Contents:
- 'FIRST CLASS': THE LATT CHAPTER THE 'X-MEN' GAY-RIGHTS PARABLE
- HOW THE X-MEN HELPED FORETELL OUR CIVIL RIGHTS FUTUREILLTRATN BY ADAM WAO GET OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTERSTAY THE KNOW ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENG LLECTIBL, NFTS, CULTURE, AND VTG.YOU'RE ON THE LIST!LOOK OUT FOR OTIS EMAILS YOUR BOX EVERY WEEK. DOWNLOAD THE APP TO START VTG NOW.OOPS! SOMETHG WENT WRONG WHILE SUBMTG THE FORM.HOW THE X-MEN HELPED FORETELL OUR CIVIL RIGHTS FUTUREAUGT 27, 2020JAM CHARISMAIN 1963, THE UNED STAT WAS HTG A BREAKG POT.SCE THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR, “SEPARATE BUT EQUAL” JIM CROW LAWS — SEGREGATN POLICI THAT ENFORCED SOCIAL AND ENOMIC OPPRSN AGAST BLACK AMERINS FOR NEARLY A CENTURY — WERE BEG CREASGLY CHALLENGED BY A SERI OF NATNWI PROTTS: S-S AT PUBLIC PARKS, LIBRARI, MMS, AND DGSTORE LUNCH UNTERS; B RIS THROUGH THE DEEP SOUTH TO TT RECENT ANTI-SEGREGATN LGS. IN AUGT 1963, SPE ACTIVISTS RECEIVG THREATS OF BOMBGS AND ASSASSATNS, CLOSE TO 250,000 PEOPLE MARCHED ON WASHGTON D.C. ON BEHALF OF ENOMIC AND CIVIL RIGHTS FOR PEOPLE OF LOR. LS THAN TWO WEEKS LATER, A DIFFERENT TYPE OF DOCUMENT WAS PUBLISHED; NOT BY CONGRS, BUT A PANY LLED MARVEL.IMAGE VIA MARVELIT WAS A IC BOOK ABOUT A RACE OF PEOPLE WHO, BEE OF THEIR GEIC MAKP, WERE NSIRED SEND-CLASS CIZENS, EHER TO BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF OR EXTERMATED. AMONG THE MUTANT OUTSTS, SEVERAL HAD BAND TOGETHER TO FORM A POWERFUL TEAM OF HERO THAT WORKED TOWARDS PEACE AND EQUALY FOR ALL HUMANS A WORLD MARKED BY STRONG ANTI-MUTANT BIGOTRY. THEY WERE LLED THE X-MEN.“NORMAL PEOPLE FEARED ME, DISTSTED ME! I REALIZED THE HUMAN RACE IS NOT YET READY TO ACCEPT THOSE WH EXTRA POWERS,” THE GROUP’S LEAR, PROFSOR X, EXPLAS TO NEW REC JEAN GREY THE FIRST ISSUE. “HERE WE STAY, UNSPECTED BY NORMAL HUMANS, AS WE LEARN TO E OUR POWERS FOR THE BENEF OF MANKD … TO HELP THOSE WHO WOULD DISTST IF THEY KNEW OF OUR EXISTENCE.”AT THE TIME, X-MEN CREATORS STAN LEE AND JACK KIRBY MAY HAVE SIMPLY WANTED TO TRODUCE CHARACTERS WHO DIDN’T REQUIRE A PLEX EXPLANATN FOR HOW THEY GOT THEIR POWERS: “I ULDN’T HAVE EVERYBODY BTEN BY A RADACTIVE SPIR OR ZAPPED WH GAMMA RAYS, AND OCCURRED TO ME THAT IF I JT SAID THAT THEY WERE MUTANTS, WOULD MAKE EASY,” LEE SAID A 2000 TERVIEW WH THE GUARDIAN. “INSTEAD OF THEM JT BEG HERO THAT EVERYBODY ADMIRED, WHAT IF I MA OTHER PEOPLE FEAR AND SPECT AND ACTUALLY HATE THEM BEE THEY WERE DIFFERENT? … IT WAS A GOOD METAPHOR FOR WHAT WAS HAPPENG WH THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT THE UNTRY AT THAT TIME.”BUT LEE AND KIRBY WERE ALSO NO STRANGERS TO STGGL FOR CIVIL EQUALY.BORN STANLEY LIEBER AND JACK KURTZBERG, BOTH MEN ME OM WORKG-CLASS JEWISH IMMIGRANT FAI MANHATTAN