Along with the rest of the country, America's ever-vigilant editorial cartoonists were watching the Supreme Court debate on California's Proposition 8 (our Blue State's odd defeat of something on the left of the spectrum), and the Defense of Marriage Act, signed into law by Hero of American Liberalism Bill Clinton in 1996.
Don't ask, don't tell.
Cartoonists are paid to comment on controversial subjects, and we've all (mostly) evolved on same-sex marriage. Not all, of course. I can recall one of our more rightward brethren – a Pulitzer winner, no less – drawing a cartoon as recently as 10 years ago depicting gay soldiers preferring the company of sheep to a company of the corps. Baaaaaad idea, I thought. Privates should keep their private lives private, Private. Another one of my peers, a very amusing and talented fellow, once did a cartoon not long ago wondering whether all marriages were same-sex marriages. Heh.
Now that same-sex marriage seems about as controversial (at least to younger Americans) as regular marriage (and, I am sure, as lucrative to the future same-sex divorce lawyering set), America's cartoonists are wedded to the concept of making fun of the process currently going on in the Supreme Court, where, I wonder, if any of the current justices ever did a stint in family law. Since they all went to either Harvard or Yale, I would guess not – too tawdry for Ivy.
Anyway, I found four of the cartoons that came in a bit more intriguing than the rest, which were, again, all perfectly serviceable and not plowing over each other's metaphors.
Matt Bors got to the crux of the political issue here, which is Congress' penchant for developing political cojones after the polling comes in.
Jim Morin's Founding Fathers discussing the untried nature of the U.S. Constitution rang a liberty bell with me as well.
Scott Stantis, a nicely unpredictable/mostly conservative/but sometimes not cartoonist for the Chicago Tribune, had an amusing couple of lady justice statues blowing air kisses.
Finally, Nick Anderson took a fairly common graph cartoon idea and turned it into a simple arc of the LGBT rainbow. Well-played, and have a nice honeymoon!
Read Jack Ohman's blog at www.sacbee.com/ohman.
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