Originally Posted by
suzene
I've never agreed with the interpretation of Northstar as closeted, simply because he's never been shown to deny his sexuality and everyone around him seemed to know he was gay -- his teammates remark underhand on his sexuality almost from the first issue of Alpha Flight. I never put a lot of stock in the idea that you have to hold a literal press conference on the subject of being gay to count as out. I particularly don't agree with writers like Lobdell who attribute Northstar's overall bad attitude to the idea that he was gay/closeted. The hardships that Northstar underwent in his early life have nothing to do with his sexuality, but would be more than enough to put a chip on someone's shoulder, not to mention that Northstar also had a mentor to help him come to terms with his homosexuality -- it's probably one of the very few challenges of his life that he didn't have to deal with alone.
This isn't to say that I think a lack of societal acceptance of his sexuality didn't contribute at all to his general snarkiness, but Lobdell's assessment glosses over the fact JP is a triple minority who had one hell of a rough start in life; finally found fame and fortune, then gave it up for a life he didn't want for the sake of a sister he never knew and who rarely seemed willing to sacrifice as much for him as he was for her; and has watched almost everyone he ever cared for die, often right in front of his eyes while being helpless to stop it. To then attribute all of his defensiveness and bad attitude to one aspect of his being flattened a very complex character, and was the first step in turning him from Jean-Paul Beaubier, former Olympian, homosexual, and reluctant hero, into The Gay One.