A few weeks ago, when a mixture of heat and boredom kick-started the gestation of a seed James had planted in my head, I met a girl named Shea. I was in Iowa at Build-a-thon, working on a home for a family of Sudanese Refugees, Shea was one of the construction leaders. We bonded quickly because she was the leader in a small minority of the construction workers whom did not make fun of my Elton John sunglasses. Her hair was a-symmetrical, she had a nose ring and Buddy Holly glasses. I just assumed he was a hipster.
We were talking one day while getting water before climbing rickety ladders to shingle the roof (I was sure she was flirting with me). I noticed that she was wearing a ring on her finger, with the word “slut” engraved atop it. I pointed out the ring and assured her that, though I had known her for such a short time, I disagreed with her jewelry. She placed a gentle hand on my cheek, called me a deer sweet southern boy, and told me that the main thing the two of us had in common was the pursuit of sex. With women.
That night we went to a bar, and I realized that one person group that I loved and, sadly, had not been exposed too much in the Bible Belt, was Lesbians. They are awesome.
In the original JCD, Joey’s room mate was Alex, a character based on me, who never took of his aviator sunglasses. When I rewrote the story of “Oh! Self Righteous Fools!” I replaced Alex’ sunglasses with sleeves of tattoos and that red dot you see everyone wearing in “The Darjeeling Limited.” As I drew up the characters for the web-comic, a few days after getting home from Build-a-thon, I decided to base the room mate on Shea. Like I said, I love lesbians (not pornographically, but socially). Che is a tribute to her, but also to a deep seeded desire I have to gather up gay friends. I think the LGBT society has been terribly under represented in the South (maybe by fear of shot-guns), so that probably has something to do with it.
This is all, most likely, a subconscious rebellion against Bill O’Riely. For our Yankee readers, consider the South one big “no-spin” zone. Incept THAT. Bitches.
I feel like my comic lacks in the ‘gay character’ dept. but it’s nothing if not homo-erotic at times. I’ve always been an LGBT ally, heck the guy who drummed in my band in highschool is now a woman… but from my personal experience, lesbians are the greatest wingmen ever. Just dont go all ‘chasing amy’ on them.
which enrages me suddenly… I love kevin smith and all… but didn’t that movie seem to make a mockery of lesbian sexuality as some sort of ‘phase’ that you could be wooed out of? i mean, persistence is the greatest aphrodisiac next to chloroform… but even the most persistent dude wouldn’t make me question my sexuality.
I’m ranting, aren’t I? *sigh* love the work, keep it up!
Dave, you are so bad ass! Though, I’m going to admit that I have mixed feelings about this post above me. From my experience, it seems like there’s either the token gay character, or the media caters to the gay community, excluding the world outside of it. I think Joss Wedon does it quite well in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, however covert his portrayal of Willow and Terra’s early relationship had to be (to be aired on WB in the `90′s.)
The whole idea behind making Che gay was because I based her of an actual gay person. Her sexuality doesn’t really play much into the plot, though I am sure at some point it will be brought up again. It is just a part of who she is, I really don’t want it to be a plot device.