Fridae

Batwoman returns as a lesbian socialite
DC Comics' new Batwoman is set to be an out-of-the-closet lipstick lesbian socialite after an absence of almost 30 years.

First introduced 50 years ago, legendary publishers DC Comics will relaunch Batwoman in the July issue of a comic called 52. Set in a world without Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, the collection will be published as a graphic novel by Titan Books in 2007.

Described as a "a buxom 5-foot-10 lesbian socialite by night and a crime fighter by later in the night," Kathy Kane was also the name of the original Batwoman's alter ego, created in 1956.

As Batman's ally in his fight against evil, Batwoman made occasional appearances in the comic named after him and spent time with her niece Batgirl swooning over Batman and his sidekick Robin. The first Kathy was unceremoniously killed off in 1979 - murdered by an assassin.

While no one has seen the new Batwoman, it is known that her past includes a romantic liaison with Renee Montoya, a lesbian former police detective who has also starred in the 52 comic.

According to The New York Times, the re-invention of Batwoman is part of a wider attempt by the comic book industry to feature more people from different minority groups in tales of derring-do by much-loved superheroes. DC Comics is also re-launching Blue Beetle, formerly a white hero, as a Mexican teenager with mystical powers.

"We want to look at the world around us and strike a more contemporary tone," said Dan DiDio, DC's vice president and executive editor, whose new weekly 52 series will also feature more black and Latino characters.

"We deal with stories about identities and secret identities," said DiDio. "And we think that a character who is openly gay, yet keeps it a secret from certain members of her own family, has a lot of strong emotional layers."

While it seems like DC Comics is more accepting of the fluidity of its heroines' sexuality, it appears to take a more protective approach to its male characters' sexuality. Last year DC took legal action against a New York art gallery that housed an exhibition of watercolours featuring Batman and Robin in "intimate" positions.

Meanwhile British gay and lesbian campaign group Outrage says making Batwoman a lesbian is more about pandering to the fantasies of adult male readers than diversity.

Spokesman David Allison said: "Most pre-adolescent children neither know nor care about the sexuality of their comic book heroes. And it is well known that lots of men get turned on by the idea of lesbians."

Related link
52thecomic.com

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HIV on the rise in US for gay men
The annual United Nation AIDS report has revealed that unprotected sex among men who have sex with men (MSM) is increasing in the United States, the BBC reported. MSM make up about half all HIV infections diagnosed in 2004, says the UN report.

It reported that the number of people living with HIV in the US has reached its highest level ever, at 1.2 million in 2005 and the number of deaths due to AIDS is 16,000. The report added that while widespread access to the latest drugs has kept the number of Aids-related deaths relatively low, preventing new infections remains a challenge.

Quoting public health officials in major US cities, the BBC said that there is evidence that gay men have become complacent about the disease, and are increasingly practising unsafe sex.

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Sexual minorities plan to hold annual gay rallies in Moscow
Undeterred by the opposition and brutality that befallen marchers at Russia's first gay and lesbian rally last Saturday, organisers have announced their plan to hold another gay rally in Moscow next year and to make it an annual event in the future, key organiser of the rally, Nikolay Alexeyev, told Russian news agency Interfax

"The 27th of May has been for us so far an anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1993 in Russia. But the gay parade in 2006 in Moscow and the situation in which it was held has given much more weight to this date," the agency's interlocutor said.

Thus he said people of non-traditional sexual orientation plan "to raise rainbow flags over Moscow again" on May 27, 2007, as symbols of gay community.

Alexeyev said they intend to hire lawyers from abroad, including the well-known London-based gay Professor Robert Wintmute - who is said to succeed in a great deal of cases on behalf of sexual minorities - to challenge in courts of various instances up to the Strasbourg one the ban imposed on the 'queer march' in Moscow.

He said he does not regard non-traditional sexual orientation as deviation from norm. "Homosexuality is the same norm as heterosexuality, and it is only pseudo-doctors who disagree with it," he noted.

The organiser of the gay rally also expressed disagreement with those who see in such actions an insult to public morality.

"It is absolutely all the same to me what the patriarch and all this followers think about it. He can preach it in his church. We are a secular state, and I live according to the law of a secular state, not according to the Bible," he stressed.

He said "even if 99 percent of the Russians are against gay parades, it does not matter at all, as there is a minority whose rights are to be respected just as the rights of the rest."