Hi err’one, I hope everything is trucking right along in all of your multiverses
It’s no secret that our community is inclusive, and celebrates diversity in all its shapes, sizes, and colors. With all of the progress that has been made in recent memory, DC is working hard to ensure that the initiatives we enact to showcase these celebrations has true meaning. We are well aware that anyone can slap a rainbow on a bottle of vodka and call it a day, but we want to explore what celebrating Pride really means to our community.
DC’s creating worlds, every day, where everyone can live and love equally and where all people deserve to be free.
From my perspective, I have found that heroes are most interesting and complex when they show moments of vulnerability, and do what they think is right or is truest to who they are, even in the face of insurmountable odds.
A colleague at DC put it this way (by way of paraphrasing Taylor Swift), and I thought it was beautiful: “It’s very brave to be vulnerable, but it’s even more brave to be honest when you know that living your life as you are, as you feel you should be, as you identify yourself, might be met with adversity from society. We need to celebrate how far we’ve come and acknowledge how far we have left to go.”
I’ve enjoyed seeing the DC Universe become more inclusive in its representation of all peoples. The way these characters have been written is great. Their preferences are written in a way that doesn’t define them, but rather adds more layers to who they are, as it should be. I hope these books help people feel confident to be themselves, and to also learn to be accepting of others.
I would say it would be nice to see the trans community represented more going forward. Whether by introducing a trans character, or highlighting the violence the trans community faces for doing nothing more than living their truth.
It may sound cliche, but we are all we have. Love, understanding, and tolerance are needed to ensure we can all move forward together.
First of all- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TQ101! Talk about celebrating! Hopefully you get a chance to do something fun today
This part really stands out to me from what you said. It’s said a lot that people feel empowered by seeing themselves on the screen/page. And if we’re in communities that don’t have the same amount of diversity as large cities, we tend to hide ourselves as not to be judged. Being able to have that representation and outlet helps inspire that bravery to be true to and proud of ourselves.
This is very inspiring, thank you for sharing And (one more time for the people in the back)HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
We have a long way to go, but the progress made in my lifetime is so heartening. Even in these trying and divisive times, I have faith in humanity to continue to make great strides towards inclusion. This site is a big part of helping do just that. I love this community and all the people in it.
I see a ton of advertising for HBO Max in the current run of DC comics. Maybe more ads for DCUI will attract fans in the smaller towns who need a safe place to be themselves and gain confidence. These ads could highlight the inclusivity of the community as well as the other great sections of the app.
Pride to me means you embracing your inner self. You are free to be yourself and express yourself in whatever way you want. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, and what you do. You are you and that is something special to celebrate and love .
That ties back to the original intention, I think, even with jokes included! Less representation in our media makes it harder to feel proud to reveal who you are; so it seems like there is a smaller population. Maybe that’s why it’s called “coming out”
To me it means just being you. Who cares what others think just be happy being who you truly are. Live your life doing what makes you happy. Being happy with whoever you want be happy with. Because in the end we are all humans and our happiness is what matters.
As my collection of comic books has grown over the years I’m happy to report a lot of DC’s writing has been progressive and inclusive starting as far back as the Golden Age.
It means that I can open any comic and see representation of all of the types of people I know in my life. And that they are respected, well-treated and an important part of the story. (Not just thrown in for representation sake.)
DC has come really far, especially in recent years, in their representation. But they have a ton of room to grow. I’m excited to see that growth in the coming years because I really do believe DC is heading in the right direction.
Short answer: it’s both seeing myself as equal, and being treated as equal. Then doing everything I can to keep it that way.
Long answer: I was raised w/ a saying: “Speak the truth to shame the devil”. Imo, (and this goes for all the myriad of ways a person can be judged, damaged or become disaffected in this world) it’s continually leading by example w/ integrity until the world catches up. It’s not exactly personal contentment, or something to be checked off a list.
Yes, it’s dignity in the face adversity—not letting other people’s bs entitlement, phobias, or labels define us, but it’s also remembering there’s more work to be done and everyone needs mercy. Often easier said than done, but basically: try to put your best foot forward and live in truth until the barriers, lies and labels blur away and we are all treated w/ respect. No matter how long that takes. The end.
A lot of wise things have already been said by all of these great peeps about what Pride means personally to us so I’ll try something else. I’m always excited to see LGBTQ artists have a chance to shine in DC’s multiverse. I guess that’s still personal, because I’m hoping that these talented people get to tell their stories, not even necessarily dealing with anything to do with queer issues. It is my hope that eventually we will no longer need to say that so and so is a [blank] writer writing a [blank] character. It will just be.
I think dc has made a lot of progress in representation in recent years and i hope they keep making more efforts. What I’d love to see is a coming out story of a well established character. A lot of people spend most of their lives, if not all of it, in the closet, out of fear of rejection/violence, unemployment, self-doubt, etc. “But this characters always been cisgender/straight” or they were just afraid to be their true selves! Heroes are great at hiding parts of themselves, this wouldnt be any different. I want dc to not only create new queer characters, but also establish known ones too. Both are important.
(i almost cried reading love is a battlefield because id never read the word “genderfluid” in a comic before and was just so excited)
Honestly, I’ll buy comics purely because they have good representation. Every time a new character is lgbt I immediately read their stories.
Also I hope to see more genderqueer characters. I absolutely fell in love with Aerie in Taylor’s Suicide Squad and I’m loving the new flash in future state. Show me more non-binary, trans, genderfluid, agender, etc characters! I will give you my money!!! (also for those who say its unrealistic 1: everything about superman is unrealistic and 2: i personally know more non-binary people than there are non binary characters)
I also really like it when random background characters just exist and are lgbt+ in some way, just for a page or 2. Representation is important in main characters as well as small ones. Seeing 2 girls holding hands on a panel will make me smile every single time.
If people can have wings and reincarnate for thousands of years, people can use they/them pronouns and love who they want.
ok this was really long and this is me holding back, im ready with a 10 page essay about representation in comics any day
For me celebrating pride means representing a greater variety of sexual orientations and gender identities. For most of their history, comic books, like other media, have been dominated by cisgender, straight characters. That means that many people aren’t seeing individuals similar to themselves being represented in comic books. I don’t want to get off topic here, but it is similar to what I experienced as someone who is part Cherokee. Growing up there really wasn’t much in the way of Native American characters in comics, beyond Pow Wow Smith at DC, Red Wolf at Marvel, and a few others. While I am a straight, cisgender individual, then , I can imagine how LGBTQ+ individuals must feel reading comic books at times. Comics have improved with regards to representation in the past few years, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.
mean to you? There are absolutely no wrong answers!
Talk about celebrating! Hopefully you get a chance to do something fun today 
And (one more time for the people in the back) HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 
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The end.