Homosexuality Comes to the Funny Pages
October, 1997
Though the most reliable studies suggest that homosexuals make up less than two percent of the population, they are virtually omnipresent in modern entertainment. ABC's "Ellen" became television's first lesbian in a leading role, and network television programs, even those intended as "family fare," routinely include homosexual supporting characters - more than 30 in this fall's lineup. And now homosexuality has come to the funny pages.
The consistently liberal "Doonesbury" cartoon strip recently revealed that one of its regular characters, Mark Slackmeyer, is a homosexual. Four years ago a young man in the comic strip "For Better or For Worse," Lawrence, determined that he was a homosexual. In August, a series of cartoons from this strip dealt with the sorrow Lawrence felt because his "lover" was moving to another city.
"This is a highly insidious way to promote the gay agenda to impressionable young people," said Tom Prichard, head of the Minnesota Family Council. "Cartoons are generally recognized as a venue appropriate for children, and many parents will find this series of 'For Better or For Worse' to be objectionable. It is sad to think that parents now have to worry about the content of the daily comics, a diversion that should be innocent, fun, and lighthearted."
When "For Better of For Worse" first introduced Lawrence's homosexuality four years ago, about a dozen newspapers canceled the strip, while 25 others replaced the strips with earlier cartoons from the feature. This time, at least 20 daily newspapers in the U.S. reportedly declined to run the controversial strips, but the strip ran in both the Minneapolis Star Tribune and in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Tim McGuire, executive editor of the Star Tribune, called the strips "wonderful lessons in tolerance."
The St. Paul Pioneer Press responded to the Minnesota Family Council with a cartoon of its own. An editorial cartoon by Kirk Anderson had Prichard saying, "When a gay character is portrayed as a normal compassionate human being, people might start thinking gays like that actually exist!"
"Obviously, our position was not well received by the media," joked Prichard. "But the fundamental issue is that you're not getting an accurate picture of homosexuality through a cartoon strip."
Major media show only one side of the story, concluded Prichard, "There's a news blackout on the problems associated with homosexual conduct. There are health problems, and issues concerning how people are drawn into it. There are important points that need to be brought out in the public debate. But the only side of the story being presented is that homosexuality is just another lifestyle, when it fact it's very harmful."
While unflattering, the Pioneer Press cartoon of Prichard was a landmark for MFC. "We know we're a significant force in the state when our leader is immortalized in a cartoon," said MFC Communications Director Kent Kaiser.
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