The X-Men are Gay

Or maybe not. Unclear.

Townhall movie reviews (for those of you who like your reviews mixed with a bit of conservative ideology (two great tastes that taste great together - like cabbage and toenail clippings) has reviewed the latest X-Men Movie, and apparently it's about gayness.

Where X-Men I and II flirted with the idea of the mutant gene being equivalent to a hypothetical homosexual gene, The Last Stand's inclusion of a muscled-yet-effeminate winged character who resists his father's shame over his "natural state" makes the suggestion far more explicit. (At one point during the movie my husband leaned over and whispered, "Ratner knows that being gay isn't a superpower, doesn't he?")

This is in reference to Angel, one of the original five X-Men who's a somewhat problematic character at this point. After all, once you have Jean Gray or Storm, having giant wings doesn't look all that impressive, does it? So most successful modern attempts (particularly Brian Bendis's reinvention of him in Ultimate X-Men) have played up his, well, angelic qualities.

But of course angels aren't as masculine as you might like, if you are really hung up on that kind of thing.

Conservatives are really hung up on this kind of thing.

Of course the X-Men began as a civil rights metaphor (a pretty hamfisted one in the early days), and today that means gay rights to Conservatives (since it is no longer profitable to take shots at blacks and other people of color (although Hispanics might be getting back on the list)).

Townhall also notes that Batwoman is Gay. Kind of a rough week for Conservative Comic Fans.