In “Bastet,” the latest Overwatch comic, Soldier 76 (aka Jack Morrison) reveals that he is gay in a series of flashbacks while looking at old pictures. One of those photos shows Soldier 76 next to a mysterious man named Vincent.
“Vincent deserved a happier life than the one [he] could give him.”
Soldier 76 immediately says that Vincent is already married and that he is happy for him. Soldier 76 continues that he won’t be able to give him a regular life due to his work and current status in life.
On Tuesday, Deadline reported that actors French-Canadian actor and director Xavier Dolan and Taylor Frey have been cast in the roles of gay Derry residents Adrian Mellon and Don Haggerty. Both the characters were left out of the 1990 mini-series.
In the book, Don and Adrian are supporting characters who experience homophobia and hate crimes in thier own respectively tragic storylines, which set off the events of the second part of It and this is what brings the Losers Club back to Derry.
SPOILER AHEAD:
Adrian grows fond of the town of Derry despite it’s violent homophobic attitude and only agrees to leave because of Don. Before leaving, the two attend the town fair and on the way home, they are attacked by 3 homophobic teens, Webby Garton, Steven Bishoff Dubay and Chris Unwin. After the teens throw Adrian over a bridge, they continue beating up Don, Officer Andrew Redemacher arrives to stop the fight. Pennywise meanwhile drags Adrian out of the water, bites into his armpit and cracks his ribs. Though Don and Chris witness this, nobody mentions Pennywise at the trial.
After Adrian’s body was found, he was buried in the Derry Cemetery.
Andy Muschietti returns to direct the sequel, which features the adult version of Losers’ Club members who survived the malevolent Pennywise, which Bill Skarsgard will once again portray. James McAvoy plays Bill, Bill Hader is Richie, Jessica Chastain is Beverly, James Ransone is Eddie, Andy Bean is Stanley, Jay Ryan is Ben and Isaiah Mustafa is Mike.
Production on the sequel, It: Chapter Two, is currently underway.
On a promotional trip to Sydney, Australia it has been announced that Helmsman of the USS Enterprise, Hikaru Sulu, played by John Cho, in the upcoming movie Star Trek Beyond is gay and also loving father of a daughter with a same sex partner.
Cho visited Sydney to promote the third movie in the franchise rebooted by JJ Abrams in 2009, along with cast mates Chris Pine (Captain Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Karl Urban (Dr McCoy) and director Justin Lin. He said the decision by writer Simon Pegg and Lin to make Sulu gay was a nod to George Takei, who played the character in the original 1960s series, and was a sign of what he hoped were changing times.
“I liked the approach, which was not to make a big thing out it, which is where I hope we are going as a species, to not politicize one’s personal orientations,” said Cho.
In an interview in 2015 George Takei revealed he once asked Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry why the original TV series didn’t feature LGBT characters. And [Roddenberry] said, ‘I’m treading a fine tight wire here. I’m dealing with issues of the time. I’m dealing with the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and I need to be able to make that statement by staying on the air.’ He said, ‘If I dealt with that issue I wouldn’t be able to deal with any issue because I would be canceled.’”
The closest any other Star Trek gas come to a male gay character was when “First Contact” was being produced in 1996, musings about the purportedly gay bridge officer Lt. Hawk set off a self-sustaining process, with new rumors cropping up every few days, even in mainstream print media. But Hawk ended up as a Star Trek default character who, as Rick Berman himself stated, is not supposed to be gay. Lt. Hawk was established as gay in the novel Section 31: Rogue.
Thank you Star Trek for boldly going where others have gone before. But we do thank you for finally arriving.
Well after 11 seasons (that’s right ELEVEN) the character Ronald “Mac” McDonald (that’s right Ronald McDonald) has FINALLY realized that he is gay and has come out of the closet on the raunchy FXX television show “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”
In the first part of the two-part season finale entitled “The Gang Goes To Hell” Dee, Charlie and Frank go on vacation on a Christian cruise ship, upon Mac’s insistence. The problem? It’s a dry cruise. Of course they’ve found a way around that, smuggling in an entire suitcase full of beers. The motif of the episode is introduced early on as Dennis explains now would be a good time to quit their usual routine of being awful human beings and relax. They need to avoid committing their deadly sins. For Frank and Charlie it’s gluttony. For Dee it’s wrath. For Dennis himself it’s lust.
And Mac himself needs to confront some deep inner demons as well. When he shows up for a sort of choir practice he’s thrown and offended to find out his fellow cruise Christians will be singing show tunes, not some dark, foreboding religious chants that will bum them all out. Mac soon finds that he LOVES singing “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat” and wishes he had done it sooner. In a later scene he tries to self-flagellate after having a bad turn at shuffleboard and his new cruise Christian friends stop him. However, Mac is further thrown when they kiss in front of him (they’re both male). Immediately shouting “Gay!” and pointing, Mac doesn’t understand how they can be gay AND Christian.