AND HELPED THE U.S. ARMY FIGHT NAZIS DURG WORLD WAR II. IN THE BACK PAG OF MOST IC ISSU BEGNG 1967, LEE STARTED WRG A MONTHLY LUMN HE TLED, “STAN’S SOAPBOX,” WHICH HE ED TO PREVIEW UPG CHARACTERS, PLAYFULLY PROVOKE OTHER IC PUBLISHERS, AND MENT ON REAL-WORLD EVENTS. IN HIS LUMN, LEE WOULD LL OUT BIGOTRY AND RACISM AS “AMONG THE ADLIT SOCIAL ILLS PLAGUG THE WORLD TODAY” AND THAT “’S TOTALLY IRRATNAL, PATENTLY SANE TO NMN AN ENTIRE RACE…” STAN LEE. PICTURE BY GAGE SKIDMORE; LICENSE CC BY-SA 2.DPE ORIGALLY GOG OUT OF PRT 1970, THE IC WAS LATER RURRECTED AND NTUED TO BREAK BARRIERS. IN 1975, AN “ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT” X-MEN TEAM (WHICH MARVEL’S MANAGEMENT TENTNALLY AIMED AT APPEALG TO TERNATNAL REARS) TRODUCED A DIVERSE ST THAT FEATURED A HARLEM-BORN, KENYAN-AMERIN GODSS OF WEATHER (STORM); A SOLAR-POWERED JAPANE EEDOM FIGHTER (SUNFIRE); A NATIVE AMERIN FORMER MARE (THUNRBIRD); AN ATHEIST SOVIET PACIFIST AND PATER (COLOSS); AN IRISH FORMER INTERPOL AGENT (BANSHEE); A TELEPORTG GERMAN CATHOLIC EX-CIRC PERFORMER (NIGHTCRAWLER); AND A GFF, CIGAR-CHOMPG CANADIAN (WOLVERE).IT WAS SENTIALLY A BRAND NEW TEAM, SELF VELOPED BY A BRAND NEW TEAM, WH THEN-24-YEAR-OLD CHRIS CLAREMONT AT THE HELM AS LEAD WRER. THE BRISH-BORN CLAREMONT KNEW WHAT FELT LIKE TO BE AN OUTSIR AMERI AND BROUGHT THE NOTN OF PREJUDICE TO THE FOREONT. “THE X-MEN ARE HATED, FEARED, AND SPISED LLECTIVELY BY HUMANY FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN THAT THEY ARE MUTANTS,” CLAREMONT SAID 1981. “SO WHAT WE HAVE HERE, TEND OR NOT, IS A BOOK THAT IS ABOUT RACISM, BIGOTRY, AND PREJUDICE.”IT WAS CLAREMONT WHO NNECTED PROFSOR X’S DREAM OF MUTANTS AND HUMANS PEACEFULLY EXISTG ALONGSI THE DREAM OF MART LUTHER KG JR. HE ALSO MA LONGTIME X-MEN ADVERSARY MAGO A SURVIVOR OF THE HOLOT, WHICH GAVE SOME JTIFITN TO THE CHARACTER’S ANGER AND DISTST OF HUMANY. (THOUGH WOULD BE LATER, VIA A LE OF DIALOGUE OM THE FIRST X-MEN MOVIE 2000—“BY ANY MEANS NECSARY”—THAT WOULD HELP ALIGN MAGO CLOSER TO MALLM X.) “IF THEY ARE WILLG TO GIVE MY DREAM A CHANCE, THEN SO AM I,” PROFSOR X TELLS MAGO X-MEN: GOD LOV, MAN KILLS. “BUT SHOULD YOU FAIL,” MAGO CRYPTILLY WARNS THE X-MEN LATER THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, “ WILL BE MY TURN.”IMAGE VIA MARVELWRTEN BY CHRIS CLAREMONT 1982, X-MEN: GOD LOV, MAN KILLS REPRENTED A TURNG POT THE POP CULTURE INTY OF THE X-MEN. AS THE 1970S BEME THE ‘80S AND THE 20TH CENTURY WORE ON, THE IC ME TO ENPASS ANOTHER HUMAN RIGHTS STGGLE: THE RISG LGBTQ+ MOVEMENT AND QUEER CULTURE THE UNED STAT. IN THE CRILLY ACCLAIMED GRAPHIC NOVEL, A FIRE AND BRIMSTONE PREACHER NAMED WILLIAM STRYKER TELEVANGELISM TO WAGE WAR AGAST THE X-MEN, CLARG ALL MUTANTS TO BE “AN AFONT” TO GOD. STRYKER’S GOAL IS THE MASS EXTERMATN OF