after reading this offensive bilge, I encourage all to look at Alex Witchel's profile of Gregory Maguire in the 3/11 NYTimes Magazine. Maguire, author of a dozen childrens books, and the novel "Wicked" has adopted 3 children from "third world" countries, as infants. These kids have a magical upbringing, despite the fact they have 2 daddies and some narrow minded bigots shoot dirty looks at them.

I'm aghast at Garrison's blatant sterotyping and homophbia. Boy, did he get this one wrong. Dan Savage said it all in his rebuttal on the Stranger.com's blog (entitled, appropriately enough, fuck Garrison Keillor); I recommend Garrison be forced to read it and respond in order to keep his post at Salon.

Chartreuse, small dogs and striped sofas? That's supposed to be what, funny? It's not--those comments are insulting, demeaning and homophobic. It's like saying black people might be accepted as good parents as long as they turn down the volume on that gangsta rap and stop committing so many crimes, or saying women might be taken more seriously if only they'd start dressing like men, or behaving like men. Note to Keillor: don't confuse Jonathan Adler on "Top Design" with the oh, 1 million or so gay parents in Anytown, USA, who typically wear jeans, khakis, and button-down shirts.

Who in the HELL Is Garrison Keillor to determine what gay men need to do in order to be accepted as parents? I need advice from a twice-divorced, thrice-married idiot like Keillor just because he happens to be straight?! Puh-lease. That'll be the day.

I'm also disappointed in Salon. What tripe!

Sincerely,

Andrew Roth

Not everyone of Keillor's age or those like me who are older grew up in the female mom, male dad family. My own was a female mom, female grandmother family because the father left us to fend for ourselves, a not uncommom occurance. Later there was a step-father, which brought many of the familiar problems along with some solutions to financial probems.

Others were dealing with their lives in the best ways possible; just as they are now.

Children need love and care. So do old people.

That is obvious to me.

when is this time in history when everyone had a yard? there has never been such a historical period ... or a time when everyone had a mom who was female ... and a dad who was male ... my dad's dad abandoned his family during the depression ... my dad didn't have a dad ... and his mom couldn't afford to feed him, so he went to stay at people's house who were not his relatives ... and my mom's dad was an alcoholic ... and her mom raised four kids by herself ... and even if that was true ... that there was a time when there were no gay people who raised kids ... let's assume for a moment that Garrison's warped nostalgia was the truth ... back in the day, some white people had slaves, and there was no such thing as a five day work week, and abortion was illegal ... and jews couldn't work at many jobs because they were jews ... etc. the past is the past ... and there is always a loss and a gain as we move forward. in this case, the loss is that we still have to read opinions like mr. K's ... the gain, our future, is that his is a dying opinion.

...but I do know a sincere apology when I hear or see one, and that one from GK ain't it. He says he wrote his piece as in "the small world" and people read it as in "the larger world" (exactly where he was publishing his piece, I do believe, since people other than entertainers, musicians, and writers read Salon) and now he is sorry for "the misunderstanding." A real apology would have said, "I'm sorry that I offended you" with the onus on the writer. This one says, "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding" which can only mean "I'm sorry that you readers misunderstood" with the onus placed squarely on the reader. Nice try, GK, but it just doesn't fly in my book (mixed metaphors, anyone?).

From the species point of view, the most significant component of an animal (i.e. human) population isn't the children--these can easily be replaced. It's the breeding pairs.

The contemporary (and Romantic) madness of child-worship to which Garrison here so strangely genuflects has nothing whatever to do with science. It would in fact be contrary to nature if nature gave a damn.

Oh this really helps. He trots out the old "I am sorry that people were offended," "some of my best friends are gay," "it was only a joke," and "you people are too senstitive," responses in this non-apology and non-explanation of what he really meant to convey. OK, so it was an a joke, but why this joke? What was the purpose of the joke? Clearly somebody who has made quite a successful career as a humorist knows full well that humor writing is not devoid of meaning...

And, let me tell you Mr. Keillor, I bet many of your queer friends, colleagues that seem to laugh along with you when you trot out your cute little patronizing stereotypes are actually annoyed and offended. They may not let you know, given your very real material power and iconic status you enjoy among the public radio set, but they are. And as someone who also works in the world of culture, I can tell you that anti-queer sentiment an practices still operate, albeit in a less violent and oppressive way (again, your tendency to produce utopias makes you less than the trenchant observer you imagine yourself to be). You are too smart for this kind of Tony Snow non-apology, why not take this opportunity to think about the way you exercise your power and start to build bridges.

... was meant to be funny, another risky thing these days, and two sentences about gay people lit a fire in some readers and sent them racing to their computers to fire off some jagged e-mails.

man, what a douche. He's such a phony, and a coward, with his lame little "oh but I just live in this special little world where everyone recognizes my genius humor" thing. Oh please. He's written about gay marriage before and it hasn't been in a positive light. Garrison, you're just a boring, unfunny old man. You're way behind the times, and no, that's not a compliment.