The Green Lantern, and other life lessons

I don't mean to always speak in code when it comes to my professional life.  However, I feel that "the walls have eyes" down here in Jacksonville, much more so than in New Jersey.  It's just one of those regional differences that I've touched on from time to time.  Hey, you roll w/ it, right?  You suck it up, giggle a bit about it, and just refer to things, as "it" and "the thing" and "the deal".... and stuff like that!

I gots to start this blog posting by talking about the recent brouhaha regarding The Green Lantern and his coming out.  DC Comics made this decision; to bring one of their major characters out of the closet, and into the forefront of comic hero's.  All in all, not such a hyoooge deal, right?  Just another day at the office for a superhero that is busy spending his day fighting crime, and making sure that the earth is safe from evil doers...

Well, boy was I (not) surprised to hear some of the ol' workplace folks to react w/ furor over DC Comic's decision to bring this character out of the closet.  "Nature vs nurture" and other assorted phrases were tossed out.  Sigh, not very Progressive, right?

Look, I'm not a geneticist, nor I a shrink.  I'm just a Workin' Joe (The Plumber, right!?), I'm not a  politician either.  However, I do remember Matthew Shepard, and what happened to him.  He was a gay kid, who was beaten to death just for being different.

My take on the whole Green Lantern thing is this: It is a good thing. Plain and simple.  Much like The Huxtable family was some of "Flyover Country" America's first introduction to a  nuclear Black family whose members were all professionals, or students; this may very well be the same demographic's introduction that there is a guy (w/ a partner, they are monogamous, in a marriage) who just happens to be gay, but also fights crime, and makes the world a better place as best as he can.

Maybe the same folks who may have never (knowingly) met a gay person before can read The Green Lantern Series, and think "Hey, gay people are people just like me, just like black kids, or Jewish kids, or Chinese Kids".