​Happy Pride Month everyone! First and foremost, this month is absolutely amazing, and I hope everyone has an absolutely amazing Pride. For those of you who don’t know, I am indeed a lesbian. In the spirit of giving those coming out stories, mine is slightly similar to that of Love Simon and Rocketman. Love Simon in the sense a friend came out to my family for me in anger and I tried really hard to be straight for quite a while for said family, a lot like Elton. In case you are curious, I have a wonderful and supportive family. Yes, I am out and proud and a massive advocate for LGBTQ+ rights! Regardless of who you are and who you love, you’re valid, you matter, and I will always be your ally. In honor of Pride, let’s take a look at some LGBTQ+ characters from comics and pop culture!

First up, everyone’s favorite time traveler, Captain Jack Harkness. Captain Jack first made his appearance on Doctor Who and later became the star of his own spin off Torchwood. The stuck time traveler is Omnisexual meaning he will happily sleep with anyone, regardless of gender. This also means Captain Jack slept with a number of alien life forms and we’re pretty sure a couple of robots or androids. This was a ground breaking thing at the time, and still is, as most LGBTQ+ representation is still limited in media. Captain Jack helped to break some barriers and bring awareness to an otherwise not so recognized group among the LGBTQ+ community. Omnisexuals do indeed exist, and they are just as valid as anyone else! Subsequently, Crowley from Supernatural is actually pansexual! The character has shown interest in both men and women and at a convention in 2014 actor Mark Sheppard stated that The King of Hell is indeed pansexual. Big shock here, but so is Lucifer from the show Lucifer! 

Now when it comes to Asexuality, they are highly underrepresented in mainstream media. Take Archie’s Jughead Jones for instance. In the comics Jughead openly admits to Archie that he’s Asexual. Vs the character on the CW show who seems very heterosexual if you ask the fans. That’s about it as far as asexual representation goes with some minor book and TV show side characters such as, Brad in Faking It, Todd Chavez in BoJack Horseman, just to make a few. Truthfully, asexuality needs more representation in media. Seconded to that is transgender representation. While it’s more common than asexual representation, transgender is still underrepresented on media and comics. Most notable, Orange is the New Black has transgender character Sophia Burset who is played by real life transgender actress Laverne Cox. In the Batgirl comic series, we get to meet Barbara Gordon’s best friend, Alysia Yeoh. In 2011 fans found out that Alysia is actually transgender, and she became the first transgender character in mainstream comics to be featured as a main character. Technically speaking Loki has also been both a man and a woman, he’s also been a horse but while that has not been shown in the MCU, it has been in the comics and lore. Just as well, the Doctor and the Master/Mistress from Doctor Who have both been male characters and later female characters, which is pretty neat. Now let’s get to work on getting some more trans and asexual characters out there!

There’s a strange place where bisexual people are often being told they don’t belong. Well, that’s not true at all. Bisexuals are just as a part of the LGBTQ+ community! I mean that is indeed what the B stands for. Often enough I’ve seen them be told to pick a gender by other members of the LGBTQ+ community and nonmember alike. Well, that’s absolutely horrible and bisexuals have just as much right to love whoever they want. That being said my absolute favorite bisexual character has to be Deadpool. It’s often not showcased, male bisexuality, but to have a strong character like Wade Wilson like both genders is pretty bad ass. Firstly, Deadpool is an over the top character in the comics, and even more so in the films, but to have his bisexuality showcased on the big screen was pretty damn awesome. Sadly, it was only through a bit of commentary, but that doesn’t change the fact that Wade’s character is bi. Speaking of bi, so are Wonder Woman and Cat Woman. While these two never actually date, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn do, and what an adorable couple they made! Which just proves my point, there are plenty of female bisexual characters out there and yet, very few male bisexual characters.

Northstar was the first openly gay character in Marvel comics and also the first openly gay character to get married in the comics. I actually own a copy of this historic comic that came out in the summer of 2015 and featured the wedding! Fear not, Northstar isn’t the only gay hero the X-Men have. It’s been noted that Iceman has also recently come out after some weird wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. DC not being left out of the loop has given us Midnighter and Apollo, a happily married superhero duo that is apparently okay with one of them killing their enemies. You know, sometimes you have to accept the good with the...murder? But are they as cute as Hulking and Wiccan? That’s a little more up for debate.

With the new series coming to the CW it feels wrong to leave Batwoman off my list.
This openly lesbian crime fighter is probably my favorite and genuinely is a bad ass in her own right. She’s tough, fierce, and has no problem roughing people up. Recently, Adventure Time broke the mold when they finally had Marceline and Princess Bubblegum kiss, and finally confirmed they’re a couple! Of course, there is also the wedding that almost broke TV when Cartoon Network then aired the infamous episode of Steven Universe where Ruby and Sapphire officially married. 

