Gay Characters in Housepets!

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Daniel_Artaxes
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Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Daniel_Artaxes »

So I know Rick has stated on his FA page that he is a Christian and that he does not do any mature art. I wanted to ask as a gay Christian if there is a reason there are not any gay characters in the comic? Is it just something that you haven't considered before? or does it go against your morals? and if there was any possibility of a gay character or couple appearing in the future?

I want to make it clear that I am a fan of the comic and whatever the answers that will not change. I am asking the question because I know for myself, and I think a lot of other gay people, I get more involved/interested in the characters and relationships if I can relate to them and personally I have a hard time relating to straight relationships.

Anyway I was just curious about this and what Ricks thoughts were about it. Thank you for taking the time to read and hopefully reply to my inquires.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by SuperStar »

Well, the Kangaroos are implied to be such, even by Rick Griffin himself, though it's never really stated in comic.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by valerio »

Bruce and Roosevelt the kangaroos are gay and in a relationship.
Nothing is known about other characters that might be.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Dissension »

Bruce and Roosevelt are gay, as has been said by others. There are also a couple of gay K9 officers canoodling during Bailey and King's wedding. You may also note the "God Loves You!" sign with prominent rainbow in the minister's office. The comic doesn't much jump into politics, but homosexuals aren't excluded, either. I don't think focusing overmuch on a character's orientation is necessary or beneficial. LGBT folks are the same as everyone else and emphasizing a character isn't straight or employing lots of stereotypes could serve to make the gay characters seem abnormal and weird.

I think a relationship's a relationship, personally, and don't have trouble relating to people of any gender who are in one.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by SuperStar »

Dissension wrote:Bruce and Roosevelt are gay, as has been said by others. There are also a couple of gay K9 officers canoodling during Bailey and King's wedding. You may also note the "God Loves You!" sign with prominent rainbow in the minister's office. The comic doesn't much jump into politics, but homosexuals aren't excluded, either. I don't think focusing overmuch on a character's orientation is necessary or beneficial. LGBT folks are the same as everyone else and emphasizing a character isn't straight or employing lots of stereotypes could serve to make the gay characters seem abnormal and weird.

I think a relationship's a relationship, personally, and don't have trouble relating to people of any gender who are in one.
Just a thing to note, a sing saying "God Loves You!" with a rainbow doesn't suggest LGBT. The Rainbow is a Biblical sign, which is why it's there in the minister's office.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Daniel_Artaxes »

You're right I completely missed the Kangaroos looking back at the strips with them it does imply they are a couple. I also agree that getting into stereotypes is something to be avoided and that like any other group of people gay people are all different. Rereading the strips with Bruce and Roosevelt I think that Rick actually did an excellent job of portraying a gay relationship, and that is why I missed it originally because it usually is subtle and at first look what you see are really close friends.

I can say though that I would like to see a more prominent gay relationship (I think Zach would be a good candidate) and although I understand what you are saying when it comes to not focusing on being gay, I think my desire comes mainly from a large under representation across all media. There are a lot of LGBT people out there and yet whether it is comics or movies or TV they seem to either not exist or they are the focus of the program (and heavily stereotyped). There are a few exceptions and it is slowly getting better, but there is still a long way to go before it is just seen as normal and appears as such.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by valerio »

functionally to the comic. it would do it a world of harm just 'throwing in' a gay couple. The success of the Kangaroos comes, as you pointed out, by the fact that one strip only showed them in a romantic moment, thus avoiding useless sterotypes and debates.
and it's up to Rick to decide if and when to show other gay characters, not political correctness quota
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Goforit »

Intriguing topic, which has been successful in analyzing available information! To prevent potential abuse, this thread will be locked to future posting, but remain visible to users. Further questions or concerns may be directed via PM to most any staff member. ^^

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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

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I'm unlocking this as a test, because things have changed, outlooks have shifted, folks have accepted what they are and goodness, I think that even though most of the forum users are younger then me, you all are mature enough for this topic to be given a second chance and so, I deem it open.

