In Respect to Defense

With the passage and signing into law of the Respect for Marriage Act, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act outlawing same-sex marriage has been overturned. I would like to have looked back at the passage of that earlier antigay legislation, but I didn't start drawing for the LGBTQ+ press until shortly after it was passed.

in InStep Magazine, Milwaukee Wis. Dec. 11, 1996

DOMA was passed in anticipation of a gay-friendly ruling by the Hawai'ian Supreme Court. Three same-sex couples had sued the state of Hawai'i in 1990 to respect their weddings in a case that became Baehr v. Miike. The court sent the case back to trial court with the state bearing the burden of proof that prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying "furthers compelling state interests and is narrowly drawn to avoid unnecessary abridgments of constitutional rights." In December of 1996, Hawai'ian Judge Kevin S.C. Chang ruled in favor of plaintiffs, but stayed his ruling in case it were reversed on appeal.

in InStep Magazine, Milwaukee, Wis., Sept. 18, 1996. My first cartoon for the LGBTQ press before I started drawing for them on a regular basis.

The U.S. Congress had already passed, and President Bill Clinton had signed, DOMA in September, guaranteeing that if same-sex marriage were legal in Hawai'i, it would not be recognized by the federal government or any state on the mainland. Then, in 1998, Hawai'i voters approved a constitutional amendment barring same-sex couples from marrying.

in InStep Magazine, Milwaukee Wis., January 8, 1998

The religious right pushed similar "Definition/Defense of Marriage Amendments" in state after state, a crusade supported enthusiastically by Republicans and acquiesced to by not a few Democrats.

A flyer I put together as Wisconsin legislature passed its DOMA in 1997

As a consolation prize, some people suggested that same-sex couples settle for "domestic partnerships." 

for Q Syndicate, April/August, 1998

But even that was anathema to the religious right. In Wisconsin and elsewhere, state legislatures passed laws to prevent municipalities (and in some cases, even private corporations) from offering domestic partnership benefits to same-sex couples.

for Q Syndicate, April/December, 1998

These last three cartoons are examples of ideas I originally drew for InStep Magazine of Milwaukee, but redrew when brought on to Q Syndicate for national distribution. The then-owner of the syndicate, David (Bianco) Benkof, wanted a portfolio of six cartoons he could show to potential customers; most of them were released for publication later on.

"And They Say We Threaten Their Families" above is my original version for InStep; the other two are the retreads. The "Special Rights" cartoon recast a local TV newsman and a fictional politician as ABC "Nightline" host Ted Koppel and Family Research Council head Gary Bauer.

for Q Syndicate, August, 1999

At weeks such as this one, when there doesn't seem to be enough time to handle all the tasks that pile up on top of each other, it would be nice to have a half dozen cartoons in reserve. But now more than ever before, it's hard to imagine what I could possibly draw in April that would still be fresh and relevant in August, let alone December.

This Week's Sneak Peek

Instead of the usual edit snipped from the coming Thursday's cartoon, here is a cartoon I drew for Q Syndicate in November of 1998.

 

Impeach Bill, Volume 1

StarrChamberBack Saturday offers you a break from the impeachment trial of Donald Joffrey Trump. I've already dealt with the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, and the cartoons I drew about the Nixon impeachment hearings were lost decades ago; so here's the first installment of a two-part reverie on the impeachment of William Jismerson Clinton.

in UW-M Post, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, February 13, 1997

To begin at the beginning: Kenneth Starr had been appointed Independent Counsel by the District of Columbia Circuit Court to continue predecessor Robert Fiske's investigation into the purported "Whitewater Scandal." Bill and Hillary Clinton were accused of some skulduggery in a realty deal back in Arkansas in which they had ended up losing money anyway. While the Fiske-Starr investigation turned up no crime with which either Clinton could be charged, the Independent Counsel's investigation branched out into several unrelated investigations, including the suicide of Vince Foster, the firing of some staffers in the White House Travel office, and a lawsuit by Paula Jones charging Bill Clinton with sexual harassment when he was Governor of Arkansas.

in the UW-M Post, February 12, 1998

In spite of voluminous leaks from Starr's office, most of the investigations went nowhere. The Jones investigation, however, inspired Pentagon employee Linda Tripp to record her phone calls with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, about the intern's affair with the President, and to turn those tapes over to Starr's office. When Starr's office deposed President Clinton over that affair, Clinton denied under oath ever having had "sexual relations" with Lewinsky.

in UW-M Post, April 23, 1998

Clinton had emphatically made that same claim in a televised speech in January, unaware that Tripp had convinced Lewinsky not to dry-clean a navy blue dress stained with presidential spooge, but to turn it over to Starr's office instead.

Q Syndicate, August, 1998

I had begun drawing cartoons for Q Syndicate the year before this, and for two individual LGBTQ newspapers before that. My cartoons for the national LGBTQ media touched on aspects of news stories that might have been overlooked by the mainstream media.

Q Syndicate, September 1998

The Trump impeachment trial may well be over before next Saturday, but I'll be back with the rest of the Clinton impeachment story anyway. See you then!