Pride month is in full swing here at DCComics.com and across the country. In our current climate, it’s never been more important to embrace your identity and celebrate the parts of you that form the person you are. But while pride is a lifelong journey, taking the first step can always feel like the most daunting. In a world full of prejudice, just being honest with the world about who you are can take courage worthy of a Green Lantern. It’s a challenge that millions of people around the world have to face…and one that even some of our greatest heroes have had to surmount as well. Here are five inspiring, illuminating and heartfelt stories about coming out in the DC Universe.
THE RAY
Justice League of America: The Ray Rebirth, 2017
From the very beginning of the genre, the superhero story has always been about dual identities. Living one life in public and another in private. People keeping parts of their own identity secret for social survival have empathized with the likes of Batman and Superman for decades, for this very reason. Steve Orlando, known well for the queer themes prevalent throughout his work, made this subtext overt in his 2017 origin story for the Ray. As a boy literally forced to live in the dark his entire life, it’s only when the Ray embraces the light responsible for his brilliant powers that he’s also able to accept another part of his identity: his reality as a young gay man. Scary as it may be, life can be so much simpler, so much more joyful, after taking that step into the sun. After all, as Ray himself confides with the reader upon his luminescent debut: “Crazy how much easier it is to find a guy when you’re visible.”
To read about other character’s coming out stories, head on over to DC Comics!
What’s your favorite coming out story within the DC Universe? Let us know in the comments! 
