In May, The
Advocate ran a cover story with the headline "How
Gay Is Superman?" The piece proved to be so intriguing that,
after "gay Superman" Internet buzz traveled the globe,
Superman Returns director Bryan Singer
issued a statement Friday officially denying that the
Man of Steel is gay. Superman "is probably the most
heterosexual character in any movie I've ever made," said
the out director. "I don't think he's ever been gay."
On the other hand, Singer pointed out, his Superman is
a "very romantic icon," with a vulnerable quality
that, judging by the trailers, works just fine for the
film's Lois Lane.
Ironically, the
Advocate story did not suggest that the superhero
is gay but instead described how the secret lives of
superheroes resonate with LGBT youth who must conceal
important things about themselves. Nevertheless, as
the story traveled the Internet and made its way to
cable talk TV, it was steadily embroidered and exaggerated
until it became something else entirely. By this past
week, news outlets were stating that gays are
demanding that Superman be gay. One conservative
pundit even took Warner Bros. to task for courting the gay
audience by suggesting that Superman is
gay--something that to our knowledge never
happened.
Now that Singer
has clarified which way Superman's cape blows, we plan to
go see the movie anyway.
