So why can't we have a more "feminine" gay male in comics?

There seems to be a push to make every gay guy in comics more masculine. I don't know if that's the best plan, because it gives an unrealistic representation. I think the fans are partly to blame as well, though. When a gay male character is announced, everyone's like "I hope he's not feminine b/c of stereotypes." or something. I think that's a wrong way to look at things. We aren't all the same, and I think it's lame to leave out any one personality of the community.

I'm glad we're getting more representation though, and it's nice to see gay characters come to the forefront for once. I think it's great for the gay youth to have role models, which is something many lacked growing up.

@feelgood: There aren't that many conferred gay characters, I know a lot of people on this site have been throwing out names like wolverine, nightcrawler and the punisher but that's just fan fiction.

Well, just looking at some openly gay characters:

Midnighter - Super masculine.

Alan Scott - Masculine.

Hulkling - Masculine.

Wiccan - Wouldn't call him "feminine" really.

Bunker - The closest bet, but doesn't feel important like other gay characters.

Shatterstar - Masculine.

Rictor - Masculine.

Iceman - Masculine.

Well to be fair superheroes (even female ones) bring mostly masculine attributes to mind so maybe it's the wrong genre of comic book to be looking at. I assume feminine gay characters would be found more commonly in indie comics and manga.

Because every damn media has been potraying the feminine cliche to death, further strengthening the believe of people that thats how all gays are and act and therefore "feminine" gay characters should only appear in stories that already have a multitude of different gay characters, for as long as these stereotypes are the prevalent of how people see gay people.

You wanna know what I wanna see for ones? A feminine straight male. Yes, those exist in reality too and are among the least represented in any media.

Nobody wants a f****t fighting crime for them! JK Im actually Gay

Double JK Im straight, but I was trolling!

If they were as effeminate as you want them to be they probably wouldn't be all that tough. Hell, even most bada$s girl characters aren't all that effeminate.

Press f13 on your keyboard if you believe in gay rights!

Because that would be seen as stereotyping, and too over the line. That would be the same as having all the street criminals be black, and all the smart characters be Asian.

I don't think Northstar is very masculine

To be fair past characthers were more femenine or more masculine in lesbian characthers than now because it was only way to showcase them as LGBT characthers. But now they seem to want to break the stereotype.

You're absolutely right about everyone being different, but there are far too many stereotypical homosexuals in western media. I want my butch leather daddies goddammit!

Because Anime does it better.

Because people who aren't readers but want to complain will bitch.

I think its because writers would rather write masculine gay characters. In essence, not trying to write dialogue and behavior through some sort of 'feminine gay man' filter just so someone on a forum or sjw website can say 'rejoice, we finally have a truly feminine gay character in a comic book.' As though that is some great accomplishment for everyone to celebrate. They just want to write good stories without being burdened with bs that their bosses or certain internet posters are trying to force on them. Which has been an ongoing struggle for decades and which most likely still goes on today.

Honestly, it would be a start to have 'normal' gays & lesbians in mainstream comics for a change instead of ultra super macho Tom-of-Finland leather pants bikers & warrior princess Xena's or girly Miss gay 'faggots' who giggle like retards or half naked "male fantasy chicks" the way gays & lesbians are all too commonly portrayed on pop culture.

There's a generalization that all gay men are feminine. Additionally, anyone who isn't feminine is acting.

@feelgood: I would't say masculine but just not stereotypical, I mean you would't call Wiccan, Hulking, Pied Piper, Wallace Wells or Anole to be the identity of masculinity but they aren't feminine.

@feelgood: Iceman is so not gay

@kgb725: He was confirmed to be gay by Jeff Lemire.

@sprior93: Current or younger/alternate ice man?

@sprior93: Also be awesome of you to pop a link.

@wmarshal: Both are gay. The question regarding Iceman is about halfway down the page: link

Here's the quote from Jeff Lemire:

I will say that the adult Bobby Drake is the character that will appear in our series and yes, Bobby is gay post-Secret Wars. I’m excited to tell more of his story.

The creator actually intended Wolverine to be bi, but couldn't due to restrictions at the time.

Cool people.

Okay I guess, that is that. Ranting of the past I guess is pointless for it is a new continuity, i trust the writer will keep Bobby true to who he is.

@feelgood: Shatterstar - Masculine.

If you want to be technical Shatterstar is bisexual not gay.

Wiccan's one of his favorite movies is the Sound of Music, and his interests are very feminine. Bunker is one as well. To be fair, people were born gay, they weren't born watching Project Runway. Many people I know believe that gay couple needs to have a feminine person in it or that only gay people are feminine. There are enough stereotype of that already. We don't need to see more of that in comics.

@poeticwarrior: superheroes are a feminine interest?

I don't even know where you get that from.

We can. Nothing is really stopping anybody from making the type of character you described, just because it isn't being done doesn't mean it cant be done.

It has t obe a joke comic for me to read it, otherwise I find it hard to be able to enjoy the story.

