There was a hashtag trending on twitter recently that interested me.

If I remember correctly the hashtag was #makecaptainamericagay. This was obviously spawned due to the friendship of Captain America and Bucky in Captain America: Civil War. While I have no problem with homosexual characters in movies I didn’t really love this hashtag. The way I see it new characters should be developed and then revealed that they fall under a different sexuality than straight. Don’t take obviously straight characters and make them gay just for the sake of it. It really isn’t worth it, or at least it doesn’t seem that way to me.

Here’s an example. I was reading The Book of Lost Things, recently, and there’s a character in the book named Roland. Roland is described as a knight similar to many others in fantasy books. You find out later that he is searching for his friend Raphael. Through clues from the book you put to together than Roland and Raphael were in a relationship. The character was established and later on, his sexuality is determined.

Captain America is an existing character who has always been straight in the movies. A random change in sexuality would make little sense. It’s also a problem because this doesn’t allow male characters to have strong friendships without being labeled as gay. This isn’t really a good thing because to guys all they see is that if you have a strong friendship with another man you’re automatically gay.

Again, sexuality shaming has nothing to do with this. It’s really just has to do with good storytelling. Bucky and Cap should be allowed to have a strong bond without being sexually involved. You’ve got to understand that Captain America thought that Bucky was dead for a long time. The emotions that came with his loss were profound, so when he reunites with Bucky of course they have a strong bond.

If you think Marvel is in need of a gay superhero, write one. Thanks for reading.