Mac shows up at his new gay friend’s room and tells them he realized something: God didn’t send him on the cruise to open up his mind. He sent him on the cruise to CLOSE theirs. They let him know how insulting that sounds and ask him how would he like it if they tried to change his lifestyle? Mac immediately protests that’s impossible. The guys insist they try. “5 Minutes Later” and Mac waltzes into the cruise jail and announces to the rest of the Gang loudly and clearly “Well, I’m gay.” To which the Gang replies. “Duh” and “No shit”.
Now that the running joke of the past 11 seasons has been that that Mac himself is probably the only one that didn’t know that Mac was gay. If he were just a guy struggling to bottle up his homosexuality, that would just be depressing, and a different kind of show. But as a strict Catholic, Mac repressed his homosexuality so much that he doesn’t even understand his infatuation with badass tough guys he “admired” was because he wants to have sex with them.
With “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” already renewed for its 12th season I think it might be safe to say that next year we might see an episode called “The Gang Goes To Pride.”
Welcome out of the closet and to the bar Mac.
By the way. You rocked that green glitter on the St. Patrick’s Episode. #CallMe.
Well its finally happened. In Uncanny X-Men #600 (re-numbered to acknowledge the landmark), X-men finally ties up several plot threads, including the question of Iceman’s sexuality.
In a previous issue, a time-traveling young version of Jean Grey read the mind of young Iceman, and basically called him ou for hiding that he’s “full gay.” which left things kind of muddles since present-day Iceman has always acted straight and dated women. Young Bobby Drake did confrim to Jean that he is indeed gay and fans of the comic have waited 6 months for the resolution to this conundrum.
Well in No. 600, younger Bobby Drake confronts his older self and asks him about his sexual orientation. What we find out is that Iceman has been living in a closet for his entire life, and just shut that part of himself off to the world and to his teammates. There is no nature-versus-nurture situation, no time-traveling hitch; older Iceman just didn’t want to be persecuted and judged for another part of his life.
Iceman’s story is an important signal to readers and fans of the comic book series. It sends a strong message of inclusion and acceptance and the importance of embracing your true and authentic self. Which Iceman finally does.
Issue #600 marks the end of writer Brian Michael Bedis’ storyline that follows younger versions of the original five X-Men: Iceman, Cyclops, Beast, Angel and Jean Grey.
Iceman will continue to be a gay charcter in the X-Men Universe from this point forward.
AMC’s The Walking Dead will introduce another key comic book character in season 6, that of Paul (Jesus) Monroe.
The character was first introduced in issue 91 of the comics. He is a resident at the Alexandria Safe-Zone who moved to the community from another group called the Hilltop Colony. The character is a rare logical man and skilled adviser with a strong sense of morals and values who is well-adapted to the new world.
He’s also a kickass and GAY!
Paul has displayed exceptional skills in close-quarters combat; it has not been elaborated if Paul has had previous military, law enforcement, or martial arts training before the undead apocalypse began. He has also shown to be an excellent escape artist twice, as he managed to single-handedly untie ropes that bound his limbs.
Tom Payne (Waterloo Road, Luck) has been tasked with the job of bringing Jesus to the small screen.
In the comic the character is introduced as the main core of survivors start to venture outside of Alexandria, bumping into him on his way back to the Hilltop Colony – another community of survivors. serves as a go-between for Rick and the Hilltop, and provides key intel on the series’ biggest bad to date; the leader of The Saviors, Negan. Speaking of that baseball bat-loving psycho, further rumors suggest that a new casting call is out for an actor to tackle the villainous role.
The Walking Dead Season Six will premiere on AMC on October 11, 2015.
The second part of Season 5 of The Walking Dead returns on Sun., Feb. 8th at 9/8c on AMC.
And while the first part of season 5 was far better than the both “Governor storyline” and aftermath of Season’s 3 and 4 TWD does have to make up for ending on the weak and unliked note of Beth Greene’s death.
But the good news is that finally we will see a gay male survivor of the Zombie Apocalypse by the end of this season. Robert Kirkman said a gay character from the comic was coming in Season 5, and that is probably Aaron from the Alexandia Safe Zone storyline although no casting has been announced. BUT there is the slimmest chance that it might be the kickass gay character of Jesus which is running through the current comic storyline.
In the upcoming animated sequel to “How to Train Your Dragon,” the rugged viking character of Gobber is coming out as gay.
Gobber the Belch is a six-and-a-half foot tall madman who is tasked with training young Vikings in catching and training dragons, pirating skills, sword-fighting, and rudery.
In the sequel Gobber, who is voiced by “Late Late Show” host Craig Ferguson, is seen watching a husband and wife squabble and says that’s why he never got married. After a beat, he adds there’s another reason.
Director Dean DeBlois told an E! reporter that he confirmed the character was indeed referring to his sexual orientation.
“When we were recording Craig Ferguson, I had written the line, ‘This is why I never got married,’ and he, as he often does, added it as an ad lib and he said, ‘Yup, Gobber is coming out of the closet,’” DeBlois said. “I think that’s a really fun [and] daring move to put in. I love the idea that Gobber is Berk’s resident gay.”