ALL MUTANTS; EVEN AFTER FOILG HIS LERAL PLANS OF VLENCE, THE X-MEN ARE STILL FORCED TO FEAT THE PREACHER G WORDS STEAD OF SUPERPOWERS TO BAT HIS MSAGE OF HUMAN SUPREMACY ON NATNAL TELEVISN: “IF WE DON’T STAND UP TO [STRYKER’S BELIEFS] — HERE AND NOW — THEN ALL WE’VE DONE IS LAY AN EVABLE HOLOT,” SAYS CYCLOPS.LIKE THE “LAVENR SRE” OF THE 1940S AND ‘50S, WHICH CREATED A MORAL PANIC THE UNED STAT ABOUT GAY MEN AND LBIANS BEG SUPPOSED MUNIST SYMPATHIZERS AND RISKS TO NATNAL SECURY, STRYKER ATTEMPTS TO NVCE HIS DIENCE THAT MUTANTS POSE A SIARLY VISIBLE THREAT AGAST THE RT OF THE “MON FOLK[S]” OF THE POPULATN.IN 1993, MARVEL TRODUCED THE LEGACY VIS. IT WAS A VASTATG PLAGUE THAT DISPTED THE PRODUCTN OF HEALTHY CELLS MUTANTS, RULTG FATIGUE, FEVER, BAD UGH, SK LNS, AND, EVENTUALLY, ATH. A THLY VEILED PARISON TO THE HIV EPIMIC AND AIDS CRISIS, THE LEGACY VIS WAS NICKNAMED “THE MUTANT PLAGUE” AND FIRST PRODUCED THE ICS AS A WEAPON CREATED AGAST MUTANTS.FEARS SURROUNDG THE LEGACY VIS LEAD TO BIGGER NONTATNS BETWEEN HUMANS AND MUTANTS (HOMO SAPIENS AND “HOMO SUPERR,” AS SCRIBED THE ICS). BEHD THE SCEN, LONGTIME X-MEN ALLY AND NONMUTANT MOIRA MACTAGGERT WORKED ON VELOPG A CURE FOR THE LEGACY VIS—THOUGH ULTIMATELY, ’S ONLY AFTER NON-MUTANT HUMANS BEE DIAGNOSED WH THE LEGACY VIS IS A CURE DISVERED FOR THE DISEASE.A “CURE” FOR THE MUTANT GENE IS THE FOC OF THE THIRD FILM THE ORIGAL X-MEN FILM TRILOGY, 2006’S X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, WHICH PS THE X-MEN AGAST AN ARMY OF MUTANTS ASSEMBLED BY MAGO OVER WHAT MANY BELIEVE TO BE THE EVENTUAL FORCED EXTERMATN OF THE MUTANT RACE. “IT’S ABHORRENT TO ME, AS WOULD BE IF A PERSON SAID I NEED CURG OF MY SEXUALY, OR IF SOMEONE SAID THAT BLACK PEOPLE ULD TAKE A PILL THAT WOULD ‘CURE’ THEM OF BEG BLACK,” SAID ACTOR IAN MCKELLEN, WHO WAS ORIGALLY ATTRACTED TO THE ROLE OF MAGO BEE OF THE PARALLELS BETWEEN X-MEN AND THE STGGLE FOR GAY RIGHTS. MANY ELEMENTS OF THE X-MEN FILM ANCHISE, OM THE IC STORYL ED TO SPIRE THE SCREENPLAYS TO THE PICTN OF MUTANTS, HAVE HELPED TO SYMBOLILLY SERVE AS A QUEER PARABLE. IN THE FIRST X-MEN MOVIE, A SENATE HEARG, WHICH IS BEG HELD TO TERME WHETHER OR NOT MUTANTS ARE DANGERO, QUICKLY SCENDS TO A LL FOR MUTANT REGISTRATN TO ALLOW AMERINS “TO CI WHETHER THEY WANT THEIR CHILDREN … TO BE TGHT BY MUTANTS,” AMONG OTHER REASONS. WHEN ICEMAN “ OUT” AS A MUTANT TO HIS PARENTS 2003’S X2, HIS MOTHER ASKS WHETHER HE HAS “EVER TRIED NOT BEG A MUTANT?” IN 2011’S X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, A REFERENCE IS MA TO “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL,” WHILE CHARACTERS E TO INTIFY THEMSELV AS “MUTANT AND PROUD.”IMAGE VIA MARVELOVER 50 YEARS SCE THE X-MEN FIRST BUTED, ’S DIFFICULT TO MEASURE THE X-MEN’S FULL IMPACT FOR PEOPLE OF LOR