Gay people in comics

kalinara had a recent post on her blog on Sexuality in Comics, that was a response to a thread on the newsarama forums (which I won't bother with a link for, since if you can't guess how a comics forum thread reacts to mention of homosexuality you haven't been on the internet ever before). And the comments to HER post some anon troll questions WHY there should be diversity in regards to sexuality in comics (well mainstream supers comics at least). People respond with various reasons. It better reflects actual people if supers have a diverse make-up (racially, sexually, etc) beyond the standard white Americans. Another arguement made is that diversity leads to a greater range of possible stories, which is good in and of itself. All of which doesn't matter, since the anon IS a troll and so they just want to continue argueing side topics and what not...

But ignoring the likely motivation of the person who asked the initial question there is another reason to encourage writers, companies, etc to have more gay characters. And fully fleshed characters, not just token "the gay one" types. Because the more common and normal homosexuality is made in ANY form of media, the more it will become "normal" to the mass overculture. The more diversity, whether its religious, race, sexuality, gender or social; is shown and made mainstream, the more likely it is TO BECOME MAINSTREAM. Where the concept of gay marriage is met with a shrug rather than a need to attempt to amend the constitution. Where the sight of two guys or two girls kissing isn't shocking or titillating, its just another annoying Public Display of Affection...

Yes, supers comics are just a small segment of the mass entertainment media. But every small step towards making "alternate" cultures just another part of the mainstream is a good step...

All rocked out

Back from the concert. Well actually back an hour ago, but was watching Rome. How to best describe it? Escalating. Yeah, that works...

Starting at 4:30 was local punk band Numbers on Napkins who played for about half an hour. Decent band, kind of Bad Religion sound to them. Though they have the problem as many punk bands, where the power bass lines tend to overwhelm the vocals. Managed to get a few good reactions from the smallish crowd present. And like every following band made reference to see who was still hungover from the St. Patrick's Day concert. Even the start of a small mosh going...

The next band, The Liar's Handshake, had a more folk/punk thing going on. Little bit like The Dropkick Murphys. They had a slighter larger bunch leave the stands for the field area in front of the stage. And they also managed to get the crowd going somewhat. Even bigger mosh group, slightly bigger crowd pops. Both these bands were fairly good and I'll probably see if I can track down some of their work online...

Then the Voodoo Glow Skulls hit. They didn't even try and get the crowd going. They just assumed that everyone would follow their lead. Which pretty much happened. Actual spontaneous crowd reactions and a real mosh started going. Band is all high-octane energy and ska/punk fusion. Plus they had what was the most aggresive horn player. Until now I'd never thought of the damn trombone as a hard-core punk instrument. But their guy just worked that horn like he wanted to batter everyone into submission...

After them it was Authority Zero, who opened with "Drunken Sailor" to a HUGE fucking pop. They started hard and just kept hammering away and carrying everyone with them. Their lead singer thrashed around like he wanted to smash the stage beneath his feet. Now the field crowd really filled up. Mosh pit, the crowd yelling back lyrics, even crowd surfing. Authority Zero finished up with their lead stage diving and crowd surfing thru their finale. Now the crowd seemed fired up fully...

Not. Even. Close.

Opening with "Screaming at the Wailing Wall" Flogging Molly got an explosive crowd reaction as all of us rose to our feet. And it was a reaction that didn't let up as they played for close to an hour and a half. Giant fucking mosh. Pretty much always two to four people crowd surfing. The field in front of the stage packed. And everyone screaming along with the chorus. I'm still a little hoarse. They even debuted a couple of new songs, "Reqieum For a Dying Song" and "Afloat". They even came back for an encore after the crowd began chanting; Flogging Molly! *clap clap clap* Though at first I thought everyone was chanting "Lets go Murphys". Which would have been odd...

Fucking awesome show...