Message 1: From ww%nyxfer@igc.apc.org Mon Apr 12 20:12:23 1993 Received: from cdp.igc.org by halcyon.com with SMTP id AA19405 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for tomh); Mon, 12 Apr 1993 20:12:10 -0700 Received: by igc.apc.org (4.1/Revision: 1.76 ) id AA18392; Mon, 12 Apr 93 20:12:15 PDT Received: by nyxfer.uucp (1.65/waf) via UUCP; Mon, 12 Apr 93 21:24:31 EST for tomh@halcyon.halcyon.com To: med%nyxfer@apc.org, medpub%nyxfer@apc.org, sxp%nyxfer@apc.org, sxppub%nyxfer@apc.org, sxp%tbbs@apc.org, smp%tbbs@apc.org, med%tbbs@apc.org Subject: "Free Press" Censors Comic Strip From: ww%nyxfer@igc.apc.org (Workers World Service) Message-Id: Date: Mon, 12 Apr 93 21:24:09 EDT Organization: NY Transfer News Collective Status: R Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit 'FREE PRESS' CENSORS COMIC STRIP By Kristanna Thomas Every day people in this country are told that the press is unbiased, truthful, believes in justice and is against censorship. On March 26 a 14-year-old comic strip entitled "For Better or For Worse" began to run a series about a 17-year-old male coping with the difficulties of coming out as a gay teenager. The strip is syndicated in 1,400 newspapers. The gay teen will be the focus of the strip for a five-week episode. His parents order him out of the house when he tells them he is gay. Later they take him back in. Though the comic strip series' content is mild, it generated a knee-jerk homophobic response from some of the capitalist newspapers that carry it. In fact, many of the so-called free press decided to censor the strip. According to a March 28 article in the New York Times, the Las Vegas Review-Journal determined that the series went too far for a comic strip. "It's not offensive at all, but it was condoning homosexuality almost to the point of advocacy," said the newspaper's editor, Thomas Mitchell. Doug Kneibert, editor of The Sedalia Democrat, said his newspaper would not run the comic strip because "we are a conservative paper in a conservative town. "We consider it a family comic strip and felt our readers would not appreciate this rather striking reference to homosexuality being inserted into it," said Kneibert. In whose name do these editors censor the strip? Who in the community has given them the right to outright censor what goes into their papers? Few comic strips in the big-business press have major characters who are African American, Latin or from another oppressed nationality. Now the editors want to make sure that there is no sign of gays or lesbians in society. As far as these editors are concerned, the comics are supposed to be white and straight. The comic strip's creator, Lynn Johnston of Corbeil, Ontario, in Canada says the gay teen would appear in future episodes, but will not be the focus. The censors guarding the "free press" are trying to make sure he stays back in the closet. (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted is source is cited. For more info contact Workers World 46 W. 21 St., New York, NY 10010; via e-mail: ww%nyxfer@igc.apc.org.) + Join Us! Support The NY Transfer News Collective + + We deliver uncensored information to your mailbox! + + Modem: 718-448-2358 FAX: 718-448-3423 e-mail: nyxfer@panix.com +