Archie Gets Gay Hunk: Riverdale Ready for Diversity

When I was a teenager in the 70s, I never knew anyone who was gay. Stop, let me correct that. I never knew anyone who would risk their life by admitting to being gay. Yet I knew there were gay people out there, but mostly, I thought, in New York. Back in central British Columbia, they kept their sexuality to themselves and who could blame them? It was harsh enough just to be ACCUSED of being gay back then.

There were no definable gay people in comic books back then either. Like many kids my age, I read Archie Comics. There was Betty, Veronica, Archie, Reggie, Jughead, Moose and Midge. Jughead, we figured, was a total stoner. That was as risque as it got. I couldn’t even imagine Archie having sex though I often suspected Reggie and Veronica might be up to some kinkiness.

But like the world around them, Archie comics are undergoing a change with the introduction of their first gay character, Kevin Keller, a hunky blond who will have Veronica drooling after him in vain.

Archie Comics’ co-CEO Jon Goldwater, told the NY Post that the recurring character is being introduced because “we want to make sure Riverdale is a very inclusive place. We want to make sure everyone’s included in Archie’s world.”

“It’s not an issue like it would have been 20-30 years ago,” he added. “We’re not trying to send social messages. We just want to reflect what’s going on today. Riverdale’s a melting pot.”

He added that people who are offended by seeing the Riverdale gang hang around with a gay teen “aren’t the kind of people we want reading our comics anyway.”

Issue No. 202 titled “Isn’t it Bromantic?” will arrive in comic-book stores in September.

Will this move on the part of Archie comics change anything outside the safe little town of Riverdale? Hopefully it will be one more voice added to all the voices crying out for equality because there’s still a lot of social change that needs to occur.  A recent study by doctors at Nationwide Children’s Hospital has found that gay, lesbian and bisexual teens are “bullied two to three times more than heterosexuals.”

So while Riverdale High may be very welcoming to Kevin Keller, a lot of schools still need a great deal of education about respect, tolerance and equality. And there’s nothing comic about that.

Photo Credits

All images © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.

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