GAY MAG: “How Gay Is Superman?”

Advocate_coverWhen I saw this cover on the Drudge Report, I grimaced.

Why would The Advocate–a notorious homosexual magazine–be running a cover story asking "How gay is Superman?" and showing a picture from the upcoming movie Superman Returns?

Did it mean that the actor picked to play Superman (about whom I know nothing) is gay? Did it mean that the movie contains a homosexual theme or plot element?

The answer to those two questions is, apparently, "no," for which I am relieved.

Instead, according to the L.A. Times, The Advocate’s article dealt with an attempt to view superheroes in a homosexual light.

This is something that is not that surprising.

I don’t know precisely what to attribute it to, but the homosexual community frequently seeks to reinterpret wholesome American icons in homosexual terms.

That’s why so many men in homosexual parades dress up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, or why the idea of gay cowboys in Brokeback Mountain struck such a note with the homosexual community. Re-reading superheroes in this light looks like a continuation of the same theme of the homosexualization of what is in itself wholesome and innocent.

I can only imagine that those in the gay community who do this kind of thing take a kind of perverse delight in reinterpreting icons of goodness and decency in this fashion. In that perverse delight, by definition, there is an element of perversity that would infuriate many in the gay community if it were labelled with a particular noun which is a cognate of "perverse" and a synonym for "perversity."

Unfortunately, those in the homosexual community who are doing this kind of thing are not without collaborators.

That explains why D.C. Comics would allow the reinterpretation of Batwoman as a "lipstick lesbian" (which, I discovered, is a lesbian who cultivates a feminine rather than a "butch" appearance). The announcement of that was particularly disgusting to me, since I remember the original Batwoman from reprints of old Batman stories that I read as a child, and the original Batwoman was created as a love interest for Batman himself.

It also explains why–according to the L.A. Times story–the marketing department promoting Superman Returns is apparently advertising the movie in homosexual venues in an attempt to pull in gay moviegoers–but without alienating the straight community that is expected to form the core audience of the film.

I can only view such efforts with contempt.

While the film itself is meant to be a thematic followup to the first two Superman movies, which were quite good, if Warner Brothers is specifically trying to get the gay community out to see this film in order to play off of a desire to subvert wholesome American images so that it can make more money then it is contributing to the subversion and homosexualization of American culture.

GET THE STORY.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

40 thoughts on “GAY MAG: “How Gay Is Superman?””

  1. Umm, Jimmy, Superman Returns was probably profiled in The Advocate because the director, Bryan Singer*, is gay.
    *Formerly of X-men fame. How I wish he had stayed on for the third movie.

  2. Hi Tope,
    You are of course correct about Singer, but I think Jimmy is also correct about the perversiona and subversion going on.

  4. Has anyone read Chabon’s “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay?” Provides some insight into the relationship between homosexuality and comic books.

  5. Jimmmy,
    Tope indicated that Bryan Singer the director of the movie is gay. That doesn’t answer the question of whether the actor that plays Superman is gay.

  6. Jimmy,
    I found this snippet of your post particularly amusing:
    “specifically trying to get the gay community out”
    Of course, with the emphasis on “out,” your writing includes a nifty little double entendre.
    Why do I make note of this? Because it is indicative of the gay movement’s appropriation of something seemingly insignificant (i.e., a word like “out” or “closet” or “gay”) in an attempt to normalize thier agenda.
    Typically, changes in ideology occur primarily at the level of language, where “language” is to include not only words, but also semiotics and iconography (things like comic book heroes, for example).
    Just food for thought..

  7. NEWS FLASH:..Superman aint Gay..he hooked up with lois Lane in Superman 2…which is the second of 5 movies I think..let me check…yes ..4 movies.

  8. PS.. I just saw X-Men…excellent. Also…a preview of GHOST RIDER!!!!!!!!!!!!

  9. sky, I would expect that the headline is meant to have a double meaning. It could be read literally but also as “Is Superman Gay-Friendly?” Since Singer is homosexual, I’m sure the mag wants to make sure their target audience knows this so they’ll support a film by *one of their own*. This is what the “bold queer spirit” sub-headline refers to – just another example of what Jimmy’s referring to in the post when he says the “homosexual community frequently seeks to reinterpret wholesome American icons in homosexual terms.” What we might not see as overtly “gay” they’ll claim as their own to subvert the wholesome. I’ve seen this time & again when I was acting; homosexual directors would purposefully put pro-gay subtext in the shows, especially musicals. Unlike his X-Men films, I hope Singer limits or eliminates this in Superman Returns but the Advocate piece isn’t encouraging.

