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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1993)
EDITORIAL Gay character gives new life to comics For Iho p.tst wiM>k, readers of the nation's newspaper comic pages have had their usually safe and prodic table world turned upside down. Not sint e Blondie Bumstead went to work have the comic s undergone such earth shattering changes. One of these events involved Charlie Brown, who. alter earning perhaps the worst win/loss record in base ball history with no wins over, hit a game winning home run in the bottom of the ninth. Truly, the optimist's opti mist gave new meaning to the phrase "Never say die The other, and more significant, event occurred in the family-oriented comic strip. "For Better or for Worse.” in which 17 year-old latwrem e Poirier informed Ins lies! friend and one of the strip's leading characters. Michael Patterson, that he is gay. The story line has causer! a furor over the issue of teen-age homosexuality and where, if anywhere, the appropriate forum for its discussion lies. The strip’s author, Lynn Johnston, said her intention was not to respond to the growing sordid awareness anti controver sy concerning homosexuals. Rather, she has intended for Lawrence to be gay all along Johnston said the I^iwrem e character is based on her brother-in-law, who is gay, and tin* comic strip charac ter's exponent es will draw upon the real-lift* events that shaped his human counterpart's lib* Sint •* beginning tin* story line. 19 of the strip s 1 ,-tOO subscribing papers have dropped the strip entirely, anti another 50 have removed it until the story has run its course. Many of the papers that have dropped the strip claim that the comic •> page is not the appropriate forum lor discussing homosexuality that the page’s sole intent is to entertain. Homosexual < harm.tors in an\ entertainment medium are rare, and positive portrayals of those < haraejers are v irtually nonexistent. Johnston has said she will not play up the gav story lino after it runs out at the end of this month. Lawiem e will, of course, remain in tie* strip, but ins sexual orientation will rarely be brought up Rather, he will ho treated as a normal human being, which, of course, is all anvlrody can ask (or. larwrem e is the first gav teen-age character in a t tun ic. but the distinction ol lining the first gav character goes to Andy, a lawyer in t.arv Trudeau's "Doonesbury strip Andy announced his homosexuality in 1977. He returned to the limelight in 1990 when he was diagnosed with AIDS, Indore living in 1991. Hopefully. Johnston won’t feel it necessary to kill off Lawrence in a lesson about AIDS. It would be refreshing to set> a homosexual character who t an live a normal. Iiappv lift* for a t hango Contrary to popular media por trayals. not every homosexual dies of AIDS. Yes. it was a good week lor comics. (>ood ol Charlie Brown had to wait until the ninth inning to hit his game winning home run. Lawrence Poirier also hit a homer, but it’s still the top of the first, anti the game's got a long way to go. Oregon Daily Emerald l>0 001 3l*ft fuGENl OREGON Th*» Oegoo D»><> EmeraW «s pub--shed Monday ttwougn »>djj &*'*>Q tN» sc^yx* y«a' and Tuesday and Thursday during the sumit'c/ by the Oregon Da*!y £m#raid ruW-tf'i'vi Co Inc at the IM 'rB'v’y >>f Oregon I Oregon The t merakJ opiates ^ndapandamtiy at the U^wns^y with At Su4e 300 Of the |- ft> Memo .* Uo « >vxj <* n member o* the A-.v> ,ated h«s 7^ |m^>wt ,i o*,v.«te ivo^ty The unlawful 'em ova o* um o< papyri «• prosecutable by '-aw Editor *‘ii? Mrsacft JafcaBerg Freelance Editor Mope Nealson Mart fish** Editorial Editor Bn-ors Janssen Jeff Pastoy Sports Editor Dave Charbonnaaw F'eyaMom Supplement* Editor C4'-e> Anderson Night Editor Jake Bar^ Associate Editor* lj -vn, ftatey Student internment Act:**tm*. Oarayn T’appa Communiy CdRean Pphfag. Hfcpftar tAa^JitphAcah.^afrahon New* Staff Chester A-<» • Matt Hand*- JW r*. B»ew* Sarah Dan* Meg Dai&vph Amy >■- t ■ V A - .r.!al(H o a e> Beth Hege Taresa Uu^s-nger Ratecca Mr-.fl Steve M r s Katy M.>«* «* T-t M,.«**». T»-*!.