“How To Train Your Dragon 2” follows “ParaNorman” as one of the first mainstream animated films to feature an openly LGBT character.
Prepare for the wails and the gnashing of teeth from anti-gay hate groups like One Million Biddys Moms and the Family Reserach Council claiming that the animated hit is pushing the “gay agenda”.
With The Walking Dead: Season 4 premier only a week away its once again time for me to ask the same question that I have for the past three seasons. Why is there not one LGBT character on the hit television show and will this season FINALLYbe the one where an LGBT character is introduced?
Since the show began there has been a veritable United Nations of characters that have been seen on The Walking Dead, every nationality and type of person you can imagine which in the end makes the lack of an LGBT character even more glaring and jarring. Add to this the fact that in the Season 3 Prison storyline two gay characters were actually removed from the comics transition from page to screen and later in the same season when the LGBT community was finally mentioned it was so in a stereotype way with the character of Axel thinking that Carol was a lesbian because she had “short hair”. At this point you really have to begin to wonder if creator and writer of TWD Robert Kirkland is he afraid that he might upset his loyal GFB (Greasy Fan Boy) core audience, finds LGBT characters too hard to write or just simply doesn’t like gay people.
So as TWD: Season 4 is about to begin once again the question is will there be an LGBT character this season?
Well if Kirkland follows the comic book story-line, no. After the introduction of the gay storyline in the prison arc the next gay charters don’t appear in the comic until the group of survivors reach the Alexandria Free Zone where we meet Eric and his partner Aaron. But that’s not until issue #68, and at the snails pace speed the television show is going would be about Season 100. But Kirkman and TWD does not stick to the comics story line verbatim, if it did Dale, and Sophia would be still alive and The Governor and Woodbury storyline would have been a helluva lot more exciting.
Recently in an interview at San Diego Comic Con Kirkman did mention that in the comic’s story-line the Woodbury character of Cesar Martinez (played in the television series by the humpy Jose Pablo Cantillo) was meant to be homosexual but Kirkman never got around to it. (Shocking). On the television show Martinez is still alive and well and at the end of last season rode off into the sunset with the Governor. TWD has been confirmed that the Governor as well Martinez will return in season 4, but Kirkland has already written the character as straight (Kirkland did get around to that though) by having Martinez state on the Season 3 episode Arrow on the Doorpost that he hates the walkers, after what they did to his wife and kids.
Invisibility on television is a major problem for the LGBT Community and both TV and movies need to learn that a characters sexuality is an aside, a trait like being left-handed or having blue eyes and should be presented as such, a passing comment, a bit of back-story and not something to fear presenting. Its just who they are. It doesn’t need to be a main story but it does need to be included.
LGBT viewers of The Walking Dead and television and movies in general deserve much better. Better characters, better representation, and better advocating for such by concerned individuals and organizations.
So once again this season it seems that there will be no representation of the LGBT community in The Walking Dead. Unless of course Daryl Dixon, who has been fending off the advances of Carol for the past few seasons, turns out to be a shit-kicking, sexually confused, redneck.
GLADDaka the artist organization formerly known as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamationion has released a study finding that LGBT characters are grossly underrepresented in the movies.
SHOCKING RIGHT?
GLAAD staffers reviewed (and wasted time and money) the 101 films released by 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Sony’s Columbia, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. to search for the presence of LGBT characters and content to only find out what we already know.
GLAAD gave Fox and Disney “failing” grades for the lack of “LGBT-inclusive films,” with Disney releasing one such movie, “The Avengers,” and Fox putting out none. The remaining four studios received “adequate” ratings. None received a grade of “good” or “excellent.”
“Hollywood films are one of the country’s most visible cultural exports. They not only impact culture in our country, but in other places too,” said GLAAD spokesman Wilson Cruz, who noted the recent passage of an anti-gay law in Russia that makes it a crime to publicly support “nontraditional” relationships. “It is a very timely report.”
Interstingly films released by the studios’ specialty imprints, such as Universal’s Focus Features, were not included in the tallies. Companies like Focus, Sony Pictures Classics and Fox Searchlight Pictures — all known for their independent sensibilities — released films in 2012 that featured LGBT characters. Under the parameters of GLAAD’s “study”, the Academy Award winning film “Milk,” which was released by Focus in 2008, wouldn’t have been included in the tally if it were released today.
GLAAD considered whether to include those specialty imprints’ films in the tallies of pictures released by their parent companies, but opted not to in part because it wanted to focus on the area in which studios “commit the majority of their capital and promotional efforts.” (and were most probably the best to hit up for donations)
GLAAD which has lost relevancy and donations in the LGBT community due to recent scandals, mismanagement and lack of focus should know better than to waste of time and money answers that we already know and perhaps actually do something really meaningful to change them.
You can read the full GLAAD 2013 Studio Responsibility Index here. if you want to be bored to death by something that you already know.
