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The Superhero Gay Set Of New York

Published Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:45:45 -0500

Last updated Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:46:49 -0500

Was Wertham right? Were superheroes just some kind of thin veneer for spreading the filthy disease of homosexuality?

Apparently so. The New York Times has run an thorough investigation into the new superhero gayness. With a look at Skin Tight U.S.A, the superhero-themed gay club night at the Stonewall Inn in the West Village, where between twenty-fibe and two hundred and fifty men gather to dress up in superhero costumes. From Spider-Man to Black Adam, from Green Lantern to Superman.

And then, presumably, do their level best to get each other out of them at some point in the evening.

"I was always attracted to the superhero physique," said Matthew Levine, 31, who helped found the party in 2005 with Andrew Owen, 44, and who was one of the few participants willing to be named. The two become friends as, respectively, the graphic designer and Webmaster for Hard Comixxx, a predecessor of Skin Tight, once held at the Eagle bar in Chelsea. Mr. Levine is a big fan of the X-Men (who have a handful of gay characters) and the Transformers (all of whom seem straight) and has been reading comics since he was 8. "As I got older," he said, "I realized, 'Oh, this is why I admire the Grecian ideal of manhood and musculature.' "

The article then looks at recent superhero comics that have featured prominent gay characters, but we're all quite familiar with those… as well as wondering exactly what draws the gay commuinity to these brightly coloured skin-tight super-muscled characters.

In interviews with several gay fans, the reasons given for gravitating toward comics were as varied as the heroes' costumes: everything from escapism to "hot men in tights" to embodying the X-Men's message, "seeking acceptance from a world that hates and fears them purely for who they are."

There's also a power fantasy. "I think that some young gay boys and men are more attracted to that than the average kid because they have one extra fight to fight than just being the wimpy kid in school," said Bob Schreck, a bisexual comic book editor who worked on Green Lantern, which included a gay-bashing storyline. "The straight wimpy kid is a straight wimpy kid. The gay wimpy kid is in real trouble."

On with the pictures!