DC Comics’ Batwoman has proposed to her girlfriend in the latest instalment of the comic strip, amidst controversy surrounding the publisher’s decision to hire a writer with anti-gay views to write for another title.

Kate Kane, also known as Batwoman, proposed to her girlfriend, Maggie Sawyer, in the latest episode of the comic.

Batwoman was reintroduced as a lesbian by DC Comics in 2006, in a new title which aimed to reflect modern society more accurate than previous comics.

DC Comics have been heavily criticised recently for its decision to hire anti-gay writer, Orson Scott Card, author of Enders Game, to write the first two instalments of its new digital-first comic, Adventures of Superman. Some fans called for a boycott of the company, and of the comic.

DC Comics had responded to the criticism, defending “freedom of expression”, stating that Mr Card would not be a regular writer for the comic, just two episodes.

An AllOut petition calling for DC to dump Scott Card had received almost 16,000 signatures.

Some critics accused DC of not making a bigger deal of Batwoman’s proposal because of the controversy surrounding Card, others commended the publisher, praising it for what was seen as an attempt to normalise the same-sex proposal.

Others have questioned whether Orson Scott Card will complete the work for DC, given his opposition to equal marriage.

Last year, after it was revealed that a major character of DC Comics would come out as gay, lesbian or bisexual, one of the company’s oldest characters, Green Lantern, was reintroduced as a gay man.

Marvel‘s Northstar, the first openly gay hero, tied the knot with his boyfriend Kyle Jinadu in an issue of ‘Astonishing X-Men’, last year, and recently the creators of Judge Dredd suggested that he could be gay.