Lynn Johnston on the reader response to the Lawrence "coming out" storyline

TOM HEINTJES: How is your mail running, now that a large part of sequence has run?
LYNN JOHNSTON: At this point, it's overwhelmingly supportive. The negative letters have been very angry or very religious. One very fine letter came in from a very religious lady who told me that I was misguided, and that with love and understanding, she wanted me to know that. She hoped I'd find peace in Jesus. I thought that was a wonderful letter. I really appreciate this lady, because she was still loving and kind and accepting of me, no matter what my beliefs were, and that to me was wonderfully valid. But then you get letters from people who say, "Do you realize that all serial killers are homosexual?" One hysterically funny letter came from a man who was in his 60s, and he began by explaining what an upright, Christian man he is, and that he doesn't believe in a debauched lifestyle, and if I only knew what these people did to each other, I would be so disgusted and repelled that I would never consider socializing with them. And he added that what they did was so horrific that he didn't want to even think about it, and then he followed it with four pages of detailed descriptions! I've gotten very few letters from people who are gay. I think the people who will be particularly affected by this story are waiting until it's over before they say whether or not it was good. For the most part, I'm hearing from families, psychiatrists, doctors, teachers, very open-minded people who are saying, "Good ー- we have left this in a closet for far too long, and it's time we allowed people a life." And I've gotten letters of support from people of all ages. There are teachers who are going over this a day at a time with their students, with the approval of the students' parents. They're writing and phoning to tell me that it's an educational tool. One letter was from a mother who said that because of the strip, her son had the courage to tell her that he was a homosexual, and because of the strip, she had the courage to handle it well. I also got a letter from a woman in Edmonton who said that if the strip had run last year, perhaps her son would still be alive, because then he would know that he was not the only one in the world with this problem. It's that kind of response that makes me think it's been worth the rollercoaster ride it's put me on. It would be so much easier not to make a statement, not to tell a story, to continue to be that yellowing page on the refrigerator.