AND LGBTQ+ MUNI. FOR IC ARTIST YVETTE “Y.” SANRS, WATCHG THE 1992 X-MEN RTOON SERI SPIRED HER TO PICK UP THE RRPONDG ICS—WHICH SPIRED SANRS TO DRAW HER OWN MUTANTS THAT WERE PREDOMANTLY FEMALE, AS WELL AS BLACK, LATO, AND QUEER, G THE IMAG OF X-MEN ARTISTS CHRIS BACHALO AND JOE MADUREIRA AS A BASE. FOR STEPHANIE IJOMA, A GAMER AND NTENT CREATOR WHO GO BY THE HANDLE NNAGA, ICS LIKE X-MEN WERE FORMATIVE TO HER VELOPMENT AS A CREATIVE. “GROWG UP AS A BLACK WOMAN, I OFTEN READ MARVEL ICS AS AN PE,” SHE TOLD THE BBC 2018. “STAN [LEE] CREATED THIS UNIMAGABLE WORLD … HE MA OL AND SPIRED ME TO CREATE MY OWN PLATFORM.” WALKG THROUGH FLAME CON, THE BIGGT LGBTQ+ POP CULTURE NVENTN THE WORLD, 2016, VULTURE WRER MANUEL BETANURT OBSERVED THE BROAD FLUENCE OF X-MEN: ILLTRATORS SELLG FAN ART OF THE CHARACTERS; SPLAYERS DRSG UP LIKE MUTANTS SUCH AS ROGUE, MYSTIQUE, JUBILEE, AND EMMA FROST (MANY AS GENR-BENT VARIATNS OR RIFFG ON VARYG LOOKS OVER THE S); AND X-MEN WRER CHRIS CLAREMONT HOSTG A PANEL ABOUT “PRI AND THE X-MEN.”DPE THE PUBLICY, SOME OF THE MOST MEANGFUL EFFECTS OF THE IC HAVE LIKELY OCCURRED PRIVATE. IN 1994’S UNNNY X-MEN #317, A LETTER WAS PUBLISHED OM A YOUNG WOMAN WHO RECENTLY LOST HER 19-YEAR-OLD BROTHER TO LKEMIA. BEFORE HIS ATH, HE HAD E OUT TO HER, AND HE EXPLAED HIS SEXUAL ORIENTATN WAS WHY HE LIKED THE X-MEN: “BEE THEY WERE MUTANTS, HATED AND FEARED BY SOCIETY FOR JT BEG WHAT THEY WERE,” THE ANONYMO WOMAN WROTE. “HE WAS THE BLUE-FURRED BEAST THAT PEOPLE GLARED AT. HE WAS ROGUE, AAID TO TOUCH OTHER PEOPLE. HE EVEN TOLD ME HE WAS THE ICEMAN, BRAGGG TO HIS IENDS ABOUT WOMEN THAT HE LTED AFTER, BUT REALLY SECURE EP DOWN SI.” (IN THE ICS, ICEMAN WOULD E OUT AS GAY 2015.)“MAYBE ‘MUTANTS’ AQUATELY EMBODY ALL THE DIFFERENC OF HUMANKD TO GET THE POT ACROSS SYMBOLILLY,” THE WOMAN WROTE. “BE PROUD OF YOURSELV. YOU’RE SENDG OUT AN IMPORTANT MSAGE.”COMICSMAGAZERELATED POSTSNO EMS FOUND.VIEW ALLOTIS MAK VTG CULTURE ACCSIBLE.
- ‘X-MEN: FIRST CLASS,’ GAY RIGHTS, AND THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNY
'FIRST CLASS': THE LATT CHAPTER THE 'X-MEN' GAY-RIGHTS PARABLE
That they did not look like a natural fay served to unrle the ia that the people chose each of this is a gay fairy tale -- and a perfected versn of what is, for many, a gay all mory experienc are different, there is one experience that's pecially mon among LGBT people that is perhaps pecially unmon to people om most other mory inti. Lbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people do not typilly e om lbian, gay, bisexual or trans fai or the veat that none of this is universally te, is the se that most young women are related to other women or have other women their liv.
I didn't knowgly meet another gay person of around my own age until I went to universy.