Any medium that features feminine gay characters often portrayed them in light hearted manners. Glee originally started out that way before it turned into a soapbox about how terrible it is to be gay but it's okay to be racist instead. Bunker is a feminine gay guy that is the girls' best friends and very proud and open. Personally, I believe mos gay guys are masculine, but the feminine ones stand out because it's easier to notice them and the media filled with them. Masculine gay guys are not very noticeable because you wouldn't think they were gay. I think I would rather for gay characters to be like an average guy, in a hetereonormative acting kind of way. I'm not a fan of extreme masculine guys like Midnighter but characters like Alan Scott and now Iceman seem like very interesting characters to explore, personally for me.

I have to agree. I'm gay, and I actually haven't met very many feminine gay guys. Are some of them a little more feminine than your average straight male? Maybe, but most of them don't fit the feminine stereotype. I kind of feel the same way about gay characters in comics. I'd rather gay guys just be portrayed as normal people because that's what they are--normal people.

can we have some sort of poll to see if people want this? i mean who are the select few to start telling huge companies what to make and how to spend their money

@rpgesus: I agree.

What exactly are you referring to? Including gay characters? Part of the reasons is publicity as seen in sold out copies of Iceman come out and Kevin's marriage in Archie. Moreover, comics have always included big social changes way before their time. Back then, it was with racism and now it's with gay characters. If we go by what the majority wants, many kinds of discrimination would still be going on today. It's the decision of the editors, they are the selected few, and they decide to include gay characters either by publicity or because they want more inclusion, it's still their decision. If you don't like the books with gay characters in it, just pick up the 100 other comics without them in it.

I agree with this.

@poeticwarrior: you're right the editors pick and lately they pick cheap publicity over substance. but whatever it works for them. and what marvel/dc are now they government? without them we'd still have discrimination? these companies dont have to do anything just because it reflects changing social times. but just as they dont have too, they can as well and they've been going for it. so if I ran these companies i would poll people and sell the people who support my company what they want

Yeah, use fallacy, that will surely win you an argument, as I never said comic companies to be the government, going by the majority meaning the opinions of the majority is often more conservative, and they're not always right. Gay marriage would still take at least half a century if we want to go by the opinion of the majority. If you don't like it, don't read it. Simple as that. Like you said, IF, thanks God you are not running these companies. Most of these stories are decided by the writers, green light by the editors. They don't force anyone to write gay characters. If the writer wants to write a character gay, it's their rights. Robinson made Alan Scott gay because he wanted to as well as the inclusion of Wiccan and Hulking. What you want is stifling the creativity of the writers over something you personally don't like and try to gather people to hustle minority into agreeing with you. Going by the majority would also going by biased opinions those people hold as they would also vote to not see something they don't even read simply because it's something they feel strongly about. Going by sales is basically what you suggest. If the book doesn't sell enough, then it will get cancelled. It wouldn't have biased opinions from those who don't even read those books. It's basically going by the majority opinion. If enough people interested in the book, then it will keep going. If not, then the majority opinion disagrees with story the writers choose to tell, so it gets cancelled. For me, it seems like it's not about what people want, it's about what you want, screw the minority, screw creativity, screw the writers who want to tell those stories.

So why can't we have a more "feminine" gay male in comics?

Who said you couldn't?

It's more like a saying like "Am I the only one" as there aren't a lot of feminine characters in comics, but I disagree, there are characters like bunker, Wiccan who loves musical and his favorite movie is "The Sound of Music", Shatterstar was singing "Singing in the rain" while in the rain.

I was joking, because you wrote additionally to Wiccan liking musicals his interests were very feminine, but superheroes and north legends are pretty much the only interest of Wiccan we know of, as his comics usually focused on superhero plots over private lifes.

How would a straight guy write an annoying feminine gay dude.

Key word annoying because that's probably what he'd come out as if a straight guy wrote him. Nother case of just let that one writer lay the groundwork. Or a woman. Gay dudes are always surrounded by females

Idc about any of it but if they are making males kiss each other in comics then we need to see the say amount of women kissing each other! #Equality

It depends on the series. If it's a series about gay males, you will see gay males kissing and humping like with Midnighter series or if it's a lesbian series, you will see them playing with scissor, like Batwoman. It's just like with straight series where you see people like Hawkeye humping every woman he sees.

When judging comic book writers / comic book makers, you need to think about them as writers. These people are people that want to tell stories. They have a passion for storytelling and writing - just as novelists, video game developers, and filmmakers... they want to tell a story. From what I've learnt from my hobby of writing... it's that, really, the only way to truly right a character... is from the heart. You don't really sit down and write a character simply for the story / because you NEED to. Creations of characters come from passion, inspiration, etc. You have a passion for wanting to write a character, and you write them. Doesn't that also go for writers? They don't really sit and think of characters they can / cannot make! They have a good idea in their mind, and put it to paper / drawing / sketch.

TL;DR writers do not say "I NEED to write a gay / lesbian / feminine character" and neither do you. And it's been done before in comics. There's nothing holding them back.

does it really matter-_- I mean just enjoy the comics. There are already openly gay characters in comics and that's cool but really they don't need to change a thing about there character if they don't feel they need to.