“I got interested in the class element of Batman: He’s a rich man who beats up poor people. It’s quite a bizarre mission to go out at night dressed as a bat and punch the hell out of junkies. And then he goes home and lives in this mansion. There’s an aspirational quality to him—he’s an outlaw and he can buy anything. He has a new Batmobile every movie. He’s very plutonian in the sense that he’s wealthy and also in the sense that he’s sexually deviant. Gayness is built into Batman. I’m not using gay in the pejorative sense, but Batman is very, very gay. There’s just no denying it. Obviously as a fictional character he’s intended to be heterosexual, but the basis of the whole concept is utterly gay. I think that’s why people like it. All these women fancy him and they all wear fetish clothes and jump around rooftops to get to him. He doesn’t care—he’s more interested in hanging out with the old guy and the kid.”The sentence that has gotten a lot of attention is that Morrison calls Batman a gay concept even though he is intended to be a heterosexual character. Although Morrison is partially correct in calling Batman a gay concept, it would be more accurate to say that Batman is a pedophile and/or suffers from Peter Pan Syndrome. More of my personal analysis after the break.
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Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered in front of him when he was a young boy, usually described as being 10 years old. Although he suffered no sexual abuse as many pedophiles do, he had a life-altering event occur in prepubescence. Such experiences have generally been accepted in psychology of permanently altering a person's psyche to the point of "trapping" them at that age without psychological help. Although Bruce did grow up relatively normal after becoming an orphan, having friendships and romance, he could never let go of the worst day of his life. After becoming an adult, Bruce began training to become a vigilante after seeing that the few honest police were helpless against corruption. So far, Wayne is just a little crazy for deciding to become a vigilante rather than a lawyer or using his wealth to fight corruption.
After becoming Batman, Wayne eventually takes in a government ward in Dick Grayson, who became an orphan at a similar age, although Dick was a bit older (12). Hoping that Dick will not become like him, Wayne trains Grayson to be his sidekick, Robin, giving him an outlet for his anger towards criminals in his own manner of psychological counseling. When Grayson becomes an adult, Wayne "fires" him and Robin becomes Nightwing. Meanwhile, Wayne continues to have numerous romantic relationships while not being tied down to any one person because of his extreme paranoia. So far, Wayne is certifiably crazy for allowing a child to fight alongside him and rejecting sex in favor of fighting crime.
Wayne then gets a replacement Robin from Jason Todd, a street urchin. Batman continues to reject Batgirl as his sidekick, despite her competence in fighting criminals. After the Joker kills Jason, Wayne falls into a deep depression that is only cured when Tim Drake volunteers to become the new Robin. Even after finally revealing his true identity to Catwoman, Wayne's incredible paranoia causes the romantic relationship to crumble. After Drake quits being Robin, Wayne appoints Drake's girlfriend Stephanie Brown to become Robin (albeit briefly). At this point, it looks like he prefers the company of teenagers to adult women.
After returning from his Excellent Adventure through time, Batman allows his biological son, Damian, to remain Robin, although he still remains more obsessed with fighting crime than pursuing romance and building a healthy relationship with his son.
Batman isn't necessarily gay, but he does seem to have a bizarre fondness for teenagers and has a serious lack of friendships outside of people he grew up with. Batman very rarely displays romantic interest in anyone, which would be more in line with Peter Pan Syndrome, rather than pedophilia. Seeing Damian fighting alongside his father, having his own psychological issues, may allow a deeper exploration of both characters' unresolved issues towards their parents.
tl;dr
Batman is Peter Pan and refuses to grow up, but now his own son is his sidekick forcing him to grow the fuck up finally, maybe.
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