"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and Batwoman Collide
In Spring 2006, Batwoman made headlines by coming out of the closet. In doing so, she became DC Comics’ highest profile gay character.
But what most news outlets haven't covered since Batwoman's coming out party is the journey she has traveled, mirroring changes and challenges faced by today's LGBT movement. It's a ground-breaking storyline, and another example of how the comic world continues to cover gay rights better than a big chunk of traditional media.
Comics have come a long way over the past fifty years. Batwoman's first appearance in comics decades ago was a response from editors to address mounting concern that Batman and Robin were a little too gay themselves. In 1954, Fredric Wertham published Seduction of the Innocent, which warned that comic books were a corrupting influence on the nation’s children. As a result, male superheroes were given an opposite-sex counterpart as a love interest to quiet the gay allegations. Even worse, female heroines like Batwoman were given a stereotypical slant, such as disguising the weapons in her utility purse (not belt!) as feminine products including lipstick and cosmetic compacts.
But what a difference a few decades make.
Now writers are using the medium to tackle serious gay rights issues, like the role of LGBT rights and the military. If you’ve never picked up a comic in your life, head to a bookstore or comic shop and pick up Detective Comics issue #859. Besides being one of the most visually arresting pieces of art drawn in the medium today, and published in one of the oldest running comics title still on the newsstands (since 1937!), the current storyline is a stunner.
Written by Greg Rucka and drawn by J.H. Williams III, Batwoman’s alter ego Kate Kane’s origins are explored. Readers find that as a young adult, Batwoman is at the top of her class at the United States Military Academy. When it’s discovered that she’s in a lesbian relationship with another student, she’s asked to deny the allegations or be expelled for violation of the military’s code of conduct. She could stay in the military if she’d just tell her commanding officer “what he needed to hear.”
Batwoman’s response? She bravely cites the cadet honor code: “A cadet will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor suffer other to do so. I’m sorry sir, I can’t.”
Refusing to lie about who she is, Batwoman is discharged and forced to leave her potential life of service behind. What follows is depression fueled by drugs and alcohol after sacrificing one part of her identity (military career) for another part (lesbian individual), until finding a redemptive relationship with another woman. Through the whole ordeal, Batwoman never questions her decision to be honest and truthful about her sexual orientation.
It’s hard not to think about the parallels between the comic world and real life. How many LGBT people today would proudly serve their country, if they didn’t have to lie about their identity to do so? And what message does it send – both professionally and psychologically – to the more than 13,000 soldiers who have been discharged from the military under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?” Perhaps that’s why the American Medical Association endorsed a resolution last month calling for the military’s ban on gay and lesbian soldiers to be overturned. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is not only bad for national security, it’s potentially very bad for the health and well-being of the people punished in its wake.
That’s a fact President Obama and Congress should heed as they prepare to enter the 2010 legislative year. And hey, if they need backup, they can just turn to Batwoman.
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