Tag Archives: Queer Identity

The Post-Label World

Coming out and identifying as a specific sexual orientation has always been important to most LGBTQ people.

There is, without a doubt, a certain level of comfort knowing there are more people out there who, just like me, identify as lesbians. Lately, we have seen a shift in the way society sees labels and even on how some people choose not to label themselves. Is modern society starting to view labels as something outdated and unnecessary?

To label or not to label

In previous decades, there was almost an urgency to find a suitable label for our own sexual orientation. A way to tell the world who we are and who we love, proudly. And coming out was the last step of this whole process. This identity seeking journey was (and unfortunately in some places still is) often dangerous as LGBTQ people were seen as abnormal or unnatural.

 As generations grow older and so do views on sexual orientation, we are now experiencing an openness and acceptance like never before. It’s ok if you are gay, it’s ok if you are a lesbian, it’s ok if you are asexual. So why keep carrying the weight of a label on our shoulders?

I am not saying that 50 years from now no one will identify themselves with a specific label, I am however saying that there won’t be a necessity for that. Nor will there be the necessity to come out.

And why should we label ourselves? I can’t deny I have had crushes on men, but I still identify as a lesbian. Should I identify as bisexual or pansexual even though I no longer feel attracted to men? Am I less of a lesbian because of it? No! And I am sure there are a lot more people who have the same questions I do, and who decide not to label themselves.

Do you think we will ever live in a label-free world or are labels here to stay? Leave a comment below and let us know!

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DC’s ‘Batwoman’ Solo Series Will Honour Her Queer Identity

Batwoman is flying high in the pages of Detective Comics right now, but DC Entertainment announced that Kate Kane is getting her own solo comic once again – one that will honour her queer legacy.

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In an interview with Inverse, Dan DiDio says Batwoman’s identity as a lesbian has been a part of her character since she first appeared in a New 52 issue.

We introduced Batwoman back in 2006, and that was purely to introduce a gay character who was a part of one of our major franchises. It’s one thing to write a gay character in a book, but it’s another to make a player in a major franchise — Batman, Superman — gay. It brings a level of importance to the role, and it validates that character immediately.”

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Batwoman backstory is an important one. She was a highly competitive trained soldier who was dismissed from a military academy – despite being a top student – for being a lesbian.

After losing her military career, she fell into drug use and tried to escape her frustrations through risky behaviours. That’s where concerned father figure Bruce Wayne stepped in, and Kane soon became a vigilante beside him.

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DiDio insists that Batwoman’s creation, despite being for the explicit purpose of adding a gay character in DC’s books, was an organic one.

She’s not a throwaway, and she hasn’t changed one bit. She’s a hero who happens to be gay, which is no different than Bruce Wayne being a hero whose parents were murdered. She has a different point of view, and she stands unique among our pantheon of heroes.”

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DC has escaped much of the controversy that surrounds Marvel, though both publishers have made public decisions this year to value stories about non-white, non-straight, and non-male superheroes.

Fans seem particularly upset with Marvel swapping in new, diverse characters under existing titles — Riri Williams taking Iron Man’s position, or Jane Foster stepping in as the rightful Thor — and DC’s decision to showcase Batwoman seems to side-step that strategy.

After all, as DiDio points out, Batwoman has been a part of DC’s canon for ten years now, so her first solo series is only capitalising on a business strategy that began long before Marvel’s diversification movement took centre stage.