HOW THE X-MEN HELPED FORETELL OUR CIVIL RIGHTS FUTUREILLTRATN BY ADAM WAO GET OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTERSTAY THE KNOW ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENG LLECTIBL, NFTS, CULTURE, AND VTG.YOU'RE ON THE LIST!LOOK OUT FOR OTIS EMAILS YOUR BOX EVERY WEEK. DOWNLOAD THE APP TO START VTG NOW.OOPS! SOMETHG WENT WRONG WHILE SUBMTG THE FORM.HOW THE X-MEN HELPED FORETELL OUR CIVIL RIGHTS FUTUREAUGT 27, 2020JAM CHARISMAIN 1963, THE UNED STAT WAS HTG A BREAKG POT.SCE THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR, “SEPARATE BUT EQUAL” JIM CROW LAWS — SEGREGATN POLICI THAT ENFORCED SOCIAL AND ENOMIC OPPRSN AGAST BLACK AMERINS FOR NEARLY A CENTURY — WERE BEG CREASGLY CHALLENGED BY A SERI OF NATNWI PROTTS: S-S AT PUBLIC PARKS, LIBRARI, MMS, AND DGSTORE LUNCH UNTERS; B RIS THROUGH THE DEEP SOUTH TO TT RECENT ANTI-SEGREGATN LGS. IN AUGT 1963, SPE ACTIVISTS RECEIVG THREATS OF BOMBGS AND ASSASSATNS, CLOSE TO 250,000 PEOPLE MARCHED ON WASHGTON D.C. ON BEHALF OF ENOMIC AND CIVIL RIGHTS FOR PEOPLE OF LOR. LS THAN TWO WEEKS LATER, A DIFFERENT TYPE OF DOCUMENT WAS PUBLISHED; NOT BY CONGRS, BUT A PANY LLED MARVEL.IMAGE VIA MARVELIT WAS A IC BOOK ABOUT A RACE OF PEOPLE WHO, BEE OF THEIR GEIC MAKP, WERE NSIRED SEND-CLASS CIZENS, EHER TO BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF OR EXTERMATED. AMONG THE MUTANT OUTSTS, SEVERAL HAD BAND TOGETHER TO FORM A POWERFUL TEAM OF HERO THAT WORKED TOWARDS PEACE AND EQUALY FOR ALL HUMANS A WORLD MARKED BY STRONG ANTI-MUTANT BIGOTRY. THEY WERE LLED THE X-MEN.“NORMAL PEOPLE FEARED ME, DISTSTED ME! I REALIZED THE HUMAN RACE IS NOT YET READY TO ACCEPT THOSE WH EXTRA POWERS,” THE GROUP’S LEAR, PROFSOR X, EXPLAS TO NEW REC JEAN GREY THE FIRST ISSUE. “HERE WE STAY, UNSPECTED BY NORMAL HUMANS, AS WE LEARN TO E OUR POWERS FOR THE BENEF OF MANKD … TO HELP THOSE WHO WOULD DISTST IF THEY KNEW OF OUR EXISTENCE.”AT THE TIME, X-MEN CREATORS STAN LEE AND JACK KIRBY MAY HAVE SIMPLY WANTED TO TRODUCE CHARACTERS WHO DIDN’T REQUIRE A PLEX EXPLANATN FOR HOW THEY GOT THEIR POWERS: “I ULDN’T HAVE EVERYBODY BTEN BY A RADACTIVE SPIR OR ZAPPED WH GAMMA RAYS, AND OCCURRED TO ME THAT IF I JT SAID THAT THEY WERE MUTANTS, WOULD MAKE EASY,” LEE SAID A 2000 TERVIEW WH THE GUARDIAN. “INSTEAD OF THEM JT BEG HERO THAT EVERYBODY ADMIRED, WHAT IF I MA OTHER PEOPLE FEAR AND SPECT AND ACTUALLY HATE THEM BEE THEY WERE DIFFERENT? … IT WAS A GOOD METAPHOR FOR WHAT WAS HAPPENG WH THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT THE UNTRY AT THAT TIME.”BUT LEE AND KIRBY WERE ALSO NO STRANGERS TO STGGL FOR CIVIL EQUALY.BORN STANLEY LIEBER AND JACK KURTZBERG, BOTH MEN ME OM WORKG-CLASS JEWISH IMMIGRANT FAI MANHATTAN AND HELPED THE U.S. ARMY FIGHT NAZIS DURG WORLD WAR II. IN THE BACK PAG OF MOST IC ISSU BEGNG 1967, LEE STARTED WRG A MONTHLY LUMN HE TLED, “STAN’S