  10. The whole gay subtext thing was tried in the BAtman films (specifically those directed by Joel Schumacher – Batman Forever and Batman and Robin (where male nipples, molded mens’ rumps and codpieces abounded). He even managed to get Tommy Lee Jones to come across as gay.
    The films failed miserably.
    I’m glad such subtext is not really a part of the new Superman film (at least, I hope not). I was really looking forward to seeing it.
    -Ann

  11. I agree. All I was saying is that Jimmy’s two questions were:
    Did it mean that the actor picked to play Superman (about whom I know nothing) is gay? Did it mean that the movie contains a homosexual theme or plot element?
    Which he answered as “no” for both. Then Tope pointed out that Singer is gay (which would explain quite a bit), after which Jimmy changed the answer to the first question to “yes”. All I pointed out is that Singer is the director not the actor playing Superman thus his question is still unanswered.

  12. Brandon Routh, the actor playing Big Blue in Superman Returns, is not a homosexual. I’ve read that he’s been seeing an actress named Courtney Ford for some time. He has, unfortunately, appeared on Will & Grace, though, playing (I believe) a gay man – can’t say for sure as I do not watch that show.

  13. the best part is Batwoman was created to draw away claims that the Batman comics advocated homosexuality

  14. I agree with Jimmy’s assessment of the Superman cover story. Homosexuals have been trying to claim that almost anyone you can think of throughout history was really a homosexual. I think part of it may stem from the fact that homosexuals are always looking for others like themselves, so they start seeing everything through the prism of their own disordered sexuality.
    Bryan Singer, the director of Superman Returns also directed the first two X-Men movies. The entire X-Men trilogy has subtle and not so subtle homosexual themes that are more allegorical than overt.
    In the movie X2: X-Men United, which Singer directed, the mutant, Bobby Drake/Iceman, has a scene where he “comes out” to his parents as a mutant. The scene was a not very subtle allegory for “coming out” to your parents as a homosexual. When I first saw the scene, I thought, typical Hollywood, always bringing in homosexuality, but I had no idea the director was/is openly homosexual. When I found out Singer is openly homosexual, I thought, “I knew it!”
    The third film has homosexual themes as well:
    X3 Stirs Cast Emotions

    The cast of the upcoming X-Men: The Last Stand said that the film raised issues that struck close to home, so much so that actors Ian McKellen, Halle Berry and Hugh Jackman ended up arguing about the film’s central dilemma during a roundtable interview from the Vancouver, Canada, set last December.

    Sir Ian McKellan, who is openly gay in real life, and plays Magneto in the X-Men trilogy (as well as Gandalf in The Lord of The Rings trilogy) had this to say:
    “There are people who think gay people can be cured,” said McKellen (Magneto), who has spoken publicly about his own homosexuality. “My reaction to the idea that I can be cured as a mutant is as contemptuous as my view of people who say I need curing of my sexuality. The idea that black people could take a pill that would cure them of being black is abhorrent to me.”
    But Jackman, responded:

    Hugh Jackman, who plays Wolverine, took the other side, pointing out that there are other characters for whom the cure is more attractive. “Rogue [Anna Paquin], as amazingly powerful as she is, lives a potentially very lonely life,” said Jackman. “Never being able to touch anyone, never being able to have a physical relationship, never able to have children. Now, as politically abhorrent as something like the cure is, it’s also humanely, socially, incredibly understandable that a character like that would take it.”

    To which McKellen responded:

    “It isn’t necessarily her mutancy that’s the problem,” McKellen shot back. “It’s other people’s reaction to it. Maybe it’s society that’s wrong, not her.”

    Here are seven minutes of clips from the latest film: X-Men: The Last Stand. The scene between Angel and his father has definite homosexual overtones, as does the discussion in the beginning between Storm, Beast, Wolverine Rogue and Professor Xavier.
    The thing is, these things can be read in other ways and they don’t ruin the films (in my opinion). I think the allegories are deliberate, but I choose not to dwell on them. Frankly, if I did, they would make the films less enjoyable.

  15. It is amazing how those who merchandise products are willing to “diss” the 80% of the population that is Christian for the 2% (not 10% as the corrupt Kinsey Report claimed) which is homosexual. Ford Motor Co. has become one of the biggest promoters of Homosexual Activism in the country in order to sell cars. Sorry Henry F. all 4 Fords in our family will be replaced by other brands when the time comes if you keep sending millions to promote homosexualism.

  16. “PS.. I just saw X-Men…excellent. Also…a preview of GHOST RIDER!!!!!!!!!!!!”
    I thought the Ghost Rider preview was far and away better than X-Men 3. I don’t know if Bryan Singer could have helped this one. So many missed opertunities. At any rate, anyone who sees this latest X-Men should stay for a very important scene at the end of the credits.

