Commentary from January 28, 2014
This is the kind of strip I’ve wanted to do for a long time — homosexual men are up to four times as likely to have depression than their heterosexual counterparts. This is something of great importance and I’ve always had trouble about how to fit it into the strip. I still haven’t, but I’m laying out the groundwork. I introduced this character a few strips back as just another depressed character because I didn’t want him to be just his sexuality, I wanted people to identify with him first. I hope I did this strip justice, it’s an important issue and I want to bring it to the forefront.
I should also mention this was my grand opportunity to import Kevin Lee from Sexy Losers as a cameo and I missed it. Damn.
I should also mention this was my grand opportunity to import Kevin Lee from Sexy Losers as a cameo and I missed it. Damn.
That’s rough but beautifully done.
Heard far worse things about lgbt people from my father just yesterday. I tried to explain things to him and he started insulting me and said that “maybe I am one because I try to defend them”. I don’t even understand where the hate comes from. And I’m not even sure about my sexuality myself yet. That does’t help :/ At least I don’t have the dilemma about the pride thing because I was never proud about anything I ever done.
Some generations of people we can’t do anything for; they’re stuck in their beliefs and ways of thinking and no amount of convincing is going to do otherwise. The best we can do is to teach the children that they can become a more enlightened and accepting generation. I already believe they are more enlightened, and we have to hold onto that because they will create a future where you don’t need to defend or be ashamed of who you are.
And this is why I will not come out to my family: they would prohibit me from ever seeing my nieces again. The only thing I can hope is that I can be a great aunt who they love and who, once they’re of age, can show them a path other than the hatred they’re growing up surrounded by.
I’m transgender, and I know this feeling, except for trans folks it’s one step forward, two steps back. It’s why I didn’t decide to transition until I was in a very bad place emotionally. My father still doesn’t accept me, but that’s ok. What I thought was depression has evaporated with HRT …I hope. I might be lucky*. Maybe.
*Lucky being a relative term. I’ve become a member of the group fighting the next civil rights battle, but I have a future for the first time in ever. My dysphoria lessened and it doesn’t seem to be any underlying mental health issues in combo with the gender mess. I’m getting better, and having my dysphoria go away completely looks very likely at this point. I don’t know if I’ll always be looking over my shoulder, bracing for the dysphoria or depression to return.
Thank you Clay for creating this comic and sharing it with the world. I’ve lived with so much shame and guilt from self-loathing over my sexuality, ADHD, grief, and constantly beating myself over how I screwed up my life while in survival mode, that I can’t tell if my anxiety and depression are just a natural part of my brain mechanism or if I’ve been self-hating for so long that my brain had wired itself to adjust with the negative persona.
As a lesbian who used to have depression this hits close to home. I live in a completely homophobic family and I’m stuck on having to keep my girlfriend a secret.
As a fellow lesbian I cannot express enough how much I relate to this one comic.