Sprechen sie Lesbisch?

April 7th, 2005

skipper magazine cover
Originally uploaded by Alison Bechdel.

I recently did an interview for a Swiss lesbian magazine called “Skipper.” The interviewer translated my answers from English into German. One of her questions was, “With regard to the re-election of Mr. George W. Bush, I wish to extend my condolences to you and the entire homosexual community in the United States of America. Do you not get nervous and suffer sleepless nights in light of your continual criticism of the Republican Party?”

I answered, “Thank you for your condolences. Thank you, in fact, for letting an American sully the pages of your magazine. I would still rather believe that the election was rigged than that a majority of voters here are idiots, but either possibility is pretty horrifying. Surprisingly, I don’t lose sleep. My comic strip is a very good catharsis for all my anxiety. Without that outlet, I would go start raving mad.”

I just received the issue in the mail, and although I don’t speak German, I could make out enough to tell that she’d deleted my comment about “letting an American sully the pages of your magazine.” Maybe she thought I was joking.