IANTO DID NOT DIE BECAUSE HE WAS GAY. HE DIED BECAUSE HE WAS JACK'S LOVER. If Jack had been with a woman/Gwen she would have died too. Jack is the universe-roaming anti-hero. He could never be tied down - it just couldn't work.
It's not a fact that Jack's lover had to die -- it's a story choice. An equally compelling -- perhaps even MORE compelling choice -- would have been to kill Gwen. Why? Because Gwen is Jack's romanticized ideal about what's best of 'normal' human life, what he's committed to trying to save. Killing her -- especially when she's pregnant -- would have gutted Jack entirely. Plus, killing the POV character would have been a bold artistic choice.
Another valid story choice would have been to let Ianto live, have Jack come up with a plan to sacrifice a child - and then have Ianto oppose that plan. Or have Jack sacrifice Ianto's family. That would have killed the ship right there and perhaps pushed Jack off the planet. Or to have Jack betray them all by collaborating with the government to seize the children and force Gwen/Ianto to come up with a counterplan to sacrifice one child -- and make it one of Ianto's family. THAT would have driven Jack away as well, he'd be unable to look them in the eye ever again after displaying a second bout of cowardice. There are lots of options here, I'm not even creative enough by half to come up with even a small fraction of them.
I also don't buy this notion that 'Jack couldn't be tied down'. The very essence of Torchwood was the idea that Jack would be different than the Doctor and that he would stay -- that he would live with the pain inherent in that choice. I'm not sure why RTD felt he wanted to turn Jack into a poor man's Doctor instead of letting Jack carve out his own path as a character.
Re: RTD is a homophobe? Don't make me laugh.
It's not a fact that Jack's lover had to die -- it's a story choice. An equally compelling -- perhaps even MORE compelling choice -- would have been to kill Gwen. Why? Because Gwen is Jack's romanticized ideal about what's best of 'normal' human life, what he's committed to trying to save. Killing her -- especially when she's pregnant -- would have gutted Jack entirely. Plus, killing the POV character would have been a bold artistic choice.
Another valid story choice would have been to let Ianto live, have Jack come up with a plan to sacrifice a child - and then have Ianto oppose that plan. Or have Jack sacrifice Ianto's family. That would have killed the ship right there and perhaps pushed Jack off the planet. Or to have Jack betray them all by collaborating with the government to seize the children and force Gwen/Ianto to come up with a counterplan to sacrifice one child -- and make it one of Ianto's family. THAT would have driven Jack away as well, he'd be unable to look them in the eye ever again after displaying a second bout of cowardice. There are lots of options here, I'm not even creative enough by half to come up with even a small fraction of them.
I also don't buy this notion that 'Jack couldn't be tied down'. The very essence of Torchwood was the idea that Jack would be different than the Doctor and that he would stay -- that he would live with the pain inherent in that choice. I'm not sure why RTD felt he wanted to turn Jack into a poor man's Doctor instead of letting Jack carve out his own path as a character.