I disagree with freefall drift.
Why do I have to have a reason to make a character gay? I don't need a reason to make them straight.
Since gay people come in as many varied personalities and roles as striaght people, I cant see why I need a special reason to make someone gay, especially if it doesn't really impact on the characters role in the story.

For example- I decide to make the captain of the town guard gay. It doesn't impact on the plot or anything that he does, but it gets mentioned in passing when someone refers to the guys boyfriend.
Whats wrong with that?
Isn't that a better way to do it then making every gay characters sexuality the main focus of their character?

harkovast
Why do I have to have a reason to make a character gay?

I understand what you're talking about and I think it's a good way to think about it. Actually I would argue that you should have a reason for making your character gay, straight, blonde, short, frugal, or any number of character traits. But you're right, it shouldn't take a special case or agenda for there to be a gay character in your comic.

DAJB
Remember when JK Rowling announced that Dumbledore was gay? Being a cynical sort, my first thought was that - since there was nothing in the books to suggest that he was gay - she was just mischievously trying to stir up a little more hype. (In fact, being a very cynical type, I still suspect that was probably the case! )

If you're prepared to believe that she was simply being honest, however, then she actually got it right. In her mind, she was writing a gay character but, by putting nothing in the book to make an issue of it, she created a person who - for the rest of us - could be anything: gay, straight, bisexual or completely asexual.

Just the way we see most people in real life!

I fully agree with you.

I was at first suspicious of Rowling's outing of Dumbledore as some sort of stunt, but when it comes down to it, it's a great way to have a gay character whose sexuality was used to motivate and affect the character, but without being preachy or pandering.

(And yeah, I'm still a little bit suspicious of Rowling, since she's been so attention-hungry after her books were finished and old news)

Most of the characters I had that are gay now just ended up that way through character development. I'm not gonna lie, most of the homosexuality in my comic is more often than not implied rather than out in the open. I have two characters that are direct about it, and though one of them plays a very important part in the story, it doesn't really stop my comic from being heavily hetero. Mainly because I don't really know many gay people and the ones have known didn't feel the need to make a spectacle of it.

I know I should probably touch on it more, since my comic is sorta about tolerance (religious tolerance more than anything) but I think, my comic takes place in the future, so shouldn't it be more acceptable at that point? So what need would they have to be preachy about it? I don't think there's anything wrong with some characters keeping it quiet, sometimes I like leaving things to the imagination. Will they eventually explore it? I'm not sure yet, I'm still developing them! =D

I don't worry about people getting angered any stuff it my comic anymore. If people get offended by something that wasn't done out of spite, they're taking themselves and the comic too seriously.