* Noe< fM*n . Editor Editorial Editor OraphiC* Editor Entertainment Editor *a Mau Shaw F.r<fc Stude •V ama General Manager Advertising Tom * i Ma Mchate Tho-mps iwjy Red Production Manager Mc^we Boss Vai See* W^M^Hrs Shave' Berven H, GAMP* Oh Rachael Tru Classified Bacfcy Me'cfxi Distribution iVarvfc Arv Business * i'hy . .vbe Production >- J «V *«• Mh;he« Jani'-'e* Ro » *d Newsroom Business Office Ptsfap Johnson A.nge W ndhew • Manager fta? *** K • M r 346-55n 346-5512 It, Ons Kan r. IV ,t VV x Todd Offce Manager vah V OBryin l$ra*< Display Advertising Classified Advertising 346-3712 346-4343 Timber Co official explaining how a second-growth tree farm can be as majestic in its way as an ancient old-growth forest. . *•>4Ki$S irvf WZ$4ff*<.9 EnvLa THAT caul's u/Av/ajg Jb THE iMAO-vASV SPEoES WWO £<v£ 7W£$£ OPINION Bible answers tough questions General License Siepfonte Seson M\ Jan. 11 Kntrrald < ol umn. "Earth will adjust to catastrophes, i*\i li ed enough negative response lo prm ule my friends \\ ilfi jokes for \\ ()ne of the funnier comments lies. Stephanie. I know what voii i an write .ilHiut nest! Homo sexuality ' If,i Like I'm tlmt suit.idal Like I enjoy lieing i ailed on ignorant hoinophohu kkkristian Hut yshat the hell I am a Christian I.ike many college-age Christians. I sjiend a lot of time wondering about the difference between right and wrong burlier this \ear 1 had a con versation with u friend about drinking. That's a biggee in the Christian college community — whether or not social drinking is wrong Neither of us knew the answer The Hible isn't i lear on it. At that time I hadn’t set reai lied the long-awaited age of 21 I brought that up "What about underage drinking? It's against the law. right' So it must Ik* wrong " M\ friend disagreed "I )ust don’t see it that way,” she said "Nobodv urns if it's legal or not In other words, my friend liases tier i om ept of rigid and wrong on what other people believe. Unfortunately, this is a way of thinking that is iie< oming accept able in our society l ’sing the excuse that "every one's doin' it" is dangerous When we start making dti isions according to the norms of soci et\. which change from genera tion to generation, we live in dan ger of becoming numb to sin. There have to lie absolutes As it Christian, I Ilk*' I he Bibit' as m\ supreme authority As the Dibit* itsic lirs ! secondG look lo our laws to determine right itnd wrong. l.iki- main of you, I’ve been fol lowing tin- issues surrounding homosexuality lately tans in the m1111ars Student housing lor liomost vuals Guy rights \s no sjns ml rights I lie efforts id the Oregon (atizens Alliance I he rei ent statist it s disprov ing the " 10 pen ent" theory Homosexu als in tin1 pulpit The continuing spread of AIDS laist term, the Emerald printed a number of letters from students about homosexuality 1 saw. in those letters, Bible verses pro\ - ing that homosexuutity is wrong. I also read i nnvim mg arguments that hotnusexualitv is OK As a Christian. 1 know all about those Bible verses What sur prised me in reading the letters was that verses from the New Testament were not quoted In Romans, the Apostle Paul w rites that when God's people t eased to honor Hun. " their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnat ural. and in the same wav also the man abandoned the natural fum - tion of the women and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing inde i ent ai ts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error" (Romans 26:27). To he honest, I don't take the Old Testament laws very seri ously. Those laws were given to the lews (One of them prohibits tattoos. Give me a break!) Bui the New Testament, which concerns itself more with Christ-like Not too many years ago, sodomy was illegal. Now it’s almost trendy. Progress, or deterioration? behavior. 1 lake very seriously And. as I've pointed out. the New Testament is very Hear. Homo sexuality is a Uiosun behavior. And d is wrong. I'sing the Bible as a basis tor belief isn't a new idea Neither is the idea that homosexuality is a sm Not too many voars ago. sodomy was illegal Now it’s almost trendy Progress, or dete rioration' M\ purpose is to offer hope to tin* homosexual. Knowing that homosexuality is a choice should he a relief to the homosexual Of course, i housing to reject homo sexual Im*Iiu\ ior can lie difficult, but pist know ing homosexuals aren’t driven In uncontrollable fori es means a change can be made. I don’t bate homosexuals. I’m not afraid of them I am afraid that homosexuality is becoming an accepted lifestyle in our soci ety And I am afraid that with tins acceptam e. someone I love will someday be tempted to choose the homosexual lifestyle over the lifestyle of a follower of Christ. Sisson writes a regular column for thr Kmerald COMMENTARY POLICY The Oregon /Vn/i Emerald welcomes commentaries from the public concerning topics of interest to the University commu nity. Commentaries should be between "at) and 1.000 words, leg ible. signed and the identification of the writer must lie veri fied when the letter is submitted The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or st vie