Foley Com Out; Gays Do Not Celebrate : NPR

Contents:

• DC INTRODUCED ITS FIRST GAY SUPERHERO ON TV EARLIER THAN YOU THK
• MARVEL’S EARLIT GAY CHARACTERS INTRODUCED DON MCGREGOR’S BLACK PANTHER COMICS
• WHEN LEE ATWATER AND A NEWT GGRICH AI TRIED TO GAY-BA TOM FOLEY
• FOLEY COM OUT; GAYS DO NOT CELEBRATE

DC INTRODUCED ITS FIRST GAY SUPERHERO ON TV EARLIER THAN YOU THK

Richard "Richie" Foley also known as Gear, is a gay character om Static Shock. While Richie's sexualy was never explored the seri due to censors, is nfirmed by late wrer, Dwayne McDuffie, that Richie is homosexual. His ic book unterpart is Richard "Rick" Stone, who me out as gay Static #16-22 ("What Are Ltle Boys Ma Of?

Unregnized for havg DC's first nfirmed gay superhero on televisn, Static Shock subtly brought LGBTQIA+ reprentatn before the Arrowverse. Before CW's Arrow, Batwoman, or Legends of Tomorrow, DC troduced s first gay superhero to TV the Static Shock animated seri, far earlier than most people thk. However, few knew that late Static Shock creator Dwayne McDuffie was subtle about , but not aaid to add a gay character to the Saturday morng experience.

However, while many may dismiss as a wish for more reprentatn on Saturday morngs, clu the ics and the words of the late creator himself tablish that Gear was gay, predatg a majory of DC TV's current LGBTQIA+ characters. He noted that he'd always nsired Gear to be gay and softly hted at this throughout the show’s n.

MARVEL’S EARLIT GAY CHARACTERS INTRODUCED DON MCGREGOR’S BLACK PANTHER COMICS

In sence, this ma Static Shock's Richie DC’s first nfirmed gay superhero on televisn. Wh the upg adaptatn velopment, perhaps Richie Foley, or even the origal Rick Stone, will be seen, not only as a gay in but also as the hero Dwayne McDuffie imaged him to be.

The relatnship between Taku and Venomm is one of the many highlights of “Panther’s Rage” but may surprise people to learn that om very the begng, McGregor tend both characters as gay.

WHEN LEE ATWATER AND A NEWT GGRICH AI TRIED TO GAY-BA TOM FOLEY

Given the publishg rtrictns of the era, there was no nceivable way Marvel would have released a book wh two openly gay characters. Dpe the stggle jt to get the material to rears’ hands, McGregor and his artistic llaborators found ways to directly ht at Venomm and Taku’s homosexualy.

I’m remd of how the Static Shock animated seri, Static/Virgil’s bt iend Richie Foley was sentially based on the character Rick Stone who was openly gay the origal Miltone ics. Yet, there was no doubt Richie was gay. “It’ll never e up the show bee ’s Y-7 but as far as I’m ncerned, Richie is gay….

The way I alt wh Richie’s homosexualy was to wre him aggrsively and unnvcgly announcg his heterosexualy whenever possible (“Wow!

FOLEY COM OUT; GAYS DO NOT CELEBRATE

It’s not simply the fact that Don McGregor clud a gay relatnship the ics but the powerful sense of validatn he rporated to Taku and Venomm that enable gay rears to see themselv reflected the medium as heroic. One of Rick Stone's more notor storyl was his g out as gay Static #16-22 ("What are ltle boys ma of? "), and though not ma explic on screen due to censors, Dwayne McDuffie nsired Richie gay as well.

[14] Dwayne stated that he wrote Richie as a closeted gay, who awkwardly proclaimed his attractn to girls whenever there was a crowd around, announcg his heterosexualy "aggrsively and unnvcgly. ↑ {{Cquote|It'll never e up the show bee 's Y-7 but as far as I'm ncerned, Richie is gay. ↑ {{Cquote|The way I alt wh Richie's homosexualy was to wre him aggrsively and unnvcgly announcg his heterosexualy whenever possible ("Wow!

Debutg 1992 and starrg gay voice actor Kev Conroy, Batman: The Animated Seri was jt one of many ic-based rtoons hopg to break the nventnal kids’ show formulas. However, Static Shock was one of the first DC rtoons to nfirm a nonilly gay character created for the show while was still airg. Startg as Static’s lightfully nerdy IT guy and eventually evolvg to the hyper-telligent superhero Gear, his late creator Dwayne McDuffie tablished the character as gay (via MiltoneWorld - warng: triggerg language the ments).

Addnally, unlike the ics, where Rick’s outg ially me wh some unfortable homophobia on Static’s end, the show, Richie and Static proved to be bt iends who always had each other’s back both and out of stume. Why It's Still A Problem For Cis Actors To Play Trans Rol What If Poe And Fn Had Been A Couple In Star Wars Has Star Trek's Sulu Always Been Gay? His enhanced telligence allowed him to create more plex equipment and technology for both of them, and he remaed a loyal pann to Static until the end of the other drastic change - the ic, Richie was clearly wrten as beg gay.

McDuffie acknowledged that Static Shock's Richie was also gay, but simply never addrsed onscreen.

A few days before he beme speaker, a sndal epted over a Republin Natnal Commtee memo entled "Tom Foley: Out of the Liberal Closet" and parg the Spokane Congrsman to openly gay Massachetts Rep. More to the pot, one would have to believe that the memo's thors were unaware (a) that the primary meang of the phrase "out of the closet" is to note the public disclosure of prevly ncealed homosexualy; (b) that Frank is a gay person who beme natnally famo when he me out of the closet two years ago; or (c) that for weeks prr to the release of the memo Foley had been the target of a mpaign of scurrilo but unpublished mors suggtg that he too is gay, and perforce closeted. )Unr the circumstanc, for the RNC to put out a memo tled "Tom Foley: Out of the Liberal Closet" and then to ny any overton of gay-bashg is like puttg out a memo tled "Pat Schroer: That Liberal Time of the Month" and nyg any overton of sexism, or puttg out a memo tled "Bill Gray: Liberal the Woodpile" and nyg any overton of racism.

There is precisely the same amount of evince that Gee Bh, Lee Atwater, and Mikhail Gorbachev are gay as that Tom Foley is—i. At a nference of polil operativ and reporters at Harvard last weekend, I found surprisg unanimy that the cisive factor squelchg the anti-Foley smear mpaign had been Frank's threat to name five gay Republins on Capol Hill.

Frank, like many others, is unhappy about the unrlyg premise of the closet memo flap: That llg someone gay ipso facto a smear. " In any se, Frank has done wonrs for the "image" of gay people by facg down the bigots. He was a closeted homosexual for several years until his sexualy was revealed after a gay-bashg.