Hello, ComicBookMovie readers. While this may not be my first article, it is my first for my newly created, freshly-smelling Trans Superheroes site. So, without further ado, on to the article:
Browsing online today for sites on trans superheroes, since I do want to do some special articles to feature them (and there are a lot--but I want to find as many as I can), I came across a couple articles on a recent development in Batgirl. On the surface, it's awesome: a supporting character in the book has come out as trans. Heck, Gail Simone is awesome for being inclusive as such and I do not fault her or the story (the fact that I don't read Batgirl is a non-issue--I only read Batwoman of the New 52, wholly uninterested with the rest of the company after the reboot). It's what these articles have said, in the title primarily.
One article is named "DC Comics introduces first ever transgender superhero" and another one is titled "DC Introduces First Transgender Character in Mainstream Comics". Sensationalist titling, and dead wrong both times.
The first article intimates the character is a superhero. She is not. She's Barbara Gordon's roommate, Alysia Yeoh. So far I have seen no indication in the articles that she has a power or a tendancy towards costumed vigilanteism. A supporting character to a superhero is not necessarily a superhero themselves.
Both articles claim her to be the first trans character (in one way or another) in mainstream comics. This is quite untrue. While it is true that they have been scarce in mainstream comics, and more prevalent in companies other than the big two (while still scarce), transgender people in comics have stretched back to the Golden Age.
I will go into more detail in later feature articles about each character specifically, but the Golden Age had four heroes I can think of (the original Cat Man, Madame Fatal, Headless Horseman, and the Ma Hunkel Red Tornado) as well as at least three Wonder Woman villains (Hypnota, Dr. Poison and Blue Snowman) that are transgender. One can counter with the argument that these are all crossdressers and, though crossdressers are included in the term "transgender", I can concede a need to look at the transsexual characters.
Rachel Pollack introduced transsexual woman Coagula in DC's Doom Patrol. Grant Morrison had the Invisibles published through DC, which contained the transsexual Lord Fanny. The Sandman had a transsexual side character. The fact that all these mentioned in this paragraph are from DC is telling: Alysia isn't even the first transsexual character from DC and certainly wouldn't be the first transsexual superhero even if she were a superhero.
These articles are sensationalist, I know. It's easier to call something "the first" than to give a more informed story. The same happened when it was announced that Stan Lee was working to develop the acclaimed novel "Hero" into a movie (I haven't heard much lately about that, I realize), when the articles claimed that Stan was creating "the world's first gay superhero", conveniently brushing aside Northstar, Apollo, Midnighter, and so much others, even Batwoman, who they had been sensationalizing not too long before those articles.
This sort of attention-grabbing headline does a disservice to all the characters that came before. It might be more accurate to say that Alysia is the first trans character in Batgirl's supporting cast (if she is) or the Bat-books in general (again, if she is) and it would be nice to see people go with that instead. Otherwise, an article is inciting a flame war in its comments, drawing in those with a sense of outrage at the idea, who think comics are being horribly corrupted by something that has always been in them, as well as getting people who feel this is a huge step forward and feel comics are finally progressing into new territory that they have already been exploring for years. Two diametrically opposed forces then battle in the comment section for pages and leave those in the middle shaking their heads. In the end, likely no new readers to the comics, or at least none after the hype dies down (and/or the character gets killed, as such are oft to do).
I would say that this article is an attempt to create a reasonable rebuttal to claims like this, and to open people's eyes to a problem out there, often relating to minorities in comics in general, but often focusing on the LGBT community, since people can see through it more easily with the other minorities. It still doesn't excuse the hoopla behind the "trailblazing" Simon Baz Green Lantern, who is hardly the first Islamic superhero, either, but that is not this article, and it is one another individual may be more suited to write.