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Keillor has been married three times:

* To Mary Guntzel, from 1965 to 1976. The couple has one son, Jason, born in 1969.

* To Ulla Skaerved (a former exchange student from Denmark whom he famously re-encountered at a high school reunion), from 1985 to 1990. Keillor is mildly notorious for having dumped his long-time lover and PHC producer Margaret Moos to marry Ulla. The marriage failed when Keillor had an affair with his Danish language teacher.

* His current wife, violinist Jenny Lind Nilsson (b. 1958), from his hometown of Anoka,whom he married in 1995. They have one daughter, Maia, born in 1998.

(courtesy of wikipedia)

I'm a native St. Paulite, and trust me, we don't find this self-appointed Cultural Godfather of our town to be nearly as amusing as the rest of the country apparently does.

I would have expected more from Garrison....something other than the stereotypical rant about gay marriage. For some reason I always thought that Garrison would be different.....open-minded, and tolerant I guess.

Sad. I feel betrayed by a man that I grew up listening to......

Garrison Keillor seems to be morphing into Andy Rooney--the prevailing tone of this piece is sour, petty, and mean-spirited. Being a curmudgeon is easier, apparently, than coping with modern social realities in a realistic, sympathetic way. I had always thought that Mr. Keillor was broad-minded and cosmopolitan in his sympathies. How sad to discover that he is not.

TF

Wow- I actually blinked hard a few times while reading this article to make sure I wasn't dreaming. How could someone who is seeminly so progressive write something so blatantly prejudiced?

Clearly the institue of het marriage didn't do much for Garrison as he's been married multiple times. Where does he get off critiquing anyone's marriage- gay or straight?

In the end, let's just hope that parents (gay and straight) love their children and that children feel their support. Whether someone's name is hyphenated or has more than one mom or dad shouldn't be the issue here.

Garrison: Get a clue!

Well, that was offensive.

When children are raised in the forefront, the grow up to write rather inaccurate recollections of a past that never was--at best. At worst, they express their unilateralism through something more deadly than an online magazine.

There was a world that GK pines about, where life was simpler and unconfused by rampant selfishness and PC nonsense. Like it or not. Guaranteed that virtually all of the comment writers above who took offense at GK's words were born after 1970 and yet they speak as if the world began when they came of age. Calling him anti-gay, etc. for his real-world observations is exactly the situation that he - and most older Americans - bemoan. Of course, today, elders mean nothing to GenX'ers, just as their kids are nothing more than props in their lives. Someday, you, too, will get old.

Hank Hill, you are pining for a day when many people were second class citizens. You pine for a day when many people were denied jobs or education or housing or simply the opportunity to be regarded as equals and worthy of respect. You pine for a day when all those people -- and yes, I'm talking about anyone who wasn't white and male and Christian -- were expected to accept their second class status and smile politely when they were referred to by slurs.

It has been a confusing time since the great civil right movements of the 1950's and on. Undoing centuries of the status quo is bound to be messy, and it will get messier still as society struggles towards full equality and respect for all living beings. No doubt some good things were thrown out along with all the bad, though I doubt they are irretrievable and will, if people value them, become prevalent again.

You will probably disagree, but the rampant commercialism which produces so much vulgarity nowadays is the logical result of unfettered capitalism and the rightwing politicians who cheer it on. That, and not civil rights or "PC," is what is tearing apart communities and distorting values.

Your last point on parents and children is poignant. I'm sorry you are in the postion you're in, but you are wrong to assume it's a universal problem.

What a ridiculous argument. What evidence, exactly, is there that there was any such thing as an "old monogamous system" at all? Just because people claimed they were monogamous in Keillor's "good ole days" doesn't mean they actually were. Indeed, it seems that Mr. Keillor himself has been MARRIED THREE TIMES! Hypocrisy, anyone?

Gee, I grew up in a "mixed-gender" family, too, as if that's some bloody exclusive club, you Woebegone s.o.b. I am so happy your childhood with your never-separated-til-death parents was so wonderful that you only turned out to be a narrowminded bigot, forever stuck in a fusty, faux-nostaligia America, circa 1912, bitch. Of course we all know that every last heterosexual person, up to including John Couey, are just paragons of goodness, virtuosity, morality, and taste. Not a striped sofa to be seen for miles! And just look at how well our nation's been running on the input of ignorant hypocrites like you for the last 7 years. Garrison (and isn't *that* a q-u-e-e-r kinda name), you really need to meet this Coulter person everyone's talking about - she seems like a woman who'd be right up your exclusionary alley, a woman to entice you once again to leave your wife and have an affair, as you did with your Danish teacher during your second marriage. (Yes, Mr Woebegone is on his 3rd one now, this arbiter of morality.) Bob Altman spins in his grave for you. In chartreuse pants. On a striped sofa.

It must be nice to be able to stereotype and entire lifestyle based on limited esposure, and personal ideas. Especially when one already has problems of his own (three different kids, with three different women). Possibly a little hypocritical? I think so! I highly doubt that the children at this school are "better for having met this man". Give me a quarter-million dollars and I could prove it, I'm sure. Practice what you preach!!~