The Flint Hills Observer
August1997
"For Better Or For Worse" To Do Gay Storyline Sequel: Topeka
Capital-Journal To Pull The Strip
by Kevyn Jacobs
Three years ago, the Canadian newspaper comic strip "For Better or for Worse" ran a storyline about a teenage boy named Lawrence, who came out to his friends and family. The radical religious right (RRR) raised a tremendous stink about this incredibly sensitive and well-done series about gay teens. Many papers in the United States (but interestingly, not in Canada) pulled the strip, arguing that it was "improper and indecent to portray a teenager's coming out in a family comic strip."
This week, Ms. Johnston will run a sequel to that storyline, where Lawrence introduces his new boyfriend.
And the backlash has already started.
The Topeka Capital-Journal has announced it WILL NOT run the strip this week, and will instead substitute re-runs, because the subject matter was "inappropriate" for a family newspaper. Interestingly, the Cap-J DID run the "Gay Lawrence" storyline three years ago.
On the up side, both the Lawrence Journal-World and the Manhattan Mercury both announced that they WILL run the strip.
Ms. Johnston, a resident of Ontario, who is heterosexual and has no gay children herself, was stunned by the response in the States, especially in the South and Midwest. She talks in one of her recent books about how she just cried and cried at the vehement hate mail she received from "South of the Border," (And people wonder why I like Canada better than the U.S. ?) and how important the supportive mail she received from gays and lesbians all over North America really helped her get through that very tough time.
Folks wishing to thank Johnston for her support can write her via her publisher: Lynn Johnston, "For Better or for Worse," Universal Press Syndicate, 4520 Main St., Kansas City, MO 64111-7701.
Correspondence to the Topeka Capital-Journal can be directed as follows: 661 NE Jefferson Street,Topeka,KS,66607 (Fax 913-295-1230, print run 67,119) (E-MAIL: letters@cjnetworks.com)
