DC's Closet of costumes and beards and other allusions to...

[Vakanai]

I suppose Lex Luthor could be considered gay, since he only loves a man. Sure that man is himself, but still...

Mogo kind of - I mean, do sapient planets have a gender? Or sex? What is Mogo's deal? If he's got a sexual orientation, it's unusual just in the fact he's a world.

Lobo - I don't imagine he gives a frag.

[Restingvoice]

At the same time, though, it sends out a message that a close platonic relationship between two men or two women is not normal.
That there must be something 'going on' between them.

I'm perfectly fine with Beetle and Booster just being 'bros' or Fire and Ice just being 'bffs 4ever'.

If readers want to fantasize about it, though, that's fine with me.

As long as they do both it will be fine. If they have a story with two besties and two lovers with almost equal screentime or recognition.

Like for example, you got Harley and Ivy as a couple while Dinah and Babs remaining straight besties. Maybe make a Birds of Prey/Sirens book for them.

Midnighter and Apollo are a couple while Dick and Midnighter or Tiger are besties. The Grayson book is really close to this but they also mix it with deliberate fanservice bait so it's more like Grayson and His Harem Subtext but the Text can be straighter.

Having a Sirens/Prey book also very easy to slip into Lesbian fanservice bait book now that I think about it... but as long as the message and is clear it's fine.

[Kingdom X]

As long as they do both it will be fine. If they have a story with two besties and two lovers with almost equal screentime or recognition.

Like for example, you got Harley and Ivy as a couple while Dinah and Babs remaining straight besties. Maybe make a Birds of Prey/Sirens book for them.

Midnighter and Apollo are a couple while Dick and Midnighter or Tiger are besties. The Grayson book is really close to this but they also mix it with deliberate fanservice bait so it's more like Grayson and His Harem Subtext but the Text can be straighter.

Having a Sirens/Prey book also very easy to slip into Lesbian fanservice bait book now that I think about it... but as long as the message and is clear it's fine.

This may be off topic, but I have wanted a Sirens/ Prey book for the longest time. I think having the two teams interact is much better than pigeonholing Harley into the BoP.

[witchboy]

A Sirens/BoP series would be amazing.
I have long thought that Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian, being alien shapeshifters, would have very different ideas on gender and orientation. It's unbelievable they would conform to the very narrow Western gender roles.
I could believe Jimmy Olsen were gay or bi.
Dick Grayson and Jason Todd both read as bi, and that's because it seems like they've been teased low key as such by writers who weren't allowed to write them openly.
Post Zero Hour Brainiac 5 and Invisible Kid were mentioned earlier. That is pretty much low key canon. IK is seen in pictures of Brainy's crushes among several girls, and IK gives Brainy a kiss on the cheek. The DC Encyclopedia at the time confirmed that IK and Condo (the would be Chemical King) were dating, as was hinted at in the comics.
But that kind of thing is why LGBT people want to see representation of themselves so much, because we're still so under represented, and for decades we weren't shown to exist at all. When you don't see yourself in the media, in stories, you don't see a place for yourself in that world - and that can extend to the real world. It's like you don't exist at all.
People will jump on friendships to see them as couples, because we don't see actual queer couples.
I was discussing in another thread that the only gay man I can think of in DC right now is Aqualad, and the only bi man Constantine. Certainly there are many that have been created but they've all disappeared for now. It's really very poor diversity for 2020.
When people complain about "turning' a previously thought to be straight character gay, they say make new characters. Of course, new characters rarely catch on, so they restricts gay characters to supporting characters, who usually don't stick around too long. Where are you Bunker?
Jon Kent and Damian Wayne would be ideal to be a couple when Damian has aged up a little more. They have a great friendship to build on and no real romantic history. I am skeptical that DC would let two such important characters be gay, but I hope they will. There's no shortage of straight Bat side kicks and Superman has Connor as his straight side kick.

[J. D. Guy]

At the same time, though, it sends out a message that a close platonic relationship between two men or two women is not normal.
That there must be something 'going on' between them.

I'm perfectly fine with Beetle and Booster just being 'bros' or Fire and Ice just being 'bffs 4ever'.

If readers want to fantasize about it, though, that's fine with me.

Not so much in practice, I would say. And I'd argue the theory of the idea is flawed as well, but I don't feel up to it right now.