Last week Archie Comics revealed a gay character, Kevin Keller, will join Riverdale High in September and become eye candy for Veronica. “Archie’s hometown of Riverdale has always been a safe world for everyone,” said Archie Comics co-CEO Jon Goldwater. “It just makes sense to have an openly gay character in Archie comic books.”
I’ve never read a comic book in my life, nor have I ever cared about Batman and Robins subtle, fan-fiction-driven homoeroticism. But this? This makes me happy. It’s the same type of appreciation I felt when Seth MacFarlane confessed that Stewie Griffin is gay, or when Ricky Martin came out a few weeks ago. It’s un-lobbied visibility for the gay community, and that can’t be a bad thing.
Without getting too political, visibility and voice are lacking in the gay community, whether it’s on Northwestern’s campus or in the greater national arena. As I touched on in my first column, community visibility is problematic because it’s just too easy to be invisible. I’m not saying we should start marking our bags with rainbow patches or adding, “Oh yeah, and I’m gay” to the end of our elevator speeches. It’s more about rocking the bed where the heterosexual assumption has settled.
One of those places is the classroom. NU is currently trying to navigate the proposition of campus inclusiveness, and last fall I attended a workshop where the moderators cued faculty and staff into these procedures: “Don’t divide people into groups based on the color of their nametag because that creates an issue if someone if colorblind.” I was struck by that because I’ve never really considered the day-to-day life of a colorblind person. So I wondered, “Why should anyone go out of their way to make me feel more comfortable?”
In all actuality, it’s not that uncomfortable when people assume I’m straight, but it does remind me of my second-class status. In one writing workshop the instructor tried to use one of my personal experiences as a launching point for a short story. He looked at me and said, “Ok, Shane, so imagine the woman of your dreams just walked in. Now what?” “Um, well, that woman would be Kate Winslet and I’d probably shriek, hyperventilate and pass out. And then I’d wake up and ask to go shopping with her.” See? It’s jarring when people assume you’re someone you’re not.
What’s exciting about gay celebrities, comic book characters and cartoons (SpongeBob, are you there?) is theyslowly makes affirming our identity less awkward. There’s less ambivalence in the hetero assumption when there’s more of us pushing that assumption away, and while most of the time it doesn’t matter whether someone’s straight or gay, maybe some pride can be afforded the few times it does.
It might sound far-fetched that a comic book character could give more credence in saying “I’m gay,” but I’m reminded of how simply knowing that a professor is gay opens up my willingness to talk about it. It may be that all my gay professors have taught gender studies classes-where sexuality is always the subject of the day-but there is a gentle comfort in knowing those spaces are spaces where it’s safe to assume otherwise. So, thanks, Archie, for showing SafeSpaces do exist in the “real world” and reminding peoplegays are like Visa: Everywhere you want to be.
