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Green Lantern Fights Gay-Bashing (Comics)
Associated Press ^ | Tue Aug 13, 6:40 PM ET | VERENA DOBNIK

Posted on 08/13/2002 4:47:15 PM PDT by USA21

Green Lantern Fights Gay-Bashing

NEW YORK (AP) - The comic book company that created Superman and Batman has a cutting-edge new story line: a gay teenager is the victim of a hate crime.

DC Comics' "Green Lantern" No. 154 hits newsstands in September — with main character Terry Berg beaten almost to death on a street.

Terry actually emerged as a gay character in 2001 in issue No. 137, which was cited by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ( news - web sites) as the year's best comic book. Terry is a sidekick to Kyle Rayner — aka Green Lantern — whose emerald ring gives him supernatural powers that keep New Yorkers safe.

"Terry came out because he had a crush on Kyle. Who wouldn't? He's tall, with all those muscles," says cartoonist Judd Winick, who created the gay character at the suggestion of DC comics editor Bob Schreck, also responsible for the "Batman" series.

Schreck "knew I'd be pretty sensitive to gay issues," says Winick, 32, who is married and lives in San Francisco.

He was a cast member of MTV's "Real World," a documentary-style show that detailed the lives of a group of people living in the same house.

Winick's "Real World" roommate was Pedro Zamora, a nationally known AIDS ( news - web sites) activist who died in 1994. Their friendship inspired Winick's comic-book story "Pedro and Me."

If there's a lesson in dropping gay issues into "Green Lantern," one of DC's flagship titles, "it might be that it would be great for young people to see that the Green Lantern doesn't care that Terry is gay. He's a person," says the cartoonist.

"Terry represents acceptance. And now, in this hate crime, we're discussing the worst side of the gay issue."

In issue No. 154, the teenager and his boyfriend are walking down the street when three men start yelling out a derogatory anti-gay word and chasing them. They catch up with Terry, who's brutally beaten.

Though he's a main character whose gay lifestyle is a running thread in the comic series, it's not the first time the comic book industry touches on gay issues.

The 1993 coming-out of Marvel Comics' Northstar, of the Canadian X-Men group Alpha Flight, was a sensation. X-Men characters Mystique and Destiny had an implied lesbian relationship, and the Green Lantern features lesbian supporting characters Lee and Li.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: comicbooks; dccomics; greenlantern; hatecrime; pccomics
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To: uglybiker
No no! The whole point is that Spider Man WASN'T gay, but watching him dance with MAKE you gay

Crap. I think you have a lot of explaining to do to my fiancee. We were supposed to get hitched Saturday, but I don't know if I can go through with it, now that Spiderman has made me gay ;-)
21 posted on 08/13/2002 6:03:42 PM PDT by WyldKard
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Comment #22 Removed by Moderator

To: jwh_Denver
It's just a matter of time before they out Barbie. After all, she strictly a career girl. Her constant friend is another girl, Skipper, and her only male friend, Ken, has no genitalia.

When they say that Terry is a sidekick to the Green Lantern, what exactly do they mean? I never saw the Green Lantern show much interest in a girl, so maybe....

23 posted on 08/13/2002 6:22:39 PM PDT by DonQ
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To: wotan
Anybody know the comparative statistics? How many gays were murdered in the US last year by heterosexuals? How many underage males were murdered in the US last year by gays?

Bumping those questions...



24 posted on 08/13/2002 6:23:46 PM PDT by who knows what evil?
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To: DonQ
Ken, has no genitalia.

Does Barbie? Those biga teatsa's don't count.

Naw they try to keep out girls cause they know some preverts will mess their rag.
25 posted on 08/13/2002 6:33:32 PM PDT by jwh_Denver
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To: pactolusghost
"Terry came out because he had a crush on Kyle. Who wouldn't?

250 million men?

26 posted on 08/13/2002 7:00:18 PM PDT by Afronaut
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To: USA21
Didn't they also change the Green Lantern from a white guy into a black guy?
27 posted on 08/13/2002 7:05:18 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: USA21
My money was on Robin, the Boy Wonder. Deep down, we all know what the wonder was about!! Holy Bath House, Batman!!!
28 posted on 08/13/2002 7:10:40 PM PDT by SpinyNorman
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To: Paul Atreides
Didn't they also change the Green Lantern from a white guy into a black guy?

It's been a *loooong* time since I followed any DC comic storylines, but "the" Green Lantern (Kyle) is actually just one of a large team of guardians who have all been bestowed a "ring of power" and the responsibilities that come with it. If there's now a black character with the same powers and uniform, it's probably just another member of the same group.

