Green Lantern Comes Out After 70 Years in the Closet

DC Comics’ Green Lantern- a big-name character and the Justice Society’s most powerful member- is finally finding the courage to come out as a gay superhero.

(Or, the Green Lantern’s writers are finally finding the courage.) Gay superheros have been in the news lately with buzz that DC was going to out one of their big properties, garnering reactions that are almost overwhelmingly positive- save for a few outliers fearing a gay superhero could influence a child who emulates superheros to want to be gay.

(A theory, that if you follow to its natural conclusion, suggests that there would be few gay comic book fans because they’d have all been influenced straight by decades of straight-only superheros, a theory we know to be wildly implausible because comic book fans don’t shag anyone.)

Green Lantern writer James Robinson spoke at length about the decision to out the Green Lantern, saying that having a gay lead superhero presents a “realistic depiction of society,”and that DC has “to move with the times.” Robinson told the New York Post that fans can expect basically the same character, gayness aside:

“He’s very much the character he was. He’s still the pinnacle of bravery and idealism. He’s also gay… The only downside of his being young was we lose his son, Obsidian, who’s gay. So I thought, ‘Why not make Alan Scott gay?’ That was the seed that started it.”

Robinson also touches on DC’s hopes and intentions for a gay character, none of which seem to involve indoctrinating lonely, young boys into a lifestyle full of muscled men, tight-fitting attire and being fabulous:

“He’s a type-A personality who doesn’t hide in the shadows… I hope he’s a positive figure. If there’s some kind of kid out there who’s reading the comic and who’s worried about the person he is, maybe it will give him a positive sense of who he is. Or maybe a different kid will read it and decide I don’t need to bully some kind of kid in school.”

He says that when he came up with the idea to reveal the Green Lantern’s sexuality, DC “signed off on it without hesitation.”