SOAPBOX,” WHICH HE ED TO PREVIEW UPG CHARACTERS, PLAYFULLY PROVOKE OTHER IC PUBLISHERS, AND MENT ON REAL-WORLD EVENTS. IN HIS LUMN, LEE WOULD LL OUT BIGOTRY AND RACISM AS “AMONG THE ADLIT SOCIAL ILLS PLAGUG THE WORLD TODAY” AND THAT “’S TOTALLY IRRATNAL, PATENTLY SANE TO NMN AN ENTIRE RACE…” STAN LEE. PICTURE BY GAGE SKIDMORE; LICENSE CC BY-SA 2.DPE ORIGALLY GOG OUT OF PRT 1970, THE IC WAS LATER RURRECTED AND NTUED TO BREAK BARRIERS. IN 1975, AN “ALL-NEW, ALL-DIFFERENT” X-MEN TEAM (WHICH MARVEL’S MANAGEMENT TENTNALLY AIMED AT APPEALG TO TERNATNAL REARS) TRODUCED A DIVERSE ST THAT FEATURED A HARLEM-BORN, KENYAN-AMERIN GODSS OF WEATHER (STORM); A SOLAR-POWERED JAPANE EEDOM FIGHTER (SUNFIRE); A NATIVE AMERIN FORMER MARE (THUNRBIRD); AN ATHEIST SOVIET PACIFIST AND PATER (COLOSS); AN IRISH FORMER INTERPOL AGENT (BANSHEE); A TELEPORTG GERMAN CATHOLIC EX-CIRC PERFORMER (NIGHTCRAWLER); AND A GFF, CIGAR-CHOMPG CANADIAN (WOLVERE).IT WAS SENTIALLY A BRAND NEW TEAM, SELF VELOPED BY A BRAND NEW TEAM, WH THEN-24-YEAR-OLD CHRIS CLAREMONT AT THE HELM AS LEAD WRER. THE BRISH-BORN CLAREMONT KNEW WHAT FELT LIKE TO BE AN OUTSIR AMERI AND BROUGHT THE NOTN OF PREJUDICE TO THE FOREONT. “THE X-MEN ARE HATED, FEARED, AND SPISED LLECTIVELY BY HUMANY FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN THAT THEY ARE MUTANTS,” CLAREMONT SAID 1981. “SO WHAT WE HAVE HERE, TEND OR NOT, IS A BOOK THAT IS ABOUT RACISM, BIGOTRY, AND PREJUDICE.”IT WAS CLAREMONT WHO NNECTED PROFSOR X’S DREAM OF MUTANTS AND HUMANS PEACEFULLY EXISTG ALONGSI THE DREAM OF MART LUTHER KG JR. HE ALSO MA LONGTIME X-MEN ADVERSARY MAGO A SURVIVOR OF THE HOLOT, WHICH GAVE SOME JTIFITN TO THE CHARACTER’S ANGER AND DISTST OF HUMANY. (THOUGH WOULD BE LATER, VIA A LE OF DIALOGUE OM THE FIRST X-MEN MOVIE 2000—“BY ANY MEANS NECSARY”—THAT WOULD HELP ALIGN MAGO CLOSER TO MALLM X.) “IF THEY ARE WILLG TO GIVE MY DREAM A CHANCE, THEN SO AM I,” PROFSOR X TELLS MAGO X-MEN: GOD LOV, MAN KILLS. “BUT SHOULD YOU FAIL,” MAGO CRYPTILLY WARNS THE X-MEN LATER THE GRAPHIC NOVEL, “ WILL BE MY TURN.”IMAGE VIA MARVELWRTEN BY CHRIS CLAREMONT 1982, X-MEN: GOD LOV, MAN KILLS REPRENTED A TURNG POT THE POP CULTURE INTY OF THE X-MEN. AS THE 1970S BEME THE ‘80S AND THE 20TH CENTURY WORE ON, THE IC ME TO ENPASS ANOTHER HUMAN RIGHTS STGGLE: THE RISG LGBTQ+ MOVEMENT AND QUEER CULTURE THE UNED STAT. IN THE CRILLY ACCLAIMED GRAPHIC NOVEL, A FIRE AND BRIMSTONE PREACHER NAMED WILLIAM STRYKER TELEVANGELISM TO WAGE WAR AGAST THE X-MEN, CLARG ALL MUTANTS TO BE “AN AFONT” TO GOD. STRYKER’S GOAL IS THE MASS EXTERMATN OF ALL MUTANTS; EVEN AFTER FOILG HIS LERAL PLANS OF VLENCE, THE X-MEN ARE STILL FORCED TO FEAT THE PREACHER G WORDS STEAD OF SUPERPOWERS TO BAT HIS MSAGE OF HUMAN SUPREMACY ON NATNAL TELEVISN: “IF WE DON’T STAND UP TO [STRYKER’S BELIEFS] — HERE AND NOW — THEN ALL WE’VE DONE IS LAY AN EVABLE HOLOT,” SAYS