Confirming what many have long suspected but didn't want to say anything because it's not really their place, DC Comics has officially revealed that the Green Lantern is gay now, a change made as part of the publisher's New 52 reboot and an overall initiative by the industry to include more gay characters and provoke hyperbolic comments about them from the usual moral watchdog groups. "Why do adult gay men need comic superheroes as role models?" cried the perpetually hand-wringing One Million Moms, once again answering its own ridiculous questions with a stock statement of outrage that included the words "brainwash" and "indoctrinate" and "lifestyle choice," and other things we don't need to quote because you've already heard them.
Said screeching is not expected to be lessened by the caveat that the gay Green Lantern is not the more famous Hal Jordan, but rather his predecessor Alan Scott, whose new, Earth 2 existence as a twentysomething "media mogul" who also happens to be homosexual—a revision writer James Robinson intended to make up for the reset storyline's loss of Scott's proudly out son, Obsidian—takes place in a parallel world, in addition to Scott being just one of thousands of Green Lanterns in the universe. Still, Scott is arguably the most visible of the incremental integration of gay comic book characters that includes the current Batwoman, Marvel's Northstar, and Archie's Kevin Keller, which makes it sort of a big deal. Of course, the admirable progressiveness of their decision is somewhat tempered by the fact that it involves a guy powered by flame, who cannot abide the tacky color yellow, and is vulnerable to wood. Oh ha ha, DC. Ha ha.