DC Comics Forbids Gay Marriage

Today I bring to you an article that features a double whammy: A topic that's hot right now, and a topic that's related to something nerdy: Comic Books. As the title tells: DC Comics is forbidding the depiction of a gay marriage between Batwoman and her girlfriend. Interestingly, at the same time, the creative team responsible for this comic has quit. Coincidence?

Kate's proposal to Margie

Batwoman is, of course, the female counterpart to Batman. These days in comics, Batwoman is the caped identity to a woman named Kate Kane. Her story is currently being published in what's called the New 52. The New 52 is a DC reboot attempt where they cancelled all existing comic book runs and rebooted 52 new ones. In typical Gotham fashion, Kate became the Batwoman after a series of traumatic events in her life. Her mother and twin sister were abducted by terrorists and executed in front of her before she was saved by a military task force. In an effort to try and bring direction to her life, she joined the marines but was dishonorably discharged after they found out she was a lesbian. As a side note it's interesting that this character has been gay for the entirety of her run in comics. She finally found direction in her life when she was about to be mugged/raped/killed and was saved by the Batman. Eventually Kate met a police officer named Margie Sawyer. Sawyer is a police captain working in Gotham who is in charge of a special unit.

The two writers, J. H. Williams III and Haden Blackman, have been writing this comic for over 3 years now. It is a very sudden change, but apparently there was a lot happening behind the scenes that lead up to this decision. An official statement was issued by the writers that outlines a lot of problems that people have suspected. For example, twitter posts as well as the official statement point to last minute changes, and insisting the authors ignore previous histories of characters. To put it simply, the authors felt like much of their creativity was being restricted. Some of those last minute changes came after months and years of planning - enough cause to make any sane person angry. On this issue they were told that they could engage the two characters but that "no marriage could result." Williams and Blackman are slated to leave the comic after December.

She liberated the hell out of herself.

This is not the first time DC has made a controversial decision. Indeed, lately DC seems to be tripping all over itself. In fact, DC making bad decisions has become a thing. Personally, I'm a little irritated by their missed opportunities. The New 52 was rebooting some powerful women characters that could have been a spectacular opportunity to break out of the sexism of comics. Instead, we get Catwoman in a 2 page panel where she's boning Batman. Oh, I forgot to mention that this same Catwoman comic shows her boobs and butt before we see her face. Another of their series, Starfire, depicts a very powerful super woman named Starfire. Their version of the "liberated" female character is dressing her in the smallest bikinis imaginable and having sex with everyone she meets. To translate, DC tells us it's okay to exploit women, but not to show them getting married. To be fair, they might not be against gay marriage, just marriage in general. When's the last time you saw a comic book character get married? Y'know, Marvel had a gay marriage just recently...

Oh DC... what have you done this time.

Thoughts? Comments?
-Jack