Gay superheroes: Northstar's wedding, DC Comics' mystery man, One Million Moms' brainwashing theory

As mentioned in a previous post, X-Men's Canadian speedster and openly gay character Northstar was expected to marry his boyfriend Kyle Jinadu in the 51st issue of Astonishing X-Men (due out June 20).

Québécois superhero Northstar was one of Marvel's first openly gay characters, who came out when he was a member of the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight (No. 106) in 1992.

The proposal took place in issue number 50, which clearly caught Jinadu (who is not a mutant or superhero) by surprise.

Even though both characters are Canadian, the wedding will reportedly take place in New York City, where gay marriage is legal. (With the same-sex marriage debate raging south of the border, they certainly need the representation much more than we do where here, where we usually just call it marriage.)

Since Northstar's coming out, several other Marvel characters have also come out, including the New Mutant's Karma, villains Mystique and Destiny, bisexuals Rictor and Shatterstar (who were depicted kissing), teen characters Hulking and Wiccan, Rawhide Kid, and transgender alien Xavin.

Earlier this month, DC Comics also announced that one of its major characters, who was previously perceived to be straight, will come out as gay.

DC already has several minor gay characters, including Obsidian, Pied Piper, and bisexuals Sarah Rainmaker and Icemaiden. One of the more major out-characters is Batwoman, in addition to the superheroes Midnighter and Apollo (who appear in comics published by DC's Wildstorm imprint), who got married in 2002.

Speculation ran rampant across the web about which character would come out. Would it be Batman, Superman, Flash, Shazam, Plastic Man, or someone else?

Well, Bleeding Cool is reporting that, according to sources, the suspected character is the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott.

However, there hasn't been any official confirmation yet.

But perhaps Green Lantern's Achilles' heel should have been a tip-off from the beginning: his weakness is wood. (sorry.)

Okay, moving right along, folks. As predicted, those repressed killjoys otherwise known as One Million Moms Morons are at it again (since they have nothing else to do and obviously lack the capacity for introspection to understand what it is that actually bothers them about the depiction of homosexuality, such as their own closeted sexual orientation).

They're claiming that these companies are brainwashing children. (But isn't that what they've always done?)

Here's what OMM stated on their website:

Can you imagine little boys saying, "I want a boyfriend or husband like X-Men?"

This is ridiculous! Why do adult gay men need comic superheroes as role models? They don't but do want to indoctrinate impressionable young minds by placing these gay characters on pedestals in a positive light. These companies are heavily influencing our youth by using children's superheroes to desensitize and brainwash them in thinking that a gay lifestyle choice is normal and desirable. As Christians, we know that homosexuality is a sin (Romans 1:26-27).

Yet for some reason, they don't state what these comic book companies would stand to gain by doing so. Hmm.

Archie comics featured its first same-sex wedding in Life With Archie, released in January. One Million Moms launched a campaign to get Toys R Us to remove the issue. Instead, readers bought up the issue in droves, with the issue selling out by March.

These gay comic book storylines coincide with Pride Month in North America in June, and arrive just after President Obama's support of same-sex marriage.

You can follow Craig Takeuchi on Twitter at twitter.com/cinecraig. You can also follow the Straight's LGBT coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/StraightLGBT.