Monday, January 25, 2010

A Sad Win


My friend Sean at Just a Jeep Guy has been posting some of his favorite comics, lately. Not too long ago, he was contacted by John Forgetta, the author of The Meaning of Lila, thanking him for helping to promote the strip.

More recently, he was contacted by John Lustig, author of Last Kiss. Lustig is a fine artist whose work you'd recognize immediately and whose single-panel strip often contains some very funny LGBT material and jokes. Lustig wanted to let Sean know about a contest he was running, in which the winner would get a chance to write with a rather well-known Sci-Fi author. What Sean didn't realize, was that the well-known Sci-Fi author was the notoriously homophobic Mormon, Orson Scott Card. Or, more precisely, he was unaware of Card's stance on LGBT rights. Card is an outspoken opponent of LGBT rights and a member of NOM, one of the many groups that helped pass California's Prop 8 last year (and whose infamous "Gathering Storm" commercials vilified the LGBT community with out-and-out lies about what same-sex marriage would do to children, families and even churches).

Of course, yours truly had to open my big mouth (or rather, type away on my keyboard) and express my concern that Sean would promote such a contest to his primarily gay readership. In response, Sean took down the post and researched Card's activities. Today, Sean posted this. And while I am sad that he felt he had to remove a post and possibly end correspondence with one of his favorite cartoonists, I am proud and pleased that he not only will no longer post Lustig's work, but sent him an email detailing precisely why.

My hat is off to you, Sean. I'm so sorry that things didn't work out the way you had hoped, and even sorrier that one of your favorite cartoonists disappointed you so, but as I said in my comments, "Thanks and keep fighting the good fight!" Today, you became one of my heroes.

More, very anon.
Prospero

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