Green Lantern is Gay?

Hal Jordan

If you know me fairly well, you know that I am into comics; and my absolute favorite superhero is DC Comics’ Green Lantern, one of the founding members of the Justice League—alongside other notable members like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash. 

Recently, all of the comic book producers have been on a kick to make their stories more LGBT inclusive. DC has already told us that Batwoman is a lesbian. In fact, Marvel is just about ready to have Northstar, their openlygay Canadian member of the X-men, marry his gay partner Kyle Jinado. If there was ever a time to be gay and reading comics it is now!

So naturally, when you hear that DC Comics has decided to re-launch a popular major superhero as being gay in their new series of relaunched storylines called “Earth 2,” you think I would be delighted to find out that Green Lantern has been the one chosen to fly the rainbow flag. However, I am not.

Kyle Rayner

For those of you who do not know, there have been five Green Lanterns throughout the DC Universe: Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner [appearing in that order]. There are many other Green Lanterns throughout the universe, but these are the ones from Earth who mostly represented Sector 2814—Alan Scott is the exception. (And of course, if you know your stuff, Jade was also a Green Lantern from Earth…technically…but we’ll ignore her for the purposes post.)

Fighting for an intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps, the Green Lantern is given a power ring that allows the Lantern to project his or her will (the emotion of the green spectrum of light) into physical form. This ring is granted to any worthy candidate by the creators of the police force known as the Guardians of the Universe. The Green Lantern’s only weakness is the yellow light of fear (there is a separate lantern force for every color spectrum of light).

Really, I love reading about Hal Jordan or Kyle Rayner, like everyone else! But I am not happy with DC decision to make Green Lantern into a gay character and that is because the one chosen to come out is Alan Scott.

Alan Scott was the first Green Lantern introduced back in the 1940s. At that time, there were no Guardians of the Universe, no Green Lantern Corps; there was not even a Justice League then—Hal Jordan was the founding member. All of that was only introduced AFTER World War II had ended. (Albeit, Alan Scott technically was a founding member of the Justice Society of America, but I tend to think the two groups are just not the same.)

Alan had his own storyline: a mystical green flame thousands of years old fell to earth in a meteor that was forged into a green lantern. When the lantern fell into his hands, the green flame told Alan how to forge a magical ring from its metal. Alan Scott then became a crime fighter whose only weakness was wood…apparently. Furthermore, Alan Scott did not wear the catchy green and black full body suit we all know and love. He looked like this:

See, Alan Scott may have started off the brand, but by no means is he the beloved Green Lantern. His story line is far less exciting than the intergalactic one of all the others. Alan is like their quirky cousin who we do not like to speak about. We hear that he is coming out…and no one cares. If any of the others had come out as gay, we would care a bit more—except for Guy Gardner, he is the other less popular one.

Now, despite what you might think, I am actually proud of the fact that the superhero I claim as my own is now going to be portrayed as a gay character; that is not what I do not like about this decision by DC Comics. I just do not like that Alan Scott has been the chosen one of the five for this story.

Alright, I admit it: if there was a gay Green Lantern all along, it would have been Alan Scott. But the simple fact is they chose Alan to be the gay character because in the original DC Universe, his son (Obsidian) was an openly gay character. And in creating their new “Earth 2,” DC Comics decided not to reintroduce Obsidian and replaced him with a much younger version of his father instead.

I guess, to be honest, the reason I do not approve of DC’s decision for the Alan Scott storyline is because the Green Lantern was never the character I originally associated with my sexual orientation growing up. That was always Superman—particularly with the television show, “Smallville.” And that is the point of having a gay superhero!

Many people do not understand why superheroes and comics are so popular; the reason is because people have problems and struggles in their lives which they do not want to deal with. Historically, Superman (the first superhero) was born out of the original struggle and problem of World War II, when the public needed to know there was someone out there who could end the evils of Hitler.

People essentially attach themselves to a superhero they can relate to; and that superhero then embodies the defeat of their personal problems or fears. Reading comics (or ingesting any sort of fantasy, for that matter) is a way to detach yourself from your life. You can forget about your problems for a period of time. It is an escape, or a brief relief from the pressures surrounding you.

For me, I was attracted to either the characters of Superman or the X-men. Superman embodied being different than everyone else around him, but yet being unable to let others know about it; the constant struggle of keeping the secret a secret completely resonated with me. The X-men embodied being persecuted and discriminated against for something they were born with, for who they were fundamentally; the struggle of “would you change who you were if you could just to make the pain stop” also completely resonated with me. And if there was a song that I would have chosen at that time in my life that resonated with me, it would have been “Superman” by Five For Fighting.

Although, as a character who’s power comes from will and who is portrayed as fearless, I cannot deny that the Green Lantern is ideal to embody someone overcoming the stigma around being gay. And I have to admit the Green Lantern has become a role model for me since I have come out.

So maybe Alan Scott being gay will not be so bad…after all, this is a new “retooled” Alan Scott. Maybe this one will be easier to relate to; if not, I will be greatly disappointed with my favorite superhero.