Cartoon at Right Time --but in Wrong Place
Your cartoon by Marlette depicting two gay men with targets on their shirts (Life & Style, Oct. 25) is most timely in light of the recent lynching of Matthew Shepard.
However, I am appalled that you placed this editorial/opinion item in “Laugh Lines.” There is nothing even remotely funny about its subject matter! To place it in this funny section is to denigrate the horror of gay lynching and to tell your readers: “Laugh, laugh. You’ll get a kick out of this one.”
I presume this was an oversight and trust that you will learn to distinguish between what is meant to be funny and what is intended as a statement on the condemnable acts of violence resulting from discrimination.
STEVE ZIKMAN
In your “Laugh Lines” cartoon of two men marked “Gays” with targets on their chests, one was saying: “In the good old days they just made us wear pink triangles.” My question is, what’s the laugh? Is it the good old pink triangle days, or the current gay bashing advocated by the “religious” right and supported by a significant segment of the Republican party? This cartoon might have been appropriate in the Opinion section, but not where it appeared. Was this a lapse in judgment, or is The Times saying that targeting gays is a laugh?
PATRICIA BATES
Chatsworth
Editor’s note: The cartoon was intended for the editorial page and should not have been included with “Laugh Lines.”