Violent, Homophobic Cartoon in Univ of AZ Newspaper

The above cartoon was published this week in the Daily Wildcat, the University of Arizona’s daily newspaper.  Obviously, in received a lot of attention.  Yesterday, the paper ran an apology that read, in part:

“On Tuesday, the Wildcat staff made a serious error in judgment in printing a cartoon that some readers felt was homophobic and inappropriate.

The views of individual staff members do not represent the views of the Wildcat, nor does the Wildcat reflect the views of the UA. However, printing the cartoon was irresponsible to our readers. We apologize.”

A few things crossed my mind.  First of all, how did this cartoon get in the paper?  I am a big supporter of free speech, but something that condones violence against anyone, especially a child, has no place in a school newspaper.   Secondly, to say that “… some readers felt [the cartoon] was homophobic and inappropriate.”  boggles my mind.  No matter what your views are on gays, a cartoon that has a father joking about killing a gay child cannot, in anyone’s imagination, be anything BUT homophobic.

If you feel as strongly as I do, I urge you to sign the change.org petition asking for consequences for the cartoonist, editor and copy editor.  I don’t know if I think they should be fired, but something more than the half-hearted, non committal apology the paper ran yesterday is certainly in order.  You’ll find a link to the petition here.