With the exception of Nightcrawler, of course. And that’s what makes Colossus’ homosexuality a good story point rather than a book-selling gimmick: The focus is not put on the fact that he is gay, but on how Nightcrawler feels betrayed by Colossus. Being a religious fellow, he’s really not to keen on the whole gay thing. So the friendship they once had was severed because of Kurt’s faith. Which is the real way to not only “diversify” the cast, but put that diversity in a context that the reader can relate to and invest in.

An example, in my opinion, of this sort of thing done well, would be Colossus from the Ultimate X-Men – his orientation comes up here and there, but is never the main focus of things. It raises interesting questions, and different team-mates react differently, but it isn’t thrown in anyone’s face, and is hardly presented as the sole thing that defines him.

This just seems over-the-top from the start, and that is hardly the best way to begin things.