For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for March 28, 2022

Somebody is confused.

I notice when Michael talks about the girls Lawrence has danced with and hung out with at the mall (i.e., dated), he is carefully not to mention the name of Martha, both his and Lawrence’s ex-girlfriend.

In Mike’s defense…thats pretty shocking for the day and age when this was first written.. a lot of the LGBTQ community were far back in the closet.

Very well put, Lawrence!!

You spoke true, Lawrence. They are confused because they don’t understand. It is hard. You’re going on a difficult journey, Lawrence.

Michael has it easy. At 19 my closest buddy said he had always felt he should have been a woman and was going to get a sex change operation (and eventually did). He had been hanging around with some homely girls lately, and I realized later that they all use to get guys. :-0

That was decades ago, and I am still in disbelief to this day that “Kevin” wanted to be turned into “Allison”. I was young and not able to handle it, so we parted ways. Not sure if I could handle it now.

True story.

You’re the one who’s confused Mike

If I wanted a treatise on sexual orientation, I guess the comics is as good a place as any…nah, I think I’ll just move on over to some humor. Bye.

“I don’t wanna know what you’re telling me, man!” is such a “Michael” response to being told this, lol. Like he’s in disbelief AND denial, and is kind of missing just how much trust Lawrence is putting in him at this moment. How special that is is lost on him. But he gets there in the end- which is another Michael trademark. I mean, he is barely 16 at this point.

“You’re not gay, you’re just confused”… This is why you can’t bring a 28-year old comic into the present and try and pass it off as modern day.

The only choice is whether to act on one’s sexual orientation. Lawrence made that choice, and eventually everyone must accept it. Caution for those who missed it in 1993: the following panels will be quite an emotional rollercoaster, which will become real with a certain Matthew Wayne Shepard in Wyoming in 1998.

Judge me harshly but I will judge you with kindness.

This particular strip has aged well. There are MANY people who still think the way Michael does in this one. And, there are those that think this “being gay thing” can be cured. :P

Aside from the Bottom Liners (intended as a political cartoon) leave politics and sexual persuasion adjuncts out of the comics; we come here for refuge.

Lynn’s Comments:

I’ve written at great length about this story so I think I will let the work speak for itself. If you wish to learn more, I encourage you to read my 15th and 20th anniversary collections.

To paraphrase(i think) George Carlin – Keep thy religion ( and sexual preferences) to thy self!

Oh, good grief, now one of my favorite comics has gone “woke”.

As with any case of “love at first sight”, I wonder if the guy he sighted knows he is loved?

My Cousin “Came Out” back in the 1960’s. We guys all agreed that Good Old Robby remained Good Old Robby with the following stipulations: (1) He would not tell us what he did on Saturday Nights, and we would not tell him. (2) We would still hunt and fish together as usual. But, if he made a pass at any one of us, we got to shoot him in the butt with birdshot at a range of fifty yards.

Worked out well. Sadly, my Good Old kinsman died of AIDS in 1995. I came home on Leave to sit with him when he passed. By then, he had found the Lord and he had repented. So he lives in Glory forever.

Way to go Lawrence. You got the whole world figured out; everybody else is confused. Don’t blame yourself for anything. It is always everybody else’s fault. Worked for me for eight years.

What a difference time makes. When this first was printed there were world headlines. Condemnation from conservative politicians and religious groups. Unless I missed something this kind of snuck up on us. I didn’t see one thing about it anywhere.

Awesome

Leave the little faggot alone. He likes it a different way.

Kudos to Johnston and GoComics for running this arc! I don’t think I saw it in its original run: I think the paper I read in Reno at the time substituted reruns. Good to see this!

Lawrence must have strong feelings for Mike?

In Ojibwe (and indeed, many North American Aboriginal tribes), we have multiple genders. 5 or 7.

Two of our “alternative” genders in Ojibwe are:

Ojibwe: ikwekaazo, “Men who chose to function as women” / “one who endeavors to be like a woman”.

Ojibwe: ininiikaazo, “Women who functioned as men” / “one who endeavors to be like a man”

God created a man and a woman, He was NOT confused.

From my experience, any reaction where the relationship isn’t ended is good one. If the person you come out doesn’t cut you out of their lives (or threaten to), they just have to take a little time to process the information. The times where the other person hugs you and says they still love you are the best. The times where the other person says, “Duh, I’ve know that for a long time” or “I’ve been wondering when you’d come out.” are funny when you think about them later.

