New 'X-Man' Character Identifies as Gay

Comic book writers have been progressive when it comes to LGBT visibility, often creating LGBT characters or having already established characters come out. The latest move is made by Marvel Entertainment, who recently announced that a new character in the "Uncanny X-Men" series would identify as gay, the Huffington Post reports.

Benjamin Deeds is one of the latest mutants to be discovered in the comics and came out as gay in "Uncanny X-Men #14," which was written by Brain Michael Bendis. The comic is scheduled to hit stores this week.

"Continuing with Marvel's rich tradition of character development and storytelling, this shape-shifting mutant can alter his appearance to mimic anyone he is in close proximity with," Joe Taraborrelli, Sr. Communications Manager of Marvel Entertainment told HuffPo. "The fact that Ben has come out as homosexual is just a small facet of who he is and what he is going to bring to Cyclops' select team of X-Men."

Last year, Northstar, one of the first openly gay comic book super heroes, married his boyfriend in an issue of "Astonishing X-Men." Northstar, who first appeared in 1979, tied the knot with his partner Kyle and the ceremony was the first gay marriage involving a Marvel superhero. Last year also marked first time the "Life With Archie" comic series, which has been in publication since 1941, got its first gay character, Kevin Keller. Soon after he was introduced, Keller married his partner Clay Walker, an African-American physical therapist.

In June 2012, DC Comic's iconic Green Lantern got a reboot and for his new series, he identifies as gay. His sexual orientation was revealed in the second issue of "Earth 2" and fans found out this version of the Green Lantern has a totally different back story and history.

"He doesn't come out. He's gay when we see him in issue two," James Robinson, who writes the new series, told the Associated Press. "He's fearless and he's honest to the point where he realized he was gay and he said 'I'm gay.'"

Earlier this year, Katy Kane, better known as DC Comics' Batwoman, tied the knot with her secret girlfriend Maggie Sawyer.