Originally Posted by
Revolutionary_Jack
Gwen is fundamentally a supporting character so discussing her separate from others is going to be hard because content is thin...and we can gauge more by parallels and comparisons.
And yeah wondering if Gwen is gay or bi does lead to a larger issue of LGBT in Peter's supporting cast and so on. The good thing is at the very least, nobody among Spider-Man's villains has ever come across as being coded as "queer" so while Spider-Man hasn't contributed positively to representation, it hasn't harmed it either.
I'd rather remember Gwen Stacy as the messy character she was before her fridging then the posthumous martyr and saintly one...I think doing the former allows her more agency and I think it's fitting in terms of victim remembrance and so on. Remember them when they were alive, and human...warts and all.
Gwen did love Peter and was devoted to him, but the Peter she knew wasn't the real person he was, just the one he presented to her. Peter lied to her repeatedly, consistently throughout that relationship. And that's what killed her. Peter let Norman Osborn who knew his identity and had amnesia evade justice. He did it understandably and unthinkingly at a time when he and Gwen weren't dating, but once they were and Norman was part of his supporting cast and obviously knew a great deal about Peter and his life...Peter had a responsibility to tell and warn people close to him about Osborn. Then you had the drug issue where Norman relapsed. So Peter had a warning that the Goblin hadn't entirely gone. And look read Issue #87, and look outside Peter's characterization and tell me what he did isn't gaslighting. The responsible thing for Peter to do is, break up with her then and there. He found out that she wouldn't accept him as Spider-Man, she took it badly...he also doesn't want to come clean out of self-preservation...instead he just goes back to the relationship and acts selfishly. When Goblin attacked and kidnapped Gwen, she had no idea, no way of protecting herself and no warning. Compare that to Mary Jane who in that Superior Spider-Man comic near the end, uses web-shooters Peter gave her to protect herself and her Aunt, and Aunt May and others from the Goblin attack. Why didn't Peter give Gwen her own webshooters to protect herself?
Peter in general is a good guy but a lousy boyfriend. Let's not forget he was gonna propose to Mary Jane without telling her his secret identity, which she already knew and which she obviously saw as a half-a--sed insult from a guy who didn't trust her.