Dear horrified Lords & Ladies:

I do not call you intolerant, as it was my first intention, because I’ve noticed that, on the contrary, all these hostile comments of you about the comics come from people who are actually tolerant about gays. Tolerance is this silent repudiation that you carry with you, but that you (I believe) do not normally demonstrate face-to face, publicly. Tolerance is this badly-swallowed obligation to accept, which falls to pieces when put to the test by facts like this, that , as you feel, ‘invade’ a space that is ‘yours’. Tolerance is not something good, and I do not wish anyone to be tolerated. I wish people to be accepted.

This comic is 'shocking', and you feel invaded and attacked by it because it shows an unusual situation for the space of representation where it’s placed: it is unusual to see knowingly gay characters in comics, especially in superhero comics. Especially when it comes to characters who were always straight.

The point is not, of course (as if it was possible) to influence anyone to be gay, or do "gay propaganda". Just like the media does not make anyone straight, they do not make one gay: what they can do is to prevent (in the sense of hindering) someone to express something he/she already is, based on what they show (which appears as possible reality) and conceal (which becomes, consequently, ‘impossible’). It's certainly much harder to be or do something of which there is no reference, for there is no role model upon which you feel safe, nothing to base upon: it’s just like advanced science research, in which everything’s about bringing out something completely 'new' and breaking with established paradigms. As the slogan of the film Miss Representation says: "You can’t be what you can’t see."

Hence the importance, for example, to have a female president such as Dilma, or a black president like Obama: they are important figures who put the so-called minorities (women, blacks) in positions of power, figures who break the hegemonic representation of ‘normal’ (as we know: the white-heterosexual-male, measure of all ‘normals’. – If you doubt it, just search anything on google images, "person", "man", "doctor" or any other category: the largest number of pictures will show white men, then white women come in much smaller quantity. In order to find some different representation of "normal", you must specify characteristics, like “black doctor”, “female gay couple”.) To see representatives of the so-called minorities - that are never numerical minorities - being shown in prominent places on the media makes them a reference, thus a possibility of existence for all those who want to have them as role models.

It is still rare to represent gay characters in mainstream soap operas, comics and films, and yet, when that happens, these characters are usually restricted to stereotypes, like ‘the fag character’, ‘the lesbian character’, and much of its role revolves around the fact that they are gay or lesbian, not around the myriad of ordinary things like working, studying, fighting evil, that they don’t give up doing just because they are gay or lesbian. The life of a gay person is not only about being gay, as well as a straight person's life is not only about being straight: sexuality is simply something that’s part of it, it's there as a backdrop. Thus, producing a gay visibility in an essentially straight area, as it is the superhero’s, is really a shocking act, since it breaks with stabilities – and this is the reason it’s so wonderful.

For those who bother too much, and decide not to like Wolverine anymore, there's another hundred straight superheroes to choose among. But, for those who never had any mention of a gay superhero, this small moment, this moment that exists only in the surreal distance of a parallel reality, is a gem, a joy. Notice: an instant against the multitude of eternities of established characters - completely out of proportion, but still an achievement.

This comic will not ruin anyone's childhood, for the simple fact that, if you do not like the idea, you have no obligation to read, or legitimize, or reproduce this story. Again, it is a matter of the visibilities and invisibilities that one intendeds to produce. Do not show this comic to your children. Wolverine will remain ‘normal’, straight and macho – which is no guarantee that your children will be ‘normal’, straight and macho.

Like it or not, the fact is real. Regardless of whether it's just a comic, of if it occurred in a parallel reality or of any other conjecture, the fact is that it was published. And that, for those who care about it, is a big step.