  17. Can you even imagine a gay superman story?
    Clark: I’m sorry, Lois. I can’t see you any more.
    Lois:Why? Is there someone else?
    Clark: Yes. I’m in love with Jimmy Olson.
    I’m a big fan of the Oz books, so I hate that it has been taken over by the gay subculture to be a gay thing. Now there’s this homosexualisification of classic comic book heroes. When will this nonsense end? Only when the companies realise they’re losing money by homosexualising everything, I guess.

  18. I remember when the first Star Wars was released and all the critics referred to R2D2 and C-3PO as having a Laurel and Hardy relationship. Years later, they were saying that the robots were gay.

  22. Shouldn’t we remember that only certain homosexual people read magazines like “The Advocate” and that many “gays” might find this treatment of Superman irritating, trivial and offensive for all sorts of different reasons? The “gay activist” lobby is interested in proving that homosexual acts are “natural” and so will try to appropriate all sorts of icons to their cause, more often than not failing pathetically. And it is “pathetic” in the true sense of “sad”. I fear that any homosexual Catholic person who is attempting to be loyal to the teaching of the Church may be deeply discouraged when reading some of the comments of his or her “straight” co-religionists. That said I liked the idea of R2D2 being robosexual…

  23. Given the push by the activist gay community to see all things in life with a queer eye reminded me of an article I read awhile back in This Rock. Consider this statement from David Morrison, a former homosexual activist, defining “gayness” as seen through the lens of a majority of homosexuals: “Being gay means giving oneself over to one’s sexual orientation to the point where it becomes a foundation and center of one’s identity. …I have observed that once a person has made a decision that he is not merely homosexually oriented, but is gay, then orientation tends to be a dominant aspect of his identity and everything else – society, faith, institutions, and even God – will be viewed and judged through that particular lens.” (This Rock, July/August 1994)
    Pretty much sums it up for me.

  24. I have had some experience with homosexual activists in my college days and one of the disturbing things I noticed was how quickly the conversation would go from the 10% argument to a mysteriously higher number to the belief that everyone feels homosexual urges at some point in life, but is too scared to act on them.
    They went from being a small minority to being the heroic standard-bearers in a new fight against society in just a few conversational exchanges.
    At times like this, being the only heterosexual in the room, I would get extremely uncomfortable because my personal experience denied the very foundations of such fantasy but I could not bring myself to say “are you guys nuts?” I just tried to be attentive and “open-minded”.
    But in the end, the community never once entertained the idea that they might be wrong — not in terms of the legal ramifications of legalized gay marriage nor in moral terms.
    So now when Catholic adoption services have become illegal in Massachusetts and homosexual advocates in the San Francisco city council openly decry the Vatican as a interloping “foreign power”, you can imagine there is little sympathy for loss of First Amendment rights.
    Which is why X3 is so good. Magneto takes the idea of a cure and proclaims the mutant race as the ultimate cure for humanity. If you talk to those advocates who advance their far-reaching plans of social engineering, you realize homosexual advocates suffer a similar type of megalomanic ego-centrism.
    Homosexual advocates do not countenance those in their ranks who think homosexual acts are morally wrong or who would (if young enough) address their condition as the psychological abnormality science says it is. In like manner, Magneto casts aside all mutants who try to take a more nuanced position or who find themselves “cured”. To him, they no longer exist.
    I also find it telling how similar Sir Ian McKellan’s views are to Magneto’s. In the interview, McKellan blames society for Rogue’s desire to take the cure — but society can hardly be blamed for becoming comatose when anyone comes in contact with her. This shows how the two ideas of mutant-ness and homosexuality have become inseparable in the mind of this fine actor.
    In the end, harmony through SELF CONTROL is the position advocated by both the Church and Professor X whereas social engineering at all costs (opponents be damned) is the position of the homosexual advocates and Magneto.
    It is by controlling his primal urges and using his gift out of sacrificial love that Wolverine is able to save the day.

  25. I love the thing on the cover saying, ‘find a partner! It’s good for your health’. are these people serious? Since when is getting AIDs a good thing for your health?

  27. Bill912,
    No.
    It was just a fool’s hope.
    Concerning Ian McKellan: Mithrandir, Mithrandir, O pilgrim grey,
    Why did you depart from a country that you loved?

  29. “Laughing”
    You can do what you like as a consenting adults. What we object to, is homosexual activists trying to make out that their lifestyle is as valid as the traditional family, which is the basis of Western civilization.

  30. Better to not post and be thought a fool than to post and remove all doubt. But you couldn’t help it; those who hate cannot contain it.

