Last updated on January 3, 2023
Both of these cartoons are by Rob Tornoe. Let me start off by saying I LIKE Rob’s cartoons. Didn’t I just link to him in my blogroll? Seems like a good guy, a successful editorial cartoonist, and blogs with Daryl Cagle on Daryl’s popular editorial site, politicalcartoons.com. He’s a friend on Facebook.
I like his drawing style, and he’s certainly a professional, in many more publications, and for many more years than me! He’s one of the biggies, as far as editorial cartoonists go, and also has his own blog. (Very attractive – love the orange background, with the chocolate brown header! But alas, it’s Blogger. As you know, I seldom follow Blogger sites, because Google has that self-serving ME ME ME bar at the top, and also commenting is so difficult there. Why make it difficult for your commenters, Blogger blogs!?)
I disagree with his politics, however (Okay, almost always disagree) and I was certainly offended by these 2 cartoons. They’re both about gay rights. I think it’s quite possible to write about homosexuality without talking about actual sex, don’t you? I’m pretty sure gays have the same modicum and decorum and sensitivity as straight adults.
He linked to this on Facebook last month:
Did Obama help gay rights? Maybe he didn’t do anything really big, but he wasn’t like Bush, who tried to stop it. And at least President Obama wasn’t as rude and disrespectful as Rob is here, having the office of the President give someone the finger.
The next one is worse, because it’s salacious – oh, hell, it’s ob-scene. I don’t know what No on One is, but Rob does a lot of cartoons for New Jersey, so maybe it was there.
I agree with the original idea, that schools who wouldn’t let their kids watch the President’s speech are moronic. Or, no, I guess the measure is not to hire gays as teachers?? Love the flat colors in this drawing. But…How can you ask people to vote the right way when your own cartoon is so offensive?! Well, Rob is the cartoonist for politicker.com and a bunch of east coast papers, so he probably knows better than me what newspaper editors like…But I don’t think my editors would like this. And I doubt many voters would like this, either, on either side of the issue.
And personally, I’m very glad I didn’t do these cartoons. YMMV. Am I too uptight? I guess you could say they’re just not my cup of tea. :)
Cartoon captions for Google: Mr. President, critics claim you didn’t lift a finger to help promote marriage equality. As you can see, they’re wrong.
If you vote No on One, guess who schools will hire to teach your kids…Hey everyone, I’m big gay Al, and today’s lesson is all about lub-rication! Vote Yes on One, paid for by religious wackos trying to scare you!
I’m gay; I voted for Obama–and I actually LIKE the first cartoon. This is literally what we feel like the Obama administration is doing to us–he promised us “change” and we elected him based on his commitment to equality for all Americans. Is the cartoon shocking and offensive? You betcha. But so is watching the Obama administration straddle the fence on all the promises they made on the campaign trail.
The Big Gay Al cartoon is, unfortunately, absolutely dead-on in depicting the extremes the the far right will go to in order to frighten people about the supposed “gay agenda,” same-sex marriage, etc. My only fear with this one is that some idiot would see it and not realize that it’s a joke. (“See?!? The gays’re gunna teach our kids about loobreecayshun!”)
Well, then, you will really like Rob Tornoe, FUD – he does a lot about this issue.
Can you name a specific promise he made that you are waiting for?
The problem with Rob’s 2nd cartoon is that he isn’t a right cartoonist – he did it to shock, and he’s a leftie. So that doesn’t really hold water. I’ve never seen another cartoon like this in the media, ever, actually.
I think this idiot doesn’t know that Obama defined marriage as between a man and a woman, which stands in direct contradiction to modern gay rights activism.