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- 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 £