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osodecanelaDear Tim,
When I recently found out we have a mutual friend, I asked him if he would pass on a note to you. I hope you won't be offended I decided to make this an open letter. I've posted it on my personal blog. I doubt there'll be a ton of people reading it, but there will be some.
Let me start by thanking you for giving me a venue where I had the opportunity to see myself, or at least a semblance of myself in a public forum. In an age where "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy", "Will and Grace" and other public representations of plucked, pumped, mincing, bitchy or otherwise cloned gay men are what we as a society see, both in the mainstream media as well as that section of the media directed at our communities, I found your cartoon strip "Leonard & Larry" to be a breath of fresh air. At first I was glad "Queer Eye" and "Will & Grace" made queerfolk more visible, but is going from invisible to being a stereotype really a step forward? Yes, there are parts of our community who do live the lifestyle of "Queer As Folk". Most of us know know people who've been lost in the party circuit. However, we're more than just that.
I identified with your strip. I'm a middle aged gay man, a bear, partnered for more than a quarter of a century. I own a home, pay taxes, own a business and yes, I'm helping to raise some children. We have 4 godchildren that are part of our lives. I've changed diapers, bandaged scraped knees, stayed up until 3am waiting for the teenager to come home, and discovered the joy of a 4 year-old as 'contraceptive'. If it takes a village to raise a child, then I guess that makes my husband and I the Village People.
I'm tired of being invisible and I'm saddened every time someone asks, upon hearing how long we've been together, "How long is that in gay years?"
I found myself eager to read your strip, because for once there was someone I could identify with. There, in print, the humor, the pathos, the tribulations of lives like mine. I laughed, I smiled, and I passed them along to others I know. I miss these characters and my life is poorer for their absence.
There isn't a gay person I know, who didn't at some point feel as if they were the only one in existence. We are, until coming out, terribly isolated, and often it's the role model, the example one sees on the screen, on the tube, or in print, that makes us realize we're not alone. In that, those representations are our mirror, and in fact, our community. Thank you so much for being a part of that for me. I appreciate it more that these words can express.
I hope that at some point, you'll be able to breathe life into these characters again. I'll be at the head of the line to get your next book.
When I recently found out we have a mutual friend, I asked him if he would pass on a note to you. I hope you won't be offended I decided to make this an open letter. I've posted it on my personal blog. I doubt there'll be a ton of people reading it, but there will be some.
Let me start by thanking you for giving me a venue where I had the opportunity to see myself, or at least a semblance of myself in a public forum. In an age where "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy", "Will and Grace" and other public representations of plucked, pumped, mincing, bitchy or otherwise cloned gay men are what we as a society see, both in the mainstream media as well as that section of the media directed at our communities, I found your cartoon strip "Leonard & Larry" to be a breath of fresh air. At first I was glad "Queer Eye" and "Will & Grace" made queerfolk more visible, but is going from invisible to being a stereotype really a step forward? Yes, there are parts of our community who do live the lifestyle of "Queer As Folk". Most of us know know people who've been lost in the party circuit. However, we're more than just that.
I identified with your strip. I'm a middle aged gay man, a bear, partnered for more than a quarter of a century. I own a home, pay taxes, own a business and yes, I'm helping to raise some children. We have 4 godchildren that are part of our lives. I've changed diapers, bandaged scraped knees, stayed up until 3am waiting for the teenager to come home, and discovered the joy of a 4 year-old as 'contraceptive'. If it takes a village to raise a child, then I guess that makes my husband and I the Village People.
I'm tired of being invisible and I'm saddened every time someone asks, upon hearing how long we've been together, "How long is that in gay years?"
I found myself eager to read your strip, because for once there was someone I could identify with. There, in print, the humor, the pathos, the tribulations of lives like mine. I laughed, I smiled, and I passed them along to others I know. I miss these characters and my life is poorer for their absence.
There isn't a gay person I know, who didn't at some point feel as if they were the only one in existence. We are, until coming out, terribly isolated, and often it's the role model, the example one sees on the screen, on the tube, or in print, that makes us realize we're not alone. In that, those representations are our mirror, and in fact, our community. Thank you so much for being a part of that for me. I appreciate it more that these words can express.
I hope that at some point, you'll be able to breathe life into these characters again. I'll be at the head of the line to get your next book.
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-18 02:32 am (UTC)I, too, would love to see his comic again -- even as a separate graphic novel, as he pointed out at one point how limiting having to do a strip a week in a set space was to character and plot development.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-18 02:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-18 03:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-18 07:30 am (UTC)Though I can't say much for the writing and how they deal with homo activity, I was happy to see that the central casting extra they used for a gay man humanoid, actually had the makings of a beard, and had no fem stuff going on.
One small step for corporate media.