South Park - Good To The Gay Community

In college, I have to admit that I was one of the folks who loathed South Park. I found the crass humor of the show to be too much. But after coming out of the closet and actually watching the show, I found that not only was the show relevant in that it satirizes modern culture, it also features a number of gay characters who for all their craziness and silliness are not all that bad. I want to explore five of the episodes that dealt with the GLBT community, and why I think that they are good to the gay community.

Season One - "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride"



In the fourth episode of season one, Stan Marsh discovers that his dog, Sparky, is gay when he catches Sparky humping other male dogs around the town of South Park. Stan is teased mecilessly by the school bullies for having a gay dog, and is even told by Mr Garrison (who we late discover is a closet homosexual) that gay people are evil. Stan then desperately tries to make Sparky less gay, even ordering him a fancy female poodle with a rhinestone collar, only to have Spary steal the collar and wear it. Stan explodes at Sparky, telling him he does not want a gay dog, at which point Sparky runs away. Stan later finds him at Big Gay Al's animal sanctuary, where at first he attempts to take Sparky home to make him more straight, at which point Sparky becomes upset. After speaking with Big Gay Al, Stan accepts Sparky's homosexuality