Holy Homosexuality...Batman?

Batman (Bruce Wayne) and Robin (all three of them, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake) a.k.a the Dynamic Duo, are the most well known superhero-sidekick pair in comic books and other media. Writers love to focus on their bond, which has been interpreted as a father-son relationship over the year. Yet, a recurring joke that comic book fans and literary analysts sometimes focus on is a bond deeper than father and son. In fact, the two have been accused of homosexuality over the years.

It all started with a psychiatrist named Dr. Fredric Wertham who criticized the "harmful" effects of comic books in a book called Seduction of the Innocent (1954). In this book he accused Wonder Woman as being a sexist symbol, horror comics inspiring "juvenile delinquency" and Batman and Robin of being a homosexual pair after interpreting this scene. Ever since his interpretation of the Dynamic Duo as a homosexual couple, readers and the public began to consider the possibility. This drastically affected the comic book in the 50's and 60s because DC (Batman's publishers) forced changes to make the characters "appear straight." They introduced Batgirl to give Batman a new love interest (even though it never worked between them) and made Dick Grayson (the first Robin) move to college. The writers even brought Ace the Bat Hound and introduced the Bat-Mite (a trickster from the 5th Dimension like Superman villain Mister Mxyzplk) to create a "Batman Family."

These changes turned a previously gritty comic book and the gritty character Batman into a situational comedy and main punchline respectively. Because of an unfounded accusation that Batman and Robin were gay, the comic book franchise was almost ruined because of the campy "Batman Family." It was saved when the darker roots of Batman were reintroduced in the 70's and 80's. To put things in a larger perspective, our culture of over-analysis tends to place things out of context. Homosexuality was not linked with Batman until Dr. Wertham introduced the concept between specifically those two. He did not accuse Captain America and his former sidekick Bucky or Aquaman and Aqualad of homosexuality, thus their sexuality has never been questioned whereas a humorous scene involving Batman will be taken out of context and interpreted as gay.

The recurring drama of the possibility that Batman and Robin are homosexual lovers has almost ruined the franchise twice, once in the 50's and 60's, and again in the 90's when Batman and Robin hit the silver screen in 1997. Film director Joel Schumacher, who is gay, introduced campy and homoerotic concepts in the film (such as including uncharacteristic nipples on Batman and Robins' costumes) which undermined the seriousness of the characters. Since that film, no media has depicted Batman and Robin as homosexuals or in campy way, although these elements remain a recurring yet harmless joke.

New York Govenor Election Will Say Much About LGBT Movement

The Republican candidate for governor in New York, Carl Paladino, opposes same-sex marriages and has said that children should not be "brainwashed" into thinking homosexuality is acceptable, and that gay pride parades are "disgusting." Paladino has received much attention due to the unacceptable nature of these comments, yet he is now standing by his opinions.
In light of the recent anti-gay issues, from Brox beatings to several suicides, this election is bound to say a lot of society's current viewpoint on LGBT issues. Either Paladino will resoundingly lose,  showing the public's pro-gay majority, or his comments will resonate with those anti-gay protesters who have used recent events to publicly state their nonsupport. This is an election to watch; it goes much further than politics.

New Report Estimates LGB Population In U.S. At 9%

The Williams Institute at UCLA Law School, a think tank devoted to sexual orientation law and public policy, has released a report (pdf) which analyzes national demographic surveys to tease out interesting information about the national lesbian, gay and bisexual population.

From the Executive Summary:

Data from the 2008 General Social Survey (GSS) indicate that nearly 9% of adults either identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual or report having had same‐sex sexual experiences as an adult. Although 90% of LGB people are out about their identity to other people, only 25% report being out to all of their coworkers in the workplace. The data show that bisexuals differ in several ways from those who identify as gay or lesbian, including being much less likely to be out or have a high school diploma and being much more likely to be women and/or racial or ethnic minorities.

Surveys that ask questions about sexual orientation and behavior are rare. Among the few surveys that ask these questions, few are representative of the US population. Even rarer is information about the coming out process from such surveys. As a result, little is known about how and if thinking of oneself as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, or experiencing same‐sex sexual behaviors and telling others about one’s sexual orientation or behavior varies by sex, age, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment.

