Originally Posted by
Tarqon
I think the thing people need to understand about this is that it wasn't a Column A/Column B thing. The X writers didn't just sit down and arbitrarily say oh look, failed relationships with women; hes gay. This is pretty much the spearhead for the people against this right now and I definitely understand the reaction, you're within your right to feel like it was off or forced. He was written as a straight man dating women, with no insight to closeting. That doesn't mean it doesn't make sense, just because it was a shot in the dark for you doesn't mean it was for everyone. When I first read it i just thought well, tell me something i dont know. I only have 2 friends who read comics now, one thought he was out already, (she barely reads x titles) the other just said it was about time.
Many people have suspected Iceman was gay. i know i have since the late 90s. Theres plenty of old threads on many old forums out there discussing it. There was one here before the forums reset. There are writers who have felt that way about him and were aware this was a whisper in the fandom. Maybe you didn't see it, that's fine, but some people did. They look at the fact that hes grown increasingly unhappy and bitter. The fact that hes so blatantly lonely and either self destructs a relationship or they lose interest in him because they've never been the priority in his life. The guy has really wanted to be loved like, desperately, for a long time. Bendis looked at all this stuff and said, what IF this was a reason? It's not that because these things happened he MUST be gay, but rather that these things happen in real life to closeted people and it was something they could do with Bobby as a character. Relationship troubles can happen to any human being, straight and gay, but two people having the same troubles may have different reasons behind them. Because... we're all different. What solves one mans problem won't solve the problem for every man ever, especially when it comes to sexuality, which is uncontrollable and can be very difficult to understand.
I think Storm has always had a sense of self acceptance and self confidence that Bobby has never had. She lives her life how she wants to, takes the heat for her choices and doesn't give a damn about how that makes her look. She seems to openly love people for who they are inside, i'm not sure id even tie a label to her. I think liberation is one of the most consistent qualities writers have always kept for her, just like Bobby's has been fear. Fear of pushing himself, being alone, being rejected, changing or having things change around him. His feelings about being gay really tied in to that theme.