IIRC, every planet with life was granted a "Green Lantern" protector -- I seem to recall an alien "Green Lantern" coming to pay a visit in one of the old comics.

29 posted on 08/13/2002 7:14:22 PM PDT by Dan Day
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To: Dan Day
Okay. I never really followed the Green Lantern character. I remember seeing an article stating that they were making the character black, for "diversity."
30 posted on 08/13/2002 7:18:43 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: Paul Atreides
Justice League's Green Lantern is black.

Last week he and Hawkgirl were bamboozled by a square-headed blue alien during their quest to rescue Superman from War World, an intergalactic take off of "Running Man".

Hey, I only watch to see what my kids are watching! :)

They're young enough where I could get by explaining the titled-comic teaches that name-calling is bad and nobody likes a bully, but if they were older and asked what those names meant, I'd have to explain that nobody's perfect and even the Green Lantern makes mistakes once in a while.

31 posted on 08/13/2002 7:18:54 PM PDT by Kryptonite
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To: mdmathis6
What next a gay superman? Pity his poor lovers..all those broken teeth!

Larry Niven beat you to the idea behind that joke three decades ago, in this science-fiction classic: Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex

32 posted on 08/13/2002 7:23:09 PM PDT by Dan Day
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Comment #33 Removed by Moderator

To: Paul Atreides
In brightest day or blackest night
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power-Green lantern's Light.

For even guys who mince and prance
And wear a dress to Prom Night Dance
And walk the streets like twerps from France
Should not kick-ed in their pants!

Green Lantern's battery recharging oath. parsy.




34 posted on 08/13/2002 7:38:52 PM PDT by parsifal
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To: parsifal
Let me guess; the homosexual he rescues goes on to become a superhero called The Pink Dildo.
35 posted on 08/13/2002 7:42:28 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
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To: Paul Atreides
Didn't they also change the Green Lantern from a white guy into a black guy?

The premise was that the old Green Lantern retired and his young "ward" (wink, wink) replaced him. And we know who else has a "ward".

How straight can a guy be who goes around in leotards and an opera cape? Is flying though the air without wings a subtle hint of being "light in the loafers"? It seems to me all these so-called "superheroes" are a bit lavender.

Lois loves Superman. He saves her from the bad guys, but he never even asked her for a date. Why do you suppose that is?

36 posted on 08/13/2002 8:00:28 PM PDT by Salman
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To: Vidalia
"PC" Comics
37 posted on 08/13/2002 8:03:08 PM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
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To: USA21
This is hardly their first gay character. The Flash has had a gay friend ("the Pied Piper")(and yep, he plays the flute) for years now and Detective Maggie Sawyer, a supporting character in both the Batman and Superman books has been outed as a lesbian since at least the late 1980s.

Over at Marvel Comics (founded by Clinton fundraiser Stan Lee), several X-men over the years, including Beast, Ultimate Colussus and Northstar have been outed, and Spider-man's ex-girlfriend, the Black Cat, recently admitted to being a bisexual.

By the way, "Green Lantern" used to be Hal Jorden, an ex-air force pilot/military man, but we couldn't have a solider be a hero, so they had him go insane and become a mass murderer and then replaced him with this current, Greenwich Village dwelling "artsy" Green Lantern
38 posted on 08/13/2002 8:06:34 PM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
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To: Salman
"Lois loves Superman. He saves her from the bad guys, but he never even asked her for a date. Why do you suppose that is?"

Not the reason you think. Actually, the physical act of "making love" would probably result in Lois's rather quick demise. Remember that at the moment of climax, Superman would temporarily lose control of himself. Superhuman "thrusting behaviour" would be more than a mortal female could survive. This is why Superman is a virgin. parsy who actually thinks about stuff like this.
39 posted on 08/13/2002 8:06:43 PM PDT by parsifal
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To: parsifal; Salman
"Lois loves Superman. He saves her from the bad guys, but he never even asked her for a date. Why do you suppose that is?"

Not the reason you think. Actually, the physical act of "making love" would probably result in Lois's rather quick demise. Remember that at the moment of climax, Superman would temporarily lose control of himself. Superhuman "thrusting behaviour" would be more than a mortal female could survive. This is why Superman is a virgin. parsy who actually thinks about stuff like this.

Uh, first of all, Superman is MARRIED to Lois Lane these days. Has been since, I think, 1992.

40 posted on 08/13/2002 8:10:00 PM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
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