But if I was wrong and you folks -aren't- mature enough and this topic goes to bad places, I promise you that I've moderated seedy outposts before, devoted to more base, primal desires and Diss is nothing compare to me. So be good folks. OR ELSE
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Ghost Machine »

Since I didn't know the kangaroos' names, I always assumed one was male and the other was female based off of the way they interacted with one another. However, now I know better, and I have to believe that these two characters are gay. Now, I don't really support same sex marriage, but I respect Griffin for having the guts to include a homosexual couple in his comic. He's never been afraid to cover topics of the sensitive type before, and I especially like how he's never in anybody's face about things. He leaves it up to the interpretation of his readers.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Sleet »

I don't think it's really about "bravery" or "sensitive topics." It's just about how some people are gay and there's no good reason to not reflect that in the comic with this many characters, yaknow?
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by JonnyNova »

...I thought Roosevelt was female this whole time.

As someone who is openly bisexual myself, it's always really nice to see same-sex couples represented alongside heterosexual ones. That said, it certainly shouldn't be shoehorned in if it doesn't fit the character or made out to be a bigger deal than it needs to be. I'd say whatever Rick wants to do in terms of characters' orientations is fine with me, but it's really cool to see that this comic had a same-sex couple that I never even noticed.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

Add me to the list of people that thought that Roosevelt was a female at first also. I really don't define people or animals by their sexuality, so they are both fine with me.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Dissension »

Roosevelt isn't a very feminine name...
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by JonnyNova »

Dissension wrote:Roosevelt isn't a very feminine name...
Well to be fair, it's not a very common name either. I've never seen it used as a first name outside of this comic.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by rickgriffin »

I will give people benefit of the doubt, in that I have occasionally chosen deliberately masculine or androgynous names for several female characters
I'm sure the cold hand of science will be able to overcome his magical powers
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

When i first started reading, I didn't bother to check the tags. That is my excuse.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Buster »

The name always made me think of Theodore Roosevelt, ergo, male, as that's literally the only other instance of that name, ever, that I know of.

*shrugs*

Far as I knew the roos were always a gay couple. No problem with that.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by RandomGeekNamedBrent »

Buster wrote:The name always made me think of Theodore Roosevelt
odd that you know him but not the other US president named Roosevelt. but yeah, It never struck me as a feminine name.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Sleet »

When in doubt, check the eyelashes. :p
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Buster »

RandomGeekNamedBrent wrote:
Buster wrote:The name always made me think of Theodore Roosevelt
odd that you know him but not the other US president named Roosevelt. but yeah, It never struck me as a feminine name.
You can blame the Simpsons for that. I wouldn't know anything about the US' political history otherwise. not my country.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by tsMKG »

Sleet wrote:When in doubt, check the eyelashes. :p
Has Grape magically changed his gender?

NO

In the first comics, she didn't had the proper eyelashes
Even there's a joke of it (see the Cat Tail arc)
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Obbl »

tsMKG wrote:
Sleet wrote:When in doubt, check the eyelashes. :p
Has Grape magically changed his gender?

NO

In the first comics, she didn't had the proper eyelashes
Even there's a joke of it (see the Cat Tail arc)
Ahem...
Sleet wrote::p
^Sarcasm/Joke.
Chill. :P
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

I guess you can get away with Grape because with Grape, PLENTY of people didn't know she was a girl.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by ArcWolf »

RandomGeekNamedBrent wrote:
Buster wrote:The name always made me think of Theodore Roosevelt
odd that you know him but not the other US president named Roosevelt. but yeah, It never struck me as a feminine name.
It's usually a last name.
Last names (nowadays) do not refer to gender.


Bruce is a pretty feminine name, though.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

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Except in Iceland!
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

I have never heard of Bruce ever being feminine.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by valerio »

Amazee Dayzee wrote:I have never heard of Bruce ever being feminine.
Same here.
With a leap of imagination, "Bryce" could pass for feminine, but because one wants to.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

Though to be honest, I never heard of Dylan or Ryan as girls names also. In the UK, Leslie and Ashley are male names.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by what »

there's no mention of zach being gay in the comic (especially considering his relationship with the possum), however rick's art page very very heavily implies it http://rickgriffinstudios.com/wp-conten ... -color.jpg http://rickgriffinstudios.com/wp-conten ... maller.jpg http://rickgriffinstudios.com/wp-conten ... lor-sm.jpg

he's started drawing a LOT more les/gay stuff in 2015, so i wouldn't be surprised to so that in housepets! sometime soon.

other than that, there is the kangaroo couple as mentioned before, and i also think there may be a likelihood of joey dating squeak but there's no real evidence towards that. also the implication that both sabrina and grape are bi or open to the idea of being bi in jungle fever.

as a gay dude, id love to see some gay couples in housepets! however i definitely don't want them to be forced or stereotypical.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Dissension »

The pictures you linked are not of Zach.

