In a year of vicious backlash, an expert reflects on what it means to celebrate Pride in 2023.Īfter years of sleuthing, Nobleman found Athena, Bill’s granddaughter. And that he had fathered a daughter named Athena.Ĭalifornia A pivotal year for Pride puts LGBTQ+ community in the spotlight - and the crosshairs As he scoured telephone books and newspaper obituary pages, Nobleman tracked down some of Finger’s relatives, including a niece who informed him that Fred had in fact married a woman. He had died of complications of AIDS in 1992, and Nobleman simply assumed that, as a gay man, he had not fathered any children. and DC Entertainment, which owned the rights to the character. But he was stymied.Īs far as he knew, Finger had no living heir to make the case to Warner Bros. Nobleman set out to right the historical record. His name appeared only once in Batman history, as co-writer of “The Clock King’s Crazy Crimes,” an episode of the campy 1966 “Batman” TV series.Īs a result, Finger died penniless in 1974, while Kane, who died in 1998, became a rich mega-celebrity in the intensely devoted world of superhero comic fandom. He came up with the sidekick Robin, the monikers “the Dark Knight,” “Bruce Wayne” and “Gotham City.” He created or co-created various Batman nemeses - Catwoman, the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler. But Finger refined it he created Batman’s iconic bat-eared cowl, his bat logo and scalloped cape. Kane had a vague idea for a bat-like superhero. Years ago, Nobleman had become convinced, correctly, that Bob Kane, the man who had been credited as Batman’s sole creator, had wrongfully denied credit to Finger, starting with the character’s inception in 1939. The kerfuffle over Batman is the result of an increasingly aggressive and well-organized campaign on the part of the religious right and MAGA Republicans to turn back the clock on the hard-won civil rights of women, people of color and LGBTQ+ people. in a state of emergency, Human Rights Campaign saysįor the first time in its history, the Human Rights Campaign has declared a state of emergency for the country’s LGBTQ+ people. “Imagine opening an email and reading the message that your sexual orientation, your family, your child, your very existence as a gay person warrants apology and an assurance that no discussion of your existence will be allowed,” wrote members of the Forsyth Coalition for Education, which the New York Times described as a nonpartisan group of parents and teachers fighting “conservative efforts to restrict what can be taught in the district.” The idea that children on the cusp of adolescence should be shielded from any reference to sexual identities is an assault on the humanity of queer people. But it has also inspired other states - Georgia legislators are currently grappling with a version of such a bill - and has added fuel to the backlash against LGBTQ+ civil rights, which has now reached a moment of maximum absurdity. You may think Florida governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” crusade against classroom discussions of sexuality is a stupid, disingenuous and cynical ploy to appeal to former President Trump’s MAGA Republican base.
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