WHEN LAWRENCE CAME OUT IN THE COMICS (Lawlor,

WHEN LAWRENCE CAME OUT IN THE COMICS (Lawlor,

Sparkes, & Wood, 1994)

For one month in the spring of 1993, Lynn Johnston’s popular family comic strip For Better or For Worse dealt with the theme of a gay teen, as occasional character Lawrence, a friend of principal family teen Michael, came out to his friends and family on the comic pages of about 1,500 North American dailies. Canadian cartoonist Lynn Johnston drew on the experience of her gay brother-in-law and others as she wrote the story over several weeks. Lawrence initially came out to Michael and later to his parents, who had a very difficult time with the news. His father first threw him out of the house but late relented and offered a grudging acceptance, though not total understanding. There was some predictable negative reaction from the Canadian and U.S. markets. About

40 papers refused to run the strips on this theme, and 16 canceled permanently as a protest of the content. However, the controversy seemed to generate new interest, and the strip experienced unprecedented growth in subscriptions over the succeeding months. In Lawlor et al.’s analysis of almost 2,200 letters received by Johnston, the newspapers, and the distributing syndicate, 70% were positive, many offering poignant personal stories of readers’ own experiences. There were, of course, some predictable angry responses, though fewer than had been feared. In any event, it seemed clear that the funnies weren’t just for laughing any more.

Media Portrayals of Groups 82

The most publicized gay character in the history of TV was featured in the on-screen coming out of Ellen’s lead character Ellen Morgan in April 1997, which coincided with the off-screen coming out of the actress Ellen DeGeneres. Although the coming-out episode set ratings records and was itself the subject of many news stories at the time, the formerly high-rated sitcom was canceled at the end of the following season. Although DeGeneres’ next show did not last long, another network sitcom (Will and Grace), about a gay man living with a straight woman, became a mainstream hit. Interestingly enough, some of the most daring programming with gay themes came on animated shows, such as The Simpsons and South Park. Music videos, the occasional soap opera, and other sitcoms (e.g., Spin City) had some prominent gay themes or characters.

How gay rights and gay pride events and issues are communicated via news media is also an important consideration. Gays and lesbians are treated qualitatively differently from ethnic, religious, or other social minorities. For example, Moritz (1995) points out that the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis are not sought out for minority opinions for journalistic balance in coverage of issues concerning African Americans or Jews. However, spokespersons from the political right who would ban and suppress all expression, if not even all discussion, of homosexuality are routinely sought out to present the other side in coverage of gay and lesbian issues. This is one group that it is still socially, politically, and sometimes morally acceptable to publicly despise.

A few studies suggest that positive media portrayals such as Will Truman on Will and Grace can be instrumental in improving tolerance and acceptance of gays and lesbians by the broader society, Riggle, Ellis, and Crawford (1992) found that viewing a documentary film about a gay politician led to significantly more positive attitudes toward homosexuals. Bonds-Raacke, Cady, Schlegel, Harris, & Firebaugh, (2004) found that just thinking about a positive media gay or lesbian character of one’s choice led to improved attitudes toward gay men. These results suggest a potentially important role for media entertainment in reducing prejudice in this area.