This week's cartoon

With apologies to Billy Mays, David Carradine, and whatever celebrity should happen to pass away this afternoon:

One of the poorly kept secrets of editorial cartooning is that eulogy cartoons are some of the most popular things we draw, but most cartoonists despise them. In our heart of hearts, of course, we cartoonists all hope to draw the cartoon that outlasts us, like Bill Mauldin's famous cartoon of the Lincoln Memorial weeping after the assassination of John Kennedy.

But since Bill Mauldin already used that idea, cartoons of (fill in the blank) crying all seem derivative. Countless cartoonists drew the Statue of Liberty crying on 9/11. Off the top of my head, I remember seeing cartoons of Alice Kramden crying when Jackie Gleason died, the Virginia Tech mascot crying after the shootings on that campus, the NBC peacock crying after Johnny Carson died, and who could forget the weeping guitars when George Harrison passed away?

The other cliche is the cartoon showing the deceased person's arrival at the pearly gates, where St. Peter says something moderately clever. I've drawn one or two of those myself. Alternatively, cartoonists take the liberty of welcoming a disliked deceased person to hell, where, if he or she isn't greeted by the devil himself, he/she is in the company of Hitler or Stalin. (I can't think of any actual Welcome To Hell cartoon about a woman, but I'm sure Mike Lester has one all ready for Hillary Clinton someday.)

Of my own eulogy cartoons, my favorite was for Quentin Crisp. I didn't think he'd have appreciated being in a eulogy cartoon, so that's what I drew.

This Week's Cartoon

Given the Obama administration's reluctance to take action on LGBT issues of any significance, I probably should have submitted this cartoon to Q Syndicate as a reserve for release when I go on vacation this fall, but I seriously needed to draw a cartoon about any topic other than marriage rights.

With any luck there will be a gay angle to some other story in the news this week. The Mark Sanford walk in the wilderness, perhaps?

1998 Pride cartoon

Since I didn't draw a Gay Pride cartoon this year, here's one from 1998.

The "Fierce Advocate" in 2008

Paul Berge Q Syndicate May 20, 2008 EditorialCartoonists.com

I drew the above cartoon in May of 2008, as the presidential candidates responded to the California Supreme Court's Marriages decision recognizing a constitutional right to marriage equality in that state. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama seemed taken off guard by the decision, issuing awkward statements that acknowledged the decision without much if any sense of congratulation to LGBT voters. 

The Clinton campaign, however, did recover its footing enough to send daughter Chelsea to LGBT events to campaign for our votes. I certainly never got the impression at any point in the campaign that Obama was a "fierce advocate" for LGBT rights, even though he claimed to be. He was pressed on LGBT issues at a number of fora and debates, and always seemed to come up with parsed, legalistic answers on marriage rights — supporting "civil unions" rather than "marriages" for us (as did every Democratic candidate other than Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel). 

That didn't prevent me from voting for Obama, either in the Wisconsin primary or the general election. Much as I would have liked to imagine that he would be stronger on LGBT issues than his campaign persona ought to have led anyone to believe, I supported him on other issues and thought he would be more electable in November than Hillary Clinton. 

This is not to say that the administration's brief on DOMA this month is anything other than greatly disappointing. The May, 2008 cartoon, and the one out this week (below) were both drawn more in sorrow than in anger; but the ratio is closer to 50-50 this week.

A la recherche des Pridefests perdus

From Pride Month 2006

DOJ hearts DOMA

The Obama Justice Department last week filed a brief supporting the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, using arguments that were guaranteed to incense the LGBT community. Administration lackeys have since claimed that the DOJ was obligated to file the brief — which is debateable — but this brief went out of its way to include some execrable arguments.

Paul Berge Q Syndicate Jun 16, 2009 EditorialCartoonists.com

Anthony Woods for Congress

The Democratic primary to succeed Rep. Ellen Tauscher in Congress includes an encouraging candidate, Anthony Woods, an Iraq veteran discharged because of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. This CNN video skips over Ms. Brown's questions, which is a little odd:



Here is a link to his web page.