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
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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