The General Social Survey (GSS), conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, has monitored social and demographic changes in the United States since 1972. The 2008 GSS marks the first time that survey participants were asked about their sexual orientation (prior surveys had only asked about same‐sex sexual behavior). The 2008 survey also includes a module of questions (added with the financial support of the Williams Institute) directed at sexual minorities that ask about the experience of coming out, relationship status and family structure, workplace and housing discrimination, and health insurance coverage.

Other significant results that are included in the report are:

·        1.7% of adults self-identified as gay or lesbian and 1.1% self-identified as bisexual

·        More than 3 in 4 lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) adults say that they were first attracted to someone of the same-sex before they were 18 years old.

·        Women are more likely than men to be LGB (4.6% vs. 2.9%).    They are twice as likely to be bisexual than men (1.9% v. 0.7%, respectively).

·        Younger people are more likely to  be LGB.  7.2% of those aged 18-30 are LGB compared with 3.8% of those aged 30-54 and 1.4% of those aged 55 and older. (emphasis added)

·         Gay men and lesbians are more likely than bisexuals to be out to at least some people (96% vs. 75%, respectively).

·         Older people are much more likely to be in the closet .   Adults over the age of 55 are 83 times more likely than those under 30 to have never come out to another person.

·         Bisexuals are more likely to be a racial/ethnic minority than heterosexuals, gay men, or lesbians.   More than half of bisexuals are non-white compared to approximately 30% of heterosexuals, gay men and lesbian.  The racial and ethnic characteristics of gay men, lesbians, and heterosexuals are similar to each other.

The author of the report is Williams Distinguished Scholar Dr. Gary Gates who says:

"These provocative findings demonstrate the challenge in understanding the

complex relationship between sexual orientation identity and behavior.

Given that nearly half of Americans still believe that homosexual

relationships are morally wrong, it is not surprising to find ambiguity

between how people behave sexually and how they identify their sexual

orientation."

Cross-posted from The Mad Professah Lectures.

"Help Iowa Fight Gay Marriage"

Sometimes, I wonder exactly what is going on in people's minds when they say things like this.

What laws have been changed:

1. slavery is now illegal.
2. His wife is now not his property.
3. Anti-miscegenation laws are now off the books.
4. laws forcing gay teachers to be fired are now off the books.
5. raping your wife is now illegal.
6. women can own property!
7. women and people of color can vote!
8. abortion is legal

This is bullying in the plainest sense. I don't even really know what to say to something like this.

Children with LGBT Parents

I have a friend at home who has two fathers. I have been friends with my friend since the fourth grade, and ever since I have never thought of it as "different" they do things together like normals families and it doesn't seem to effect her in any way. I began to grow a little bit more curious about this after taking this csp and I found some studies about children with LGBT parents. Though people may want to believe that having same sex parents would be a disadvantage reports say "The vast consensus of the studies is that children of same-sex parents do as well as children whose parents are heterosexual in every way," Dr. Perrin said. "In some ways, children of same-sex parents actually may have advantages over other family structures." That's amazing! It's true though! Why would it be bad? Why shouldn't couples of the same sex be able to have children and experience exactly what couples of different sexes experiences. It's not about what genders the parents are, but about who they are and how they raise their children. I believe that in some ways LGBT couples are more responsible in that if they are incapable of conceiving, and decided to adopt, they actually take the time and consider whether they really want a child and go through the process of adoption, which really tests your want for a child and your personal responsibility level. Plus, people should be adopting! 

Relative Sizes of LGBT Advocacy Organizations

Chris Geidner at Metro Weekly has done the LGBT community a great service by writing the article "State of Play," continuing the great tradition of the Washington Blade in listing and summarizing the staff sizes and annual budgets of the largest or most visible LGBT organizations in the country.

Unfortunately, he only focused only on the organizations which are involved in the fight over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," not every LGBT organization of national significance like the Washington Blade used to.

The main things to note are the relative sizes of Human Rights Campaign ($37 million, 142 employees), Lambda Legal ($15.6 million, 85 employees) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force ($8.6 million, 47 employees) which are probably the three largest LGBT advocacy organizations in the country, with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation either in 3rd or 4th place.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

National Coming Out Day

Despite all the anti-gay drama we've been hearing about recently, tomorrow (October 11th) is The Human Rights Campaign's National Coming Out Day. The formal title for the day is Coming Out for Equality, and the official site explains the history along with other neat things, like a new facebook app. I really encourage everyone to join the facebook group - especially in the light of recent events, it's a great time to show that gay rights are still being supported.