The Outing of Rick Stone - Why So Many Stay Silent

In the cartoon Static Shock, Richie and Virgil are inseparable. No matter what happens, they make up and reunite for the greater good. It doesn't matter if Richie's dad is a racist or Virgil ignores his friend's cries for help. They apologize and make up. Richie's comic counterpart is Rick Stone. Rick and Virgil were inseparable at one point. But things aren't meant to be forever. See, the difference is that in the comics, Rick came out the closet and told people he was gay. A lot goes on in Static but the outing of Rick was one of the saddest things in the serious because a friendship died.

See, even in the very first issue of the comic, Rick gets made fun of for being gay. At this point, he's not out of the closet. See there's a guy named Chuck and he occasionally hangs out with Rick and Virgil. He makes fun of Rick all the time for being gay. I mean, I do that with friends all the time. "How about you come over here and just blow me, I know you want to as much as I do," is something I've said before on numerous occasions. Not to harass someone for being gay, as a joke even if neither of us is gay. I can see how my jokes would be problematic, but see, Chuck is different. Chuck never stops and I wouldn't consider what Chuck says to be jokes either. Chuck doesn't joke with Rick as much as he insults him for being gay. Again, Rick isn't out of the closet at this point. Chuck does everything he can to make Rick feel bad. Virgil sees it all, and does nothing. Rick begins to alter his personality and say homophobic things himself so that he doesn't seem gay and Chuck will leave him alone. It doen't work, he just gets the nickname "Richard The Pink, Knight of the Tutu."

Out on patrol, Static hears Rick crying out for help and rushes over. He finds Rick trying to help a kid who had been beaten badly and Virgil wants to know what happened. Rick tells him that the kid was attacked by a gang as a gay bashing. Gay bashing still happens but is covered a lot less in the media and is less popular,so let me fill you in. Gay bashing is a term that is often used to coincide with verbal bullying these days. In the 90s it had a completely different meaning and didn't refer to verbal abuse at all. Gay bashing is when a group of people get together and they beat a gay person, sometimes to death. In fact, a lot of the people targeted by these beatings weren't even gay. Many targeted by these beatings go on to take their own lives. It's not a good thing by any standard.

Virgil asks how Rick knows it was a gay bashing and Rick explains he knew the kid from a gay youth support group. He admits that there was another boy their age he had a crush on and Virgil just was not okay with that at all. The next day Rick shows up to school beaten up having been attacked by a similar gang. Rick tries to start a support group for gay teenagers but it doesn't work. None of his friends are willing to openly support him. Not male, not female, not black, not white, not Latinx. They refuse to help him because of their homophobia. Chuck makes it all a joke and Rick turns to his best friend for help. Virgil walks away. Later they're riding the train and someone calls Rick a "fairy" during the conversation Virgil tells him "Everybody's looking at us, mumbling about us. Why couldn't you just keep it to yourself? What was wrong with before?"

In this story lies the reason a lot of people never come out. When Rick came out he lost the support of his friends, even his best friend. "It gets better," is a phrase that's thrown around a lot. The idea is that even if things are hard for a person being gay, things will get better and easier. That didn't happen for Rick. If anything, they got worse. Sure he was bullied before, but then hew as attacked. He lost all his friends. When he needed help he had nobody left to turn to, not even his best friend.

"Why doesn't everyone just come out the closet," because it's not great. When Iceman came out the closet other characters were fine with it. When Northstar got married the whole world showed up to watch. Midnighter and Apollo are a power couple. It was great for them and you would be a fool to think that it's great for everyone who comes out the closet. If it was great for everyone coming out the closet, there wouldn't be a need for a closet.

I applaud Milestone because while many comics focus on how great it can be for LGBT+ characters, they focused on the true aspects of it. Things were not great for Rick. His support group didn't help and his friends turned their backs on him. Virgil told Rick he should have kept the secret to himself and Rick probably thought about holding it in forever. Just the other day I saw a story on Twitter about how a couple was divorcing after years together and five kids, because the husband was gay. He kept the secret and lived the perfect American life until the secret ate him up inside. I imagine that secret eats at a lot a people inside. Hiding part of who they are because it could compromise every relationship they have from coworkers to best friends. But people keep that secret inside and let it eat at them because it's easier than losing all your friends.

In the end Rick goes with Daisy and Frieda to a gay rights rally. It gets attacked by a super villain and Static is forced to save the day. Virgil apologizes and all is well. I applaud Milestone for addressing the fact that coming out doesn't always make things perfect for people. I see people often complain about celebrations when people come out. The reason there's celebrations is because it's hard. Some people live their whole lives carrying that burden. Luther Vandross was gay, he never said it, everyone else told him from friends to past lovers. He never said it, he never publicly dated, all because he didn't want to disappoint his mother. He was Luther Vandross and he was afraid to come out the closet because he might hurt someone else. Even with all the money, power and fame he wouldn't do it, so think about how hard it is for the Rick Stone's of the world.

For over twenty issues Milestone slowly built a story about coming out of the closet. They didn't make it a gimmick to sell comics. They didn't try to hold it up about how progressive they were. They just told a story. A story that is the life of so many people.

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