CYCLOPS.LIKE THE “LAVENR SRE” OF THE 1940S AND ‘50S, WHICH CREATED A MORAL PANIC THE UNED STAT ABOUT GAY MEN AND LBIANS BEG SUPPOSED MUNIST SYMPATHIZERS AND RISKS TO NATNAL SECURY, STRYKER ATTEMPTS TO NVCE HIS DIENCE THAT MUTANTS POSE A SIARLY VISIBLE THREAT AGAST THE RT OF THE “MON FOLK[S]” OF THE POPULATN.IN 1993, MARVEL TRODUCED THE LEGACY VIS. IT WAS A VASTATG PLAGUE THAT DISPTED THE PRODUCTN OF HEALTHY CELLS MUTANTS, RULTG FATIGUE, FEVER, BAD UGH, SK LNS, AND, EVENTUALLY, ATH. A THLY VEILED PARISON TO THE HIV EPIMIC AND AIDS CRISIS, THE LEGACY VIS WAS NICKNAMED “THE MUTANT PLAGUE” AND FIRST PRODUCED THE ICS AS A WEAPON CREATED AGAST MUTANTS.FEARS SURROUNDG THE LEGACY VIS LEAD TO BIGGER NONTATNS BETWEEN HUMANS AND MUTANTS (HOMO SAPIENS AND “HOMO SUPERR,” AS SCRIBED THE ICS). BEHD THE SCEN, LONGTIME X-MEN ALLY AND NONMUTANT MOIRA MACTAGGERT WORKED ON VELOPG A CURE FOR THE LEGACY VIS—THOUGH ULTIMATELY, ’S ONLY AFTER NON-MUTANT HUMANS BEE DIAGNOSED WH THE LEGACY VIS IS A CURE DISVERED FOR THE DISEASE.A “CURE” FOR THE MUTANT GENE IS THE FOC OF THE THIRD FILM THE ORIGAL X-MEN FILM TRILOGY, 2006’S X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, WHICH PS THE X-MEN AGAST AN ARMY OF MUTANTS ASSEMBLED BY MAGO OVER WHAT MANY BELIEVE TO BE THE EVENTUAL FORCED EXTERMATN OF THE MUTANT RACE. “IT’S ABHORRENT TO ME, AS WOULD BE IF A PERSON SAID I NEED CURG OF MY SEXUALY, OR IF SOMEONE SAID THAT BLACK PEOPLE ULD TAKE A PILL THAT WOULD ‘CURE’ THEM OF BEG BLACK,” SAID ACTOR IAN MCKELLEN, WHO WAS ORIGALLY ATTRACTED TO THE ROLE OF MAGO BEE OF THE PARALLELS BETWEEN X-MEN AND THE STGGLE FOR GAY RIGHTS. MANY ELEMENTS OF THE X-MEN FILM ANCHISE, OM THE IC STORYL ED TO SPIRE THE SCREENPLAYS TO THE PICTN OF MUTANTS, HAVE HELPED TO SYMBOLILLY SERVE AS A QUEER PARABLE. IN THE FIRST X-MEN MOVIE, A SENATE HEARG, WHICH IS BEG HELD TO TERME WHETHER OR NOT MUTANTS ARE DANGERO, QUICKLY SCENDS TO A LL FOR MUTANT REGISTRATN TO ALLOW AMERINS “TO CI WHETHER THEY WANT THEIR CHILDREN … TO BE TGHT BY MUTANTS,” AMONG OTHER REASONS. WHEN ICEMAN “ OUT” AS A MUTANT TO HIS PARENTS 2003’S X2, HIS MOTHER ASKS WHETHER HE HAS “EVER TRIED NOT BEG A MUTANT?” IN 2011’S X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, A REFERENCE IS MA TO “DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL,” WHILE CHARACTERS E TO INTIFY THEMSELV AS “MUTANT AND PROUD.”IMAGE VIA MARVELOVER 50 YEARS SCE THE X-MEN FIRST BUTED, ’S DIFFICULT TO MEASURE THE X-MEN’S FULL IMPACT FOR PEOPLE OF LOR AND LGBTQ+ MUNI. FOR IC ARTIST YVETTE “Y.” SANRS, WATCHG THE 1992 X-MEN RTOON SERI SPIRED HER TO PICK UP THE RRPONDG ICS—WHICH SPIRED SANRS TO DRAW HER OWN MUTANTS THAT WERE PREDOMANTLY FEMALE, AS WELL AS BLACK, LATO, AND QUEER, G THE IMAG OF X-MEN ARTISTS CHRIS BACHALO AND JOE MADUREIRA AS A BASE. FOR STEPHANIE IJOMA, A GAMER AND NTENT CREATOR WHO GO BY THE HANDLE