Okay so, I know everyone and their mother has seen this panel. And it is very funny.
BUT. Now that I’ve just come off the original Teen Titans run, they all seemed quite progressive (for the time), Wally included.
This could be gleaned from:
Opposition to war during the Vietnam war era
Opposition to anti-immigrant rhetoric
Aiding the reclaiming of stolen land from native peoples
And even the less plot-relevant but still pervasive themes of tolerance and acceptance, both of then-modern culture and the hippie movement. Silly, I know, but genuinely contentious.
So I’m not quite sure why it was established that Wally was some hard conservative. Maybe this was always a thing? While I’ve read a lot of Wally in the context of team books, in Titans and later in the 90s JLA run, I’ve never read much in the way of his solos. It just doesn’t strike me as consistent.
There had been a bit of friction between Kid Flash and Red Star in his only previous appearance. Kid Flash made it clear he didn't trust a Communist "superhero".
So I think they're just amping that up a bit, to add a little depth to Wally, who had never really had that much done to develop his character in the past. (NTT #21 is the first time I think any Titans discuss their religious beliefs. When asked if he's religious, Wally replies "I guess so. I don't go all the time, but I believe." and Dick says that "I haven't thought about it much")
His conservative phase didn't last long but then, it was something like 1982 and Reagan was on the ascendant, so perhaps Wolfman felt a less liberal POV was an interesting way to go?
The only other time I can remember Wally's conservative characterization coming up is to contrast with the liberal Pied Piper in his solo book. Especially when the latter came out of the closet, right while Wally was in the middle of a homophobic diatribe.
I'm not quite sure I'd call it particularly homophobic, especially for 1988, and the first actual coming out as gay said out loud in a Big Two mainstream comic We'd had subtext and hints all over the place of course (Byrne with Maggie Sawyer, Claremont with... well.. everyone) , but even Marvel's Northstar wouldn't publicly describe himself as gay until 1992 in a far more laboured and tortuous story than this one.
So Wally is being a bit of an asshole definitely, but more out of outdated assumptions, than actual ingrained homophobia (at least the way I read it, YMMV of course)
Wally's discombobulated reaction is hilarious (and one I think many people who come out get from at least one person), and it's clear Piper knows that Wally isn't being homophobic,, juts a little surprised and he'll get over it, but that doesn't mean Piper didn't LOVE being able to blow Wally's mind like that.
Oh yeah, for its time it isn't that bad. They were going to include the f-slur in children's movies for the next few years, so Wally's little bit about gay supervillains isn't really going that far.
That said, I think it's still fair to call it homophobic. Even by the standards of the time: Wally clearly realizes the things he's said are pretty insulting to his friend, which is most of the reason why he's so eager to get out of there. So even Wally, at this moment, understands that he's crossed a line. Hartley, for his part, has probably dealt with worse.
Honestly, the word I regret using is "diatribe". A diatribe is more of a monologue, and Wally is clearly trying to include Hartley in his little "Which supervillains are gay?" game. The fact that he doesn't take the hint that Hartley doesn't want to play this particular game is part of what makes the whole scene so fun when Hartley decides to change the script on him.
Those are eminently fair points :)
Wally really wasn't characterized as particularly conservative prior to Wolfman's writing of him. Like, within his first few appearances in The Flash '59 there are such plot threads as "you shouldn't judge someone based on cultural practices that are unfamiliar to you" and "disabled people can be capable and reliable friends", though this is at the very beginning of the 60's so 1) most of these stories while well meaning are very clunky and awkward about it and 2) there's Red Scare propaganda as was very common in comics at the time.
In Post Crisis Flash writers very quickly start undoing that aspect of Wolfman's characterization, until eventually you get such things as Wally pointing out to his dad when he says something fascist. However Barry is fairly consistently characterized as conservative, and Wally wouldn't necessarily openly disagree with him out of respect.
Going back to the the issue with Red Star, I also don't think it's accurate to say that Wally's initial dislike of him was due to him being a communist.
[Teen Titans 1966, #18]
The Titans are told that they're going to be working with Starfire (as he was called then) and Wally is immediately friendly, then is brushed off pretty hard. Wally has basically two settings, so after this panel he decides that he's Starfire's #1 Hater. But their conflicts are all about the mission they're doing, and even when Wally is complaining about the guy, politics just don't come into it.
(Also worth noting, they do actually make up and seem like friends by the end of the issue, so Wally's hostility later makes even less sense.)
