Culture

Batwoman proposes to her girlfriend amidst DC Comics anti-gay Superman writer row

Feb 25 2013
Written by Joseph McCormick

DC Comics’ Batwoman has proposed to her girlfriend in the latest instalment of the comic strip, amidst controversy surrounding the publisher’s decision to hire a writer with anti-gay views to write for another title.

Kate Kane, also known as Batwoman, proposed to her girlfriend, Maggie Sawyer, in the latest episode of the comic.

Batwoman was reintroduced as a lesbian by DC Comics in 2006, in a new title which aimed to reflect modern society more accurate than previous comics.

DC Comics have been heavily criticised recently for its decision to hire anti-gay writer, Orson Scott Card, author of Enders Game, to write the first two instalments of its new digital-first comic, Adventures of Superman. Some fans called for a boycott of the company, and of the comic.

DC Comics had responded to the criticism, defending “freedom of expression”, stating that Mr Card would not be a regular writer for the comic, just two episodes.

An AllOut petition calling for DC to dump Scott Card had received almost 16,000 signatures.

Some critics accused DC of not making a bigger deal of Batwoman’s proposal because of the controversy surrounding Card, others commended the publisher, praising it for what was seen as an attempt to normalise the same-sex proposal.

Others have questioned whether Orson Scott Card will complete the work for DC, given his opposition to equal marriage.

Last year, after it was revealed that a major character of DC Comics would come out as gay, lesbian or bisexual, one of the company’s oldest characters, Green Lantern, was reintroduced as a gay man.

Marvel‘s Northstar, the first openly gay hero, tied the knot with his boyfriend Kyle Jinadu in an issue of ‘Astonishing X-Men’, last year, and recently the creators of Judge Dredd suggested that he could be gay.