Homosexuality among the gods, supernatural, super heroes/villains, and celebrities.
Hey everyone so in this blog I just wanted to discuss the topic of homosexuality among certain areason of entertainment, literature, and regular life or whatever. So this question has always been on my mind when I read things or characters that cover this area and it is, how does their homosexuality affect themselves and the lives of others. In today's world, homosexuality has rapidly gained support and received legal rights for marriage. Undoubtedly there is still a lot of prejudice and hatred towards homosexuality. Hatred and acceptance are two counterpart concepts that always affect people that are gay. Some of us in the comicvine community have experienced both sides of that coin and many others haven't. To people that are gay including myself, we know what it's like to be gay and how it affects us and how we affect other people. So where do the other names listed in this title fit into my inquiry. Now my question and over all curiosity is, is that how does homosexuality portrayed and dispersed amongst gods in literature, supernatural beings in entertainment or literature, super heroes/villains in comic books and other forms of entertainment? I'm sure we all have thoughts about homosexuality affecting each area mentioned so that's what I'm going to cover. I want this blog to be a great area for discussion, references, opinions (non judgemental), and a place of fair community. Everyone is to respect everyone else. I don't stand for prejudice or hatred in any way shape or form. So I'm going to get started!
gods in literature, or anywhere else!
Okay so my main question in this area is, does homosexuality matter among gods or biblical figures? I mean come on we have probably all thought of this. Are they judged for being gay? What did the writers such as Plato, Socrates, Homer, truly envision when they made certain gods homosexual? Were these writers treated differently for what they had written? What about the characters of their content? Did the people that read them feel indifferent towards certain gods' sexual orientation? Are they held to a different standard? These questions always cross my mind when thinking about ancient greek/roman/ or any other form of gods. Being that they're considered "gods" and are so powerful, it seems that it doesn't matter that they're gay. Gods were created in the likeness of human beings, I suppose that entails human emotion, pleasure, and sexual orientation. It seems very common that gods would have homosexual relationships. There were even poets at the time who wrote poems about same gendered love! One in particular is Sappho of Lesbos. Obvisouly enough today we get the term lesbian from Lesbos. But on that island she wrote poems of love among women, probably because she was constantly surrounded by women. But still my question remains...just because the gods were gods, why was homosexuality so accepted upon them? I know this is all myth and everything but maybe the people that created the homosexual gods, was homosexual himself and expressed his sexuality in that way. It seems there was no negative opinion on homosexuality in the greek/roman/ what have you, myths.
In the Old Testament of the Bible, many people that were recorded that were homosexual, were often sentenced to eternal damnation for their orientation. Now we're talking B.C here so this was LONG LONG LONG ago. In ancient greek mythology, the gods were not looked down upon, so why are these homosexual people being subjected to wrathful judgement? My favorite example would be Jonathan and David from the Hebrew book of Samuel.
"My bowels yearn for you my brother Jonathan, how wonderful was your love to me, passing the love of women."
You can tell that these two people really loved each other. In this story, Saul shows so much hatred for Jonathan's sexuality which leads to Jonathan killing himself! GASP! Prejudice is clear in this era but why? What was the need for such prejudice in this time? There is no need for any prejudice at all but it makes no sense in any era.Jonathan and David were strong warriors at that time and were still looked down upon. Now this area does pretain to religious views so I would appreciate no religious hatred or prejudice either.
the supernatural....ok this one's manily about Willow Rosenberg!
SO as all of us Buffy fans know that as Willow's character progresses into a strong wiccan, we also know her character's sexual orientation takes a turn on to lesbian avenue. Now that brings up the question of "am I born gay, or did I turn gay"? Honestly I don't know the answer to that question but maybe a different blog will discuss that. Anyway Willow's homosexuality is looked at in two ways. Her being a lesbian witch, and her being a lesbian person. I feel that her being a lesbian has no affect on her witchcraft, but it has an affect on her normal life. Having to come out to her best friends was very hard but of course her friends still accepted her. But being a witch it seems that coming out doesn't even matter. Why is that? Why are supernaturals, gods, and whatever else held up to a different standard? It doesn't make any sense! Why is it that if your one thing, and that thing is above human, it's so much easier to be gay? I just wanted to use Willow as an example for this area.
Homosexuality is looked at in different views by different types of wicca or whatever. Gardneria Wicca is ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY. It's a more traditional group which its' values are sprung from Gerald Gardner. He believed that the rites or something wouldn't work if a gay couple's love was used or something. I DON'T KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT RITUALS AND STUFF! He obviously had prejudices connected to rituals which he was devout to.
There are wiccans that are pro-homosexuality and use the ritual called Charge of the Goddess! Which says that all love is good. So wiccans and witches' beliefs are basically swayed by opinion and the prejudices of their leaders.
super heroes/villains
I think super heroes' sexuality is looked at all in the same way. In their civilian life and in their super hero life. A super hero coming out to another super hero is the same as a friend coming out to another friend. Why? Because they know each other and are friends DUH! I'm not too aware of any homosexual super villains so if you guys want to talk about some you can.
Now the character I want to use for this example is none other than Kate Kane (Batwoman). Kate was once in the military but was relieved of her duties for coming out of the closet. This is a clear breach of DADT, which stands for DON'T ASK DON'T TELL. DADT means that people who enter the military can't disclose their true orientation or give any orientation at all, and this law barred any LGBT from entering the military that were open about it. So by Kate revealing her orientation, she immediately was let go. I never agreed with the DADT policy and I'm so glad that it will be gone in late September! Although Kate was going to fight for her country, that stupid law discriminated against her and didn't let her continue. As Batwoman she's even had a relationship with Renee Montoya (the Question) so we can see she's mainly accepted among other supers! My point is here, is that comics have developed so much over the years that they've adapted to human emotion and understanding. Comics have been made to connect with people and I love that. Super heroes in comic books aren't held to a higher standard especially if they're gay. They get the same treatment as regular homosexual people.
The only villains I can really think of right now are Zoisite and Fisheye from Sailor Moon. It seemed to me that Zoisite's relationship with Kunzite (Malachite) WHICHEVER ONE YOU FOLLOW!, didn't really matter in the Negaverse. It seemed that , them being homosexual it added on to their malevolence. At least that's how I feel some authors tend to use homosexuality among evil characters. I mean who's to say that they actually felt love being that they were evil. I don't think that them being gay made them more evil. Homosexuality is not evil and I embrace it, so if that's what Naoko Takeuchi was implying THEN SHE'S WRONG! Well she probably wasn't implying that all!
celebrities
Many celebrities are very comfortable with their own sexuality and don't care what the public eye has to say. Although the public isn't ruthless when someone is okay with their sexuality. The public eye becomes a vicious animal when they prod at some celebrity who's struggling with their sexuality. Then when that person comes out of the closet, its a feeding frenzy for top news and everything! Now let's make a comparison between two types of people. Celebrities and regular people. Now when celebrities come out of the closet, it can boost their career, open new doors for them, make headlining news, and just be a walk in the park for them. But when a normal average person comes out of the closet, the reaction they get can vary. Some will accept them and love them, while others will totally reject, hate, judge, and turn away their own flesh and blood. Why is the difference between celebrities and ordinary people's coming out of the closet so different? It makes me sick that is that way because of WHO people are. It irritates me!
In conclusion!
Well in conclusion here is the thoughts and questions I've had on my mind! I've probably answered a few of them by writing this out but I'd love to hear everyone else's opinion! REMEMBER NOH8 please!
Log in to comment