DC Comics' hero Green Lantern comes out
gay in the upcoming comic book Earth 2.
Earlier this month, DC Comics
co-publisher Dan Didio told an audience at the Kapow comic convention
in London that an established character will come out gay.
Didio told attendees that the publisher
was preparing to reintroduce an existing DC character who would now
be “one of our most prominent gay characters.”
The announcement followed on the heels
of a marriage proposal for a gay couple in the latest issue of
Marvel's Astonishing X-Men, prompting
a strong backlash from Christian conservative group One Million Moms.
Earth 2 writer James Robinson
told Entertainment
Weekly that making Alan Scott (the Green Lantern) gay was his
idea.
“The original version of Alan Scott
was an older man, and he had a superpowered son, Obsidian, who was
gay. The fact that Scott was young now [thanks to a universe-wide
reboot] meant Obsidian no longer existed,” Robinson said. “I
thought it was a shame that DC was losing such a positive gay
character. I said, 'Why not make Alan Scott gay?' To Dan Didio's
credit, when I suggested it to him, there wasn't a moment's
hesitation.”
“I want to stress that Alan Scott is
a gay man, but that's just a part of who he is,” he added. “He's
a businessman. He's a hero. He's a lot of different things. His
sexuality is a part of him, but it isn't his defining trait. He's an
interesting, complex character that I think people will respond to on
many levels. He's the epitome of heroism. I hope that he's a
positive representation of a gay man.”