An Open Letter to DC Comics on Homophobia & Heroes

An open letter to DC Comics on Homophobia & Heroes

credit: Adam Tupper

To: DC Comics

From: Jordan Danger, President of Capital Geek Girls

Dear DC Comics execs and editors,

I am heartily concerned over learning the recent news that several creative minds have left your projects after institutionally-sanctioned homophobia has been affecting their work. This year’s debacle with Orson Scott Card and his outspoken homophobic beliefs was enough of an alarm bell for me regarding your sensitivity to GLBTTQ issues—it took creatives leaving the team, and a giant online petition before you took Card off the Superman series—but now I hear that you’re also refusing to let Batwoman (Kate) marry her sweetheart Maggie. Top this all off with the suspicious and untimely death of the Golden Age Green Lantern’s male lover, and we’ve got a pattern forming. So I’m writing you this letter. Hey, there.

Surely you understand that the comic book world is in enough upheaval after the casting of a certain Ben Affleck as the next Batman was just recently announced, and that nerves are indeed on edge. It seems like maybe this would be the time to give people a bit of what they want, don’t you think? And what people want is for Batwoman and Maggie to be allowed to marry.

DC seems to be (accidentally, I hope) sending a repetitive message that you are not very gay-friendly, and that’s a serious concern for me and many other fans. I don’t understand how a company that promotes superheroes could be comfortable with abetting discrimination against a minority group of any sort, let alone one that would totally support your superheroes’ proclivity for rock-hard abs and public displays of lycra. I don’t remember ever seeing Wonder Woman ignore a man’s pleas for help once he’d been identified as ‘light in the loafers’; I do, however, remember seeing her at the Ottawa Pride Parade in all her 6’2” glory, and only the barest hint of an Adam’s Apple.

credit: Edith Chartier

Clearly the gay community has embraced your work, DC; so why haven’t you embraced us back?

Well, DC, I just can’t rationalize it for you. I think you’re going to have to come clean: there’s a streak of dark, poisonous homophobia running through your veins. Okay, that’s bad news. But maybe I have a solution.

Bring me in to help you.

Meet with me, give me a year, and we’ll convert your whole team to rainbow flag-waving allies. (Does the word ‘convert’ make you nervous, boys? Oops, sorry.)

I, Jordan Danger, am a longstanding, award-winning GLBTTQ activist and sexual health educator. I joined various committees and youth groups when I was in my teens, and spent countless hours educating parents, teachers, counsellors, doctors, and other professionals on the GLBTTQ community. We taught them acceptance—that we’re just like you, and we deserve representation, too. I have hundreds and hundreds of hours doing this kind of work, and I once even stood at the front of a Muslim youth group for over an hour defending my very existence, so I think I could handle your staff meetings.

credit: Adam Tupper

I’m not even joking: bring me in and we’ll get your whole team on board. Before you know it, you’ll have a company that’s popular, respectful, and actually abides by the values of the heroes you create. We’ll start from the top down, and I promise I’ll be gentle. You can ask me anything ‘cause I’ve heard it all—if I had a dollar for every time someone asked me how lesbians ‘do it’, I’d have a nice summer home in San Fran, let me tell you. You cannot offend me in your quest to learn and grow. The only thing offensive right now is your ignorance and uneducated bias.

I see your recent actions for what they are: you are shining a batsignal into the sky, begging for help. Well, let’s have a chat. I may not be the hero you want, but I’m the hero you need.

And if we can get you back on track, I think you can be the creators of the heroes we want, too.

Love,

Jordan