NNAGA, ICS LIKE X-MEN WERE FORMATIVE TO HER VELOPMENT AS A CREATIVE. “GROWG UP AS A BLACK WOMAN, I OFTEN READ MARVEL ICS AS AN PE,” SHE TOLD THE BBC 2018. “STAN [LEE] CREATED THIS UNIMAGABLE WORLD … HE MA OL AND SPIRED ME TO CREATE MY OWN PLATFORM.” WALKG THROUGH FLAME CON, THE BIGGT LGBTQ+ POP CULTURE NVENTN THE WORLD, 2016, VULTURE WRER MANUEL BETANURT OBSERVED THE BROAD FLUENCE OF X-MEN: ILLTRATORS SELLG FAN ART OF THE CHARACTERS; SPLAYERS DRSG UP LIKE MUTANTS SUCH AS ROGUE, MYSTIQUE, JUBILEE, AND EMMA FROST (MANY AS GENR-BENT VARIATNS OR RIFFG ON VARYG LOOKS OVER THE S); AND X-MEN WRER CHRIS CLAREMONT HOSTG A PANEL ABOUT “PRI AND THE X-MEN.”DPE THE PUBLICY, SOME OF THE MOST MEANGFUL EFFECTS OF THE IC HAVE LIKELY OCCURRED PRIVATE. IN 1994’S UNNNY X-MEN #317, A LETTER WAS PUBLISHED OM A YOUNG WOMAN WHO RECENTLY LOST HER 19-YEAR-OLD BROTHER TO LKEMIA. BEFORE HIS ATH, HE HAD E OUT TO HER, AND HE EXPLAED HIS SEXUAL ORIENTATN WAS WHY HE LIKED THE X-MEN: “BEE THEY WERE MUTANTS, HATED AND FEARED BY SOCIETY FOR JT BEG WHAT THEY WERE,” THE ANONYMO WOMAN WROTE. “HE WAS THE BLUE-FURRED BEAST THAT PEOPLE GLARED AT. HE WAS ROGUE, AAID TO TOUCH OTHER PEOPLE. HE EVEN TOLD ME HE WAS THE ICEMAN, BRAGGG TO HIS IENDS ABOUT WOMEN THAT HE LTED AFTER, BUT REALLY SECURE EP DOWN SI.” (IN THE ICS, ICEMAN WOULD E OUT AS GAY 2015.)“MAYBE ‘MUTANTS’ AQUATELY EMBODY ALL THE DIFFERENC OF HUMANKD TO GET THE POT ACROSS SYMBOLILLY,” THE WOMAN WROTE. “BE PROUD OF YOURSELV. YOU’RE SENDG OUT AN IMPORTANT MSAGE.”COMICSMAGAZERELATED POSTSNO EMS FOUND.VIEW ALLOTIS MAK VTG CULTURE ACCSIBLE.
I didn't have any close gay iends until I was my to this isolatn, a lot of fai and cultur stigmatize LGBT inty. There are non-queer people who grow up different om their parents or fai -- many people wh disabili, for example, or adopted children, or people wh terracial inti -- but they're not as likely to expect the rejectn by their fai that many LGBT kids growg up lbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, rri wh a heightened versn of a mon adolcent fear; the fear of beg an outst, of beg alone. Shot the mid-to-late '80s, the film explor New York's "ballroom" scene, a subculture that allows LGBT people major Amerin ci -- pecially disadvantaged gay or trans people of lor -- to fe together unr new kids on the ballroom scene form ho unr hoe mothers, and often take on new inti that may clu the hoe name as their new surnam.
‘X-MEN: FIRST CLASS,’ GAY RIGHTS, AND THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNY
The X-Men and their imprsive high-tech mansn are an aspiratnal versn of nng away om is not meant to imply that nng away om home and fg a new fay is a universal experience for gay teens. That giv a sort of radil eedom when to buildg our inti and fg a mon is somethg the X-Men are actually better at than the Wtern gay muny typilly manag to be.