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082900: COLUMN: YOU MEAN I HAD A CHOICE?
Oh Gods, not another one. Doesn't it just seem that these days every new comic creator also happens to be gay? Messrs. Jimenez, Sadowski and their ilk are taking over the world. The gay agenda exists and we're the new ruling class. Well, not really. Granted there are more gay comic creators out there these days that are high profile and have no qualms about the world knowing about their sexuality. But I think that's as much to do with the fact that being gay isn't something that's looked on as something to hide any more as anything else. I don't know for certain but I bet that there have always been a fair few gay comic creators; they just weren't out publicly because if they were it could affect their careers. Look at the way Hollywood used to be. Rock Hudson couldn't be out because he wouldn't have gotten any work if he were. Anne Heche and Rupert Everett couldn't have been out fifty years ago. Even twenty years ago I doubt they'd have been as accepted as they are now, and it's the same with the comic book industry. As creators we may be slightly more anonymous than actors or singers but people still want to know about us and our sexuality is bound to come up at some point or another.
The point is I've never really 'come out' to anyone, I don't feel that I need to. On the one hand it's not exactly as if you could miss it when you meet me, I'm almost the perfect stereotype of a gay man. On the other hand I don't think there's a need for me define myself just by my sexuality. Yes I'm a camp, gay man but my sexuality only really becomes an issue when it gets down to whom I might fancy. Why should the fact that I have romantic feelings for the same sex have any bearing on my work? It shouldn't I guess, but it does. There are certain expectations that are going to be placed on me by all types of people. Because I'm gay, people are going to expect me to portray gay characters in my work, almost demand it, and to an extent I'm going to comply with that. As a gay man I want to see myself reflected in comics and if I'm in a position to follow that through then by the gods I shall. They're there in GOODFELLOW in the background. They're there in my own writing and art but I'm not going to make a big song and dance about it. If a character's gay then it's because that's how the character works for me. I'm not going to write a gay character just because I think I should or because people expect me to. What it all comes down to is that I never actually set out to be a 'gay comic creator'. I did set out to be a comic creator; that was a choice. My sexuality wasn't, that's just what I am, and because I am gay and don't think it should be an issue, and I'm not going to shy away from letting people know about it. I simply don't see the point of doing so. If someone wants to make assumptions about me because of my sexuality then fine, that's their decision, but I'm not going to deny myself for anyone. I didn't choose to be an out artist because to come out in the first place I'd have to have been 'in' at some point and my closet door has been wide open from virtually the day I was born. I'm here, I'm queer, and I'm just waiting for Connor Hawke to come and sweep me off my feet.
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But this article is about something more important than that; it's about me. I was asked to write about why I chose to be out while starting out on a career in comics. Well I don't think I did really. If you're reading this article chances are until now you didn't really know I was gay. There's nothing about GOODFELLOW to say anything about my sexuality. Actually that's not quite true. See the market scene in the first issue? See the guy with short blond hair, a crop-top and long coat? That's me. Butch, aren't I? 