  32. Laughing,
    Is that really the best you can do? Are YOU supposed to be a representative for those whose viewpoint differs from most in this combox? I have read more intelligent discourse on the backs of toilet stalls. I suggest you get back to your summer school homework and maybe come back one day when you have learned to write a complete sentence, not to mention use the caps lock key properly.

  34. It was a yahoo database error.
    Look up Kristn Bells profile, they cant possibly be dating the same man if Routh was gay, I suppose this is where all the gay crap started, through yahoo’s mistake. Some redneck bigot from yahoo was too jealous of superman.
    They already fixed this though.
    ————————
    Brandon Routh Biography – Yahoo! Movies
    … 25–who reportedly won a Hollywood Halloween costume contest in 2003 by dressing as … Significant Others.
    Companion: Kevin Mann. dating since c. 2003 …
    movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1808522591/bio – 14k – Cache –
    AND
    Kristen Bell Biography – Yahoo! Movies
    Significant Others. Companion: Kevin Mann. dating since c. 2003 … 2003 Television debut in the season premiere of “The Shield” playing a gang member’s …
    movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1808491155/bio – 14k –

  37. Wow! Classy! And an intellectual giant, too! Your reading comprehension level is so….third grade.

  39. These are excellent questions I think. And interesting answers. However, and please understand this is coming from a straight man who is a fan of superhero narratives. What I don’t understand is that why do you automatically see this as an attack to deliberately taint important cultural icons of the United States? I only say this because my first instinct is to see this kind of celebration of the figure of Superman by an important magazine which appeals to a specific demographic range of gay men as an example of how homosexual citizens of the United States find value in and identify with more or less the same icons as the heterosexual citizens of the United States.
    Now. We’re adults. And neither of us is naive. Obviously the figure of the Superman will also make the cover of a popular gay men’s magazine because a significant number of people–we presume–will or do find the figure attractive. When a gay man objectifies the fantasy of the sexual identity of Superman, obviously it will be a gay fantasy of some kind. But, I don’t really have a problem with that as an avid Superman fan (and not for gay reasons, I was always physically enamored with that Kryptonian chick with the short black hair from Superman 2–as far as the films go. But as far as the new(ish) Smallville series goes the savvy glow of Chloe Sullivan comes out on top for me).
    Whether or not Superman functions in the mind of one reader as having one kind of sexual identity, and in the mind of another reader as having another kind of sexual identity, the ACTIONS of Superman, which is all that matters, are still the same and are works to stand-up for truth, justice, and the American way. I’ve never seen or heard Clark Kent or Superman speak ill of the queer. Why would he. After all he’s an alien from another planet sent to save and protect Earth and its people despite the fact that he is its greatest outsider.
    In short, if anything, I think this kind of cover on The Advocate is testimony to how different kinds of people can believe in and value the same great things which make our country so fracking awesome!! As far as the Dorothy stuff goes…I’ve seen some, what I assume were straight men, dress up as some pretty funky sh** at college football games.

  40. These are excellent questions I think. And interesting answers. However, and please understand this is coming from a straight man who is a fan of superhero narratives. What I don’t understand is that why do you automatically see this as an attack to deliberately taint important cultural icons of the United States? I only say this because my first instinct is to see this kind of celebration of the figure of Superman by an important magazine which appeals to a specific demographic range of gay men as an example of how homosexual citizens of the United States find value in and identify with more or less the same icons as the heterosexual citizens of the United States.
    Now. We’re adults. And neither of us is naive. Obviously the figure of the Superman will also make the cover of a popular gay men’s magazine because a significant number of people–we presume–will or do find the figure attractive. When a gay man objectifies the fantasy of the sexual identity of Superman, obviously it will be a gay fantasy of some kind. But, I don’t really have a problem with that as an avid Superman fan (and not for gay reasons, I was always physically enamored with that Kryptonian chick with the short black hair from Superman 2–as far as the films go. But as far as the new(ish) Smallville series goes the savvy glow of Chloe Sullivan comes out on top for me).
    Whether or not Superman functions in the mind of one reader as having one kind of sexual identity, and in the mind of another reader as having another kind of sexual identity, the ACTIONS of Superman, which is all that matters, are still the same and are works to stand-up for truth, justice, and the American way. I’ve never seen or heard Clark Kent or Superman speak ill of the queer. Why would he. After all he’s an alien from another planet sent to save and protect Earth and its people despite the fact that he is its greatest outsider.
    In short, if anything, I think this kind of cover on The Advocate is testimony to how different kinds of people can believe in and value the same great things which make our country so fracking awesome!! As far as the Dorothy stuff goes…I’ve seen some, what I assume were straight men, dress up as some pretty funky sh** at college football games.

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