This column shows an astounding level of self-delusion. What planet is he living on? Or what medication has he been skipping?

This kind of wistful wishing for "The Good Ole Days" requires a misinformed and even dishonest view of the past. Families were never like Garrison says they were. Just read the Bible and see. Moses had his bio-mom (who was also his nanny) and his bio-dad and his adopted-mom and his adopted grandpa. Nevermind the polygamous families of David and Solomon. And was Jesus Christ the son of the God that created Him, or was He the son of the man who loved him and raised him and fed him? Or was He the son of both? Talk about complicated families...

In short, anyone with a high-school history education or a couple of years in Baptist Sunday School can tell you that Garrison is flat-out lying about what families "used to be like". We have always had a diverse mix of family types in this country. Ask Thomas Jefferson and his Brood of Many Colors. Families are complicated. Ask Rudy Giuliani. And gay people couldn't do anything to screw up worse than straight people do every day. Ask Newt Gingrich (married to his third wife) and Ronald Reagan (who didn't speak to some of his kids for decades on end) and Strom Thurmond (who had a Jeffersonian-style family of his own hidden away) and Ted Haggard (what should his kids call their dad's hooker boyfriend and meth dealer?) and... well, you get the idea, right?

There really isn't anything sadder than pining away for a utopian past that never existed. Oh wait, yes, there is... it is a smart man who should know better doing it. Really pathetic, Garrison. Really pathetic.

I will destroy my Garrison Keillor recordings and boycott this writer until he apologizes in public for this awful offensive trash.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but this is pure bigotry, based upon very outdated stereotypes.

On second thought, I don't care if Garrison Keillor does apologize, I just never want to hear his name ever again.

Next I will write to NPR to tell them that I will cancel my donation over this.

I will not support a loud mouth bigot like Garrison Keillor ever again.

Bright guy, with very little common sense or human consideration.

What does Garrison Keillor it must be like to be a child of gay family who reads this garbage?

Shame of you, Garrison Keillor!

Shame on you, Garrison Keillor!

Now please, go away.

I am not surprised Mr. Keillor can fawn over the past when things were homogenious and two-dimensional (images that were sold more than acted out). He was a child during this time, growing up with no idea of what his parents may have gone through between themselves and their daily lives. And of course he felt children were the center - he was a child reliving his view of the experience.

As a parent, my child will always appear to herself as though she is the center but Mr. Keillor would be incorrect in assuming that I do not have my own life - much like his parents did. If things were so perfect when he was young, children would not have been made to walk rather than take the buses in Alabama during the Civil Rights era, women would not have needed to fight for equality and a view that allowed for more than stereotype, and people of color would not have had a paltry choice between poverty and the military for a livelihood that would feed their families - because education wasn't easily available.

And speaking of stereotypes, why did Mr. Keillor decide to horn in on same-sex marriage as an example? Surely the demise of "traditional" views of families and the other examples of what it means to be family (single families, grandparent-led families, blended families) could have also sufficed. Or was Mr. Keillor lazy, resting on a stereotype/cliche of what it means to look/be gay - is it because gays are so funny? I am glad we can amuse you with out outlandish costumes and ways of being. Mr. Keillor should have used this opportunity rather to take a look at his own understanding of the life he grew up in -

Where do his notions of modernity leave us? What part does nostalgia (false, powdered memories) play in this short but time-consuming narrative? Have your nostalgic moment, Mr. Keillor, but talk to your family about it rather than subject all of us.

Here's the email to complain:

phc@mpr.org

To the editor:

I grew up in the upper Midwest and now that I live in California (Berkeley) I appreciate Prairie Home Companion and Mr. Keillor's other artistic and literary pursuits more than ever. His recent essay on Renee Fleming moved me greatly, as I am a soprano, thrilled that the new Met broadcasts to movie theatres are bringing opera to new places and audiences.

My disappointment is this: I might live and work in one of the gayest places on earth and I can tell you that I have never, not once, seen anyone wearing chartreuse pants. The gay couples I know are hard-working, fun-loving, normal, everyday people who, should they desire a family, deserve the same respect and support as any other couple in a committed and loving relationship. My gay friends and colleagues come from everywhere, including the midwest, have served their country in the military, and--in many cases--indeed do remain lovingly committed to each other until death. Without all the legal, financial, and societal benefits of a state-sanctioned marriage, one might add.

Mr. Keillor, I hope most of your readers on Salon.com recognize that your essay contains an outdated stereotype that no more holds true than that of the 1950's-style happy housewife, with all her life's wishes fulfilled by making those boiled potatoes.

This piece is so completely insulting to gay and lesbian parents everywhere - parents who are trying to live their lives and raise their kids without the benefits and securities offered their straight counterpoints. What a slap in the face that somebody so respected and intelligent would further perpetuate damaging stereotypes against gay people. I am highly disappointed and angry, and frankly I'm tired of this type of nonsense not causing so much as a raised eyebrow amongst the general population. That is a shame, and sad reminder of the complacency of the majority in the face of minority oppression.