Thankfully there is nowhere to go but up when it comes to LGBTQ+ characters in media, BMO from Adventure Time is genderqueer, Mystique from X-Men is both genderqueer and gender fluid, and hopefully we get more of these characters in media. Comics have often been the first to break down barriers and be more inclusive. Hopefully the future brings us even more!

Out here in Colorado, we are known for having some interesting weather patterns now and then. How does the saying go out here?  If you don’t like the weather, just give it fifteen minutes and it will change, and this is the season when random storms appear out of the blue, complete with lightning and hail. It is like someone is trying to open the Ark of the Covenant and I need to pin down the reason behind this crazy weather. So here is my list of possible causes behind the lightning and hopefully we can appease the weather gods before these storms start hitting in the middle of the night.

Alien Invasion 
Yes, I know that there are a lot of doubters out there that think that we are all alone, but how could you explain such a weather shift. Now, why would I think this could be aliens you may ask, with their advanced technology, they could all be circling around in their space crafts on one set trajectory forcing the jet streams to shift lower than they have been in ages. That is one thought while the other can be more out of a movie and the little green men could be traveling to the surface of the planet in the lightning itself. You see this in the remake of War of the Worlds and for the most part I think this is kind of foolish, but when some of the rumbling from the thunder does not dissipate within thirty seconds, it could be the engine of an old space craft hidden beneath the surface starting up again.
 
The Ark of the Covenant 
This may not be as far-fetched as it sounds since we have plenty of paleontologists that live in the state that are always digging to find the secrets that the creatures of our past left behind. Why would I put this on the paleontologists rather than the archaeologists you may ask? Well it is simple. There is plenty of human history in our state when it comes to the old west and who roamed the plains before the centennial state was founded, but we have more dinosaur dig sites out here than anything else. So, if a paleontologist did happen to come across an old artifact like the Ark of the Covenant while performing their dig, do you think that they would wait to see what is inside by calling someone else in, or would they try to open it themselves? I would try to open it, since it is my find and even though I know that to be the wrong answer, I know plenty of people that would treat it the same way. Why in Colorado you may ask? It is as good of place as any and since nobody knows where it has been hidden, Colorado may just be far enough off of the radar that it could be hidden deep inside the mountains.

​Cult Activity 
With all of the horror movies I have watched, I know there is something to all of the chanting to bring someone or something back from the depths and there always seems to be a storm that arrives when doing it. There could be a person or a group that has stumbled upon an ancient text that is trying to resurrect someone from the ground. As the chanting begins and the skies open up, there might be an evil coming back to our planet and the lightening is a signal to run for the hills. Why else would the storms be consistently coming out of nowhere at the same time every night? 3 a.m. is commonly known as The Witching Hour, so maybe the person or the group is trying to capitalize on the this and use the spirits to their advantage when beginning their activities. But the hour is off since the storms are hitting an hour earlier, maybe they are on Central Time rather than Mountain Time.
 
An Unfinished Ritual
With the history of the state, it is not too unusual to reference a rain dance being done. While this is something that most people see on television, if you ever get to witness it in person, it will change your life. Now I am not a dancer and it would not appease the spirits above to see me dance, I fall more on the farmer’s rituals.  Looking to make a good harvest, it is not uncommon for the superstitious farmer (or farmers) to give something up to the spirits. Offering a sacrifice for a good harvest may seem like something strange, but if it works, there is no reason to stop. This is more of my speed and I have met some of these individuals in my time and even though they seem to be different, they still have a good point and when the farm is thriving, there is no way to discount their methods. But when the promise is made and not delivered on, the spirits do get upset and most of the time just kill all the crops on their farm, but if they feel like they are being made fun of, well all bets are off and the clouds open up and release their wrath on the farm and surrounding areas. There is only one way to appease these spirits and that s to give them what was promised and until this is done, they do not back off no matter who or what is in their way.

There you have it, my reasons behind the crazy lightning storms that have suddenly moved in. It could just be a shift in the weather patterns, but what fun would that be, since there is always a better explanation out there, or at least one that is more entertaining. Make sure to take cover when these storms are moving through your areas since lightning strikes are nothing to mess around with. Even if you are safely in your home, you can feel the electricity from them, especially if they hit the sidewalk outside of your house. It is possible to survive a lightning strike, but the ones that have, would not ever encourage trying it.