Comic Strip: Out With Dad II

This is the 2^nd of my 142 part Out With Dad comic series.  More importantly, I finally overcame my fear of drawing people kissing.  Anyway, I thought this would be nice to post for the Holidays.

On a related note, the Out With Dad creative team recently asked viewers to answer the question: Why is Out With Dad Important to you?  I thought I’d try to answer.  I feel a little strange about answering this question because I know there are many people with much more personal and powerful reasons that Out With Dad is important to them.  I don’t have that type of connection to the show.  I’m not homosexual nor am I a parent of a gay teen.  I just love the show.  I think it’s superbly written and crafted and it makes me think about things, such as society and how we treat people who are homosexual.

I think a tale like Rose’s is important because it helps those of us who haven’t struggled with her problems understand a bit of what it is like to be in her situation.  I would hope that it would encourage us to help others who are not “like us”, because deep down inside we are all the same.  We may think of ourselves as belonging to different subgroups of humanity, but deep down we all have the same dreams and deserve the same treatment.

I think Out With Dad is important because we, humanity, need to change.  The country of Canada is far nicer to homosexuals than most of the world.  Even where I live, which is just across the Lake from Canada, same-sex marriage is banned by our State Constitution.  In other countries, being gay can get you killed.  I think things are changing in a positive direction, but I also don’t think we’re going to see meaningful change if the only people in the “gay pride” parade are gay.  It takes understanding and action from all of us.

I guess that’s the best way I can explain why Out With Dad is important to me.