[Den-O]

You guys realize the whole point of Alan being gay in Earth 2 is a tribute to his son right? When James Robinson was first given the go ahead on the series DC laid out for him that these characters were all fresh starts. Brand new with no baggage or previous continuity behind them. However that sadly meant that both of Alan's kids, Obsidian & Jade, no longer existed.

Obsidian/Todd was a pretty high profile gay character in comics for a time. Primarily because of his struggles to out himself to his family and because of the mental instability his powers caused. For a long time he was written as a kind of sociopath who happened to be gay until Robinson finally got a hold of him and really turned the character around. Obsidian was adavanced far beyond being a trivially gay character. He and his partner even attempted to adopt a child just before the N52 relaunch but they were sadly denied.

In honor of Obsidian and his nullified existence Robinson wanted Alan to at least still carry a part of his character. So Alan was written as being gay. Am I saying it was totally not for money? No. The publicity stunt aspect of it is certainly a factor here. But the overriding reason why it happened was to honor a son that no longer existed. WIth so few prominent positive gay characters in comics these days, Robinson sought to rectify the loss of one thanks to a reboot.