Joey and Squeak are a straight couple.

Rick's drawn gay characters prior to 2015. They've been in Housepets! since 2008.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by RandomGeekNamedBrent »

what wrote:also the implication that both sabrina and grape are bi or open to the idea of being bi in jungle fever.
pretty sure that was purely for show. Grape did it to get closer to Jata, and Sabrina did it cause Max wanted something in return, Grape was willing to do it for free, and Fido wasn't ready for their relationship to go public.

though personally, Sabrina does seem like the type to maybe be bi. but we likely won't find that out since she's currently in a relationship and Grape's the only character we've seen fawning over crushes while in a serious relationship. and I don't think Rick's gonna go the "seven evil exes" route with Fibrina.
so Sabrina and Grape are canonically straight unless Rick ever specifically says otherwise.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by what »

Dissension wrote:The pictures you linked are not of Zach.

Joey and Squeak are a straight couple.

Rick's drawn gay characters prior to 2015. They've been in Housepets! since 2008.
oh are they not? because the coloring and the species was the same, considering they were all drawn by rick. alright then, i guess.

and is squeak a girl then?
RandomGeekNamedBrent wrote:
what wrote:also the implication that both sabrina and grape are bi or open to the idea of being bi in jungle fever.
pretty sure that was purely for show. Grape did it to get closer to Jata, and Sabrina did it cause Max wanted something in return, Grape was willing to do it for free, and Fido wasn't ready for their relationship to go public.

though personally, Sabrina does seem like the type to maybe be bi. but we likely won't find that out since she's currently in a relationship and Grape's the only character we've seen fawning over crushes while in a serious relationship. and I don't think Rick's gonna go the "seven evil exes" route with Fibrina
oh i didn't say it was canon, or mean that, it was more that grape was fine with pretending to be sabrina's significant other with no issue and that's not something you'd normally see out of the average straight person.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Sleet »

Squeak is a girl, yes.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by RandomGeekNamedBrent »

what wrote:and is squeak a girl then?
yep, as seen in the 2nd and 3rd panel dialogue here
what wrote:it was more that grape was fine with pretending to be sabrina's significant other with no issue and that's not something you'd normally see out of the average straight person.
as I said she was very interested in getting closer to her crush, she was willing to do anything. plus, she wasn't pretending to be herself in a relationship with sabrina, she was pretending to be a guy. I think that's something a fairly androgynous straight person would be willing to do.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Obbl »

what wrote:
Dissension wrote:The pictures you linked are not of Zach.
oh are they not? because the coloring and the species was the same, considering they were all drawn by rick. alright then, i guess.
That is Paris from Rick's Pit Fighter universe.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by what »

Obbl wrote:
what wrote:
Dissension wrote:The pictures you linked are not of Zach.
oh are they not? because the coloring and the species was the same, considering they were all drawn by rick. alright then, i guess.
That is Paris from Rick's Pit Fighter universe.
oh! okay my wrong, they looked almost identical, and the different art style was misleading. alright then.
Sleet wrote:Squeak is a girl, yes.
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https://i.gyazo.com/7a845e2f8b2800cf600 ... d0727f.png

alright i got it now, i was wondering why a dog was named squeak.


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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Bill in OK »

There's another character that I suspect plays for the other team: Other Brother Daryl. OK, I know it's based on stereotypes, but there are a couple of strips which seem to cast doubt his straight bona-fides:

Here where he screams like a little girl:
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And here where he gives Bino a firm rump slap.
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Of course, I may just have an overactive imagination.

By the way, why do I call him "Other Brother Daryl"?
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King looks an awful lot like my own Corgi. That's one reason why he's my favorite, but I also like his attitude.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by RandomGeekNamedBrent »

that first one was likely just for comedic effect, seeing a big tough guy scream like that. the second one I think he actually slapped his back, cause that *kaff* is meant to be Bino coughing in reaction, which I don't think a butt slap would cause. but even if it were, the butt slap is a common thing with Jocks, at least in the U.S.
he may be gay, but there hasn't been any clear indication one way or the other.
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Re: Gay Characters in Housepets!

Post by Amazee Dayzee »

I don't think he is gay. I just think that he hasn't gotten used to the culture of humans yet so he just seems too friendly.
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