Not sure if this was the intent of today’s strip, but Lawrence came across as a know-it-all in the last panel.

Wow, the conversation’s actually being advanced today. Michael even used the word “gay,” albeit prefaced with "You’re not . . . " Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s strips and the first panel of today’s, I kind of expected we’d be beating around the bush all week.

By the way I made this comment in a separate thread because the other one immediately started talking about things that have nothing to do with this strip. Normally I wouldn’t start a new thread but the other one’s looking pretty hopeless for anyone who actually wants to talk about what they came here to read.

At least he knows he’s gay, some won’t acknowledge that until they are much older

Wonder if Lawrence spoke to Calvin? Sounds a lot like one of Calvin’s rants to himself one miserable day when he was waiting for the bus to school.

Calvin: “I hate having to do this; I hate all of this! I wish I was dead.”

Calvin takes a moment to ponder that

Calvin: “Well, no, not really about the last part…”

Calvin: “…I wish everybody else were dead!”

I know….I know….these are reruns. But I look for laughs. Not Days Of Our Lives.

Hey,Elly’s Mother hasn’t died yet.That’s when it REALLY gets serious.

Lawrence survived thereveal" with nothing worse than a stomachache,and so will we.

Yikes! …Be careful Lynn… This might be read by Governor in Florida…and Goodness Knows you can’t say the word‘gay’ in FLA… the sky might fall in and you will be arrested and thrown into one of their sink holes….. (come to think of it…the Gov. of FLA… probably crawled out of one of those sink holes….)

I didn’t choose to be gay. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t be gay. No one chooses to be gay. Let me repeat that: NO ONE CHOOSES TO BE GAY! Why would anyone choose derision, ostracization, bullying, abuse or the confusion leading up to coming out? Why would anyone choose a path that involves ‘coming out’ in the first place? Nobody, that’s who. Imagine growing up in the military with a Marine Corps Dad and a New England school teacher Mom. When I discovered who and what I was, I was horrified. My HS classmates knew, and called me unimaginable names, and said horrible things to me. I was in denial. I didn’t WANT to be gay. In college, I came out to myself and was terrified that friends or family would find out. This was in the Eighties, when gay jokes were accepted, gay bashing was a common story and AIDS was rearing it’s ugly head. Yeah, sure, keep thinking it was and is a choice.

Lawrence may have same-sex attractions, but that does not make him “gay”. You must..

Dress a certain way…

Act a certain way…

Vote for whom I say…

…to be gay.

Good for you Lawrence!

I looks like my question a couple weeks ago to the effect of, “is this the same Lawrence” was well timed but if I’d just bided my time the answer would have been revealed.

Gay, not gay, no problem for me. The ones that I don’t understand are the people who don’t want to be identified as male or female. Guess what, you ARE one or the other!!

I would dance with my female friends without a problem, and sit out the slow dances. Until of course my first boyfriend, where we would dance on our own on the sides until we were pulled in to dance with everyone else. After that event at Homecoming in 1984 (yes, I know that seems a bit early for the acceptance and welcome, but is history for me), every time any dance happened, we were photographed together (as opposed to a group), danced every dance together, and never once had any bullying or insults thrown our way at all.

By “Everyone” he probably means newspaper comic readers, considering how angry some people get at this storyline, then and now.

Sexual orientation is a serious matter. It will take some time for Lawrence (and everyone else) to come to terms with his homosexuality. It’s mostly all about being human.

Just live and let live…

Over 100 newspapers refused to run this cartoon. 29 years later & intolerant jerks are still with us.

Still, one of the all time greatest cartoon moments.

My personal take on all of this comes down to your Genes (“Baked In”) and your Environment (Learned, Taught, Exposed to)

Everything can be broken down to either or both.

For Example:

1) Hair Color = Genes*

2) Gender = Genes

3) Sexual Preference = Genes

4) Gender you identify with = Genes

5) Religion = Environment

6) Life Expectancy = a combination of both**

*You can choose to change your hair color, but the “baked-in” color is still there underneath.

**You can live a healthy lifestyle (environment), and still die prematurely due to a genetic predisposition to a disease (genes).

insanity is beginning to rule more and more these days.