Mary Griffh, Who Lost Her Gay Son to Suici, Has Died

Contents:

• MARVEL’S ICEMAN JT ME OUT AS GAY
• IS BOBBY LEE GAY? THE COMEDIAN’S LIFE STORY AND SEXUALY
• ‘X-MEN’ CHARACTER ICEMAN OUTED AS GAY
• WHO IS BOBBY GUY? WIKI: FAY, DEATH, GAY, AFFAIR, NATNALY, PARENTS
• DO BOBBY NEED TO BE OPENLY GAY STEPHEN SONDHEIM’S REVISED ‘COMPANY’?
• 139 MATCH FOR BOBBY GAY
• ‘X-MEN’ CHARACTER ICEMAN OUTED AS GAY

MARVEL’S ICEMAN JT ME OUT AS GAY

Has anyone ever thought Bobby might be secretly gay?

I was thkg about Bobby today and realized that a lot of his characteristics make sense for a young gay guy the closet.

And on Wednday, November 4, he me out as a gay man the pag of Unnny X-Men No. 600 (a follow-up to last April's reveal that a younger versn of the character was gay — more on this a b). This edorial move mak one of Marvel's most inic and high-profile hero a gay man — a ttament to the pany's ongog missn to clu more diversy and make sure s ic books reflect the real world.

IS BOBBY LEE GAY? THE COMEDIAN’S LIFE STORY AND SEXUALY

One of the nflicts younger Iceman fac is that he's gay, while the olr versn of himself isn't. 40 (April 2015) we found out, by way of telepathy, that the younger Iceman is a gay man.

Wh younger Iceman beg gay, olr Iceman datg women, and Jean Grey llg "a unique suatn, " there was a qutn of whether the X-Men would ultimately get to the nature-vers-nurture bate — a story that uld get really msy. Though Iceman wasn't explicly wrten to be a gay character, his storyl and his history uld be terpreted as allegori for LGBTQ life. Iceman isn't Brian Michael Bendis's only gay character.

‘X-MEN’ CHARACTER ICEMAN OUTED AS GAY

But he also created another gay X-Man named Benjam Deeds.

14 (2013), Deeds, like Iceman, out as gay:. "The fact that Ben has e out as homosexual is jt a small facet of who he is and what he is gog to brg to Cyclops’ select team of X-Men, " Marvel spokman Joe Taraborrelli told the Huffgton Post 2013. One of the more pellg qutns is what kd of gay character Iceman will be.

There's been a trend ic books and pop culture that se gay characters troduced but then shipped off to romanc and shuttled to marriag (see: Northstar). A lot of gay characters are also often good-lookg whe men (see: Northstar, Iceman, Deeds, Wicn, etc. It's been a very one-dimensnal, "rpectable" view of gay life that's often void of sex or, more simply, imperfectn and discretn.

WHO IS BOBBY GUY? WIKI: FAY, DEATH, GAY, AFFAIR, NATNALY, PARENTS

"I do fd fascatg that really wh the last 10 years and relatively recent tim, there's been a gay character clud most mastream edi and shows, which is great, " ic book wrer Mark Millar told me while talkg about his ic book Juper's Circle. It's weird that there's this versn of gay characters seen, pecially Amerin shows, as people who are almost sexualized, " he said. The X-Men are signifint enough pop cultural figur that when Bobby Drake, AKA “Iceman”, was wrten as gay All-New X-Men #40, media outlets outsi of the ics prs published news ems and mentari on the moment, cludg CNN, The Huffgton Post and The Advote.

While many of the notic sentially amounted to, “hey look, a re member of the X-Men is now gay, ” other piec, primarily at dited ics s, addrs the polics and ethics of how Bobby is revealed as gay — he’s chid to g out by Jean Grey — or seek to place this moment to a larger ntext of media reprentatn of LGBTQ characters and experienc.

In addn to qutns about how this episo is wrten, pecially regards to Jean’s role and Bobby’s own fort/disfort wh beg gay and also the qutn of bi-sexualy, which appears to be dismissed wrer Brian Michael Bendis’ dialogue, I also thk that there are unwrten assumptns about sexualy and sexual inty this sequence that should be unpacked to better unrstand the signifince and implitns not only of Bobby beg gay, but also of his g out.

DO BOBBY NEED TO BE OPENLY GAY STEPHEN SONDHEIM’S REVISED ‘COMPANY’?

Jean is prompted to prod Bobby to admtg his gayns followg a remark he mak about Magik’s hotns, Magik beg female and a woman. Their dialogue nclus wh Jean sayg, “Bobby … You’re gay.

Neher wrer Bendis nor artist Mahmud Asrar shows what, exactly, Bobby was thkg when Jean read his md and nclus, or, maybe affirms, that he is gay (the start of the dialogue — “Why do you say thgs like that? Was he thkg, “I am gog to say somethg het dubro-like about Magik now so that no one knows I am gay”? Or was he, fact, thkg, “I’m gay”?

“I’m gay.

139 MATCH FOR BOBBY GAY

“I’m gay! “I’m gay? “I’m … gay.

“I’m … gay?

‘X-MEN’ CHARACTER ICEMAN OUTED AS GAY

GAY!

As Figa not her mentary, even though Jean is shown to be “helpful” to Bobby by phg him to adm to beg gay, and the dialogue ends wh hugs and jok, havg one’s md vad by another and beg told what your own thoughts mean is more disempowerg than empowerg, no matter how tthful the other person might be their terpretatns of your self. In particular, monly available words, like “gay”, may be nvenient, but that nvenience n also rult exprsns of feelg that may seem flawed or aquate or limg. In this se, as noted by Carolyn Cox at The Mary Sue, whether tend or not, Jean and Bobby’s dialogue participat the normalizatn of a bary view of sexualy — you’re eher gay or straight — which, regardls of how posively Bobby’s g out is treated or received, still lims the range of exprsn for sexualy and, particularly, margaliz inti, like bi-sexualy, which plite this dualism (“Brian Michael Bendis Unnvcgly Deni Bi-Erasure All-New X-Men“, 22 April 2015).

She bsh past Bobby’s prottatns wh an assertn that whatever he thought mak him “full gay”.