A Gay Captain America Belittles LGBT Culture

Comics really don’t get the respect they deserve.

The modern form of the medium is nearly a century old, and has spawned some of the most successful movies of the last decade, but there are still many who think it’s pages are filled with fanciful, violent, immature stories about good guys beating up bad guys in the name of truth, love, and justice, etc. etc.

Little do they realise the heart and social conscience that many of the best comic book stories inhabit. Watchmen questions the responsibility of those who hold power over the world. Marvel’s Civil War event asks where the line between freedom and security should be drawn. Meanwhile, Stan Lee’s X-Men franchise – now over 50 years old – continues to tackle important social issues such as racism, religious fundamentalism, and sexuality.

It’s this latter theme that has left the internet abuzz this last week, with Twitter users calling for Marvel to ‘turn’ iconic character Captain America gay through the trending tag #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend. It’s a move that follows recent campaigns asking Disney (which also owns Marvel Entertainment and Lucas Arts) to give Frozen antagonist Elsa a girlfriend in the movie’s sequel, and to couple up Oscar Isaac’s and John Boyega’s characters in Episode VIII of the Star Wars franchise.

The initiative has resulted from a GLAAD report that found LGBT representation in Hollywood films was at an all-time low in 2015. A few days ago, the association came out in support of the recent online activity.

“It’s getting increasingly difficult to ignore that LGBT people remain almost completely shut out of Hollywood’s big budget comic films that have dominated the box office over the past couple of years,” GLAAD’s entertainment media strategist, Megan Townsend, told the Associated Press (via USA Today). Addressing the Captain America campaign, she stated there’s “room for established characters to have backstories built out that we weren’t aware of”.

She’s right. Except Cap’s backstory is already established. In both the comics and movies, he is heterosexual. Sure, it’s not unusual for writers to throw in a twist that reveals something new about reader’s favourite characters – even if it does completely retcon everything that has come before – but they are generally employed for dramatic purpose.

A person’s sexual identity should not be manipulated for the sake of drama.

Comics have played an integral part in informing the social conscience of its readers whilst maintaining an identity as a fringe medium. To relent and follow this request would not be a celebration of gay culture. It would be belittling it.

The best superheroes are born out of the obstacles they overcome in life. Iron Man is Tony Stark’s response to the violence he has enabled through his previous role as a producer of munitions. Batman’s fight for justice is fuelled by the loss Bruce Wayne experienced when his parents were killed. Captain America is no different. Steve Rogers was physically weak but mentally remarkable; an upstanding citizen that even his fellow Avengers look up to.

Making him gay does nothing to further the representation of the LGBT community in cinema. It reduces it to a side note. A ‘did you know?’ at the bottom of a biography.

If Marvel accepts that their content is lacking of diversity, and truly wants to change that, they need to go further. They need to develop a brand new character who is inspired, but not defined, by their homosexuality. Someone who has faced the tribulations that so many LGBT individuals have persevered through in the process of embracing who they truly are.

Of course, this is unlikely to happen. Marvel and DC sales continue to slide – a fact many claim, ironically, is a result of the publishing giants pandering to new readers rather than producing the quality content that attracted the longterm fans who are now moving on.

The chance of either releasing a new book at such a time is slim, but if the entertainment industry is truly ready to catch up with the rest of society in celebrating diversity, a hero needs to rise and set it on the right path.