't actually change characters with it?

Not sure what your point is. I'm saying reboots are more or less stupid. If it happened 10, 1 or 0.001 months ago is not really relevant is it?

Sorry, I thought you thought this was the reboot. As in everything in DC had been the exact same and then out of nowhere they made this guy gay.

No worries. I dont have a clue really as to what else was changed, I simply dont like reboots. If the authors want change in the story/universe...write it. If it cant be written...then dont do it.

If someone already is hetero, let him stay hetero. If hes gay, let him stay gay. If hes white, let him stay white. Et cetera. I didnt like them changing Nick Fury either. There was no good reason for it. In retrospect, Samuel L. did a fantastic job with the role...but that doesnt stop me from being annoyed that companies change stuff like this, probably simply to appeal to a bigger audience.

If you write your story according to customer polls and the like you've already failed as a writer/storyteller imo.

I'm pretty sure GL is gay simply because they want to appeal to a larger audience plus free PR. One should think that a well crafted story was good enough PR in and of itself >:|

Huh. That post got longer than I expected. I'm rambling. 13+ hours of work will do that to you

Good night!

 

[Bluecho]

Damnit DC! One of the characters I totally wanted back, and you make him gay! Grumble grumble.

Let's be clear, I don't hate gay people. But I don't like homosexuality as a lifestyle for a number of reasons I won't bore anyone with. So I'm just a little irked by this choice, especially given that it's a member of the JSA, my favorite superhero team.

I've sat through worse betrayals, and honestly Alan Scott being gay can't be that bad. I'll keep reading Earth 2 as a promised I would, though I won't be happy.


Honestly, this change caught me off guard, but I really shouldn't have been surprised. Despite everyone's theories, there was no way DC was going to make one of the core characters a homosexual. If it had been Superman or Wonder Woman, there'd be no end to the outrage. Because as miffed as I am at Alan Scott being gay, I'll get over it. Make an iconic character gay, and DC would never live it down. For many, it'd be worse than Emerald Twilight or Identity Crisis.

It's especially obvious now, considering how obviously forced this change is. Maybe some writers like James Robinson were toying with the idea of making one of the heroes gay, but it's obvious this change was at least partially motivated by either what Marvel did or what Archie did when it came to gay characters. It wouldn't be the first time DC jumped on a trend by its destinguished competition. And the fact that the one made gay is barely known by anyone, even in the comic culture, is proof enough of how half-hearted a change it is.

Edit: Also, why did Alan Scott need to be gay? There was already gay in his character by way of his son, Obsidion. Of course that was back in Pre-Flashpoint continuity, and now Alan Scott is too young to have a gay son. And you know what? That was a much more interesting story there, of Scott having to deal with his son's gayness in spite of his entrenched, 1940s worldview. That he accepted it is something I personally disliked, but at least there was a story there.

 

[Thespian]

Is that why he doesn't like yellow? because it clashes with damn near everything?

Hehehe. That made me laugh.
Also, as a genuine gay person I stamp it with the "Not Offensive" stamp because that is how the world works.

Uhm, I'm sort of disappointed by this. Yes, Alan Scott is technically the most iconic lantern since he was the first, but he's not the one who will get his own on-going, or another awful movie, or very much media attention at all, which limits the amount of "Being Gay and also a Superhero" stories that we can tell. Plus people will forget about this very soon.

Let me just say that there's already a ton of gay characters in the new 52.
Batwoman - Batwoman is gay.
Stormwatch - Apollo and Midnighter are gay (and a couple <3)
Teen Titans - Bunker is gay
Flash - Singh and the Pied Piper are a couple.

And Alan Scott won't get much more coverage than those characters. So unfortunately this isn't a big deal. I'd much rather see a premiere character be gay than a technically-iconic-but-lots-of-people-don't-know-him-and-of-those-that-do-very-few-care-about-him character.

 

[bat32391]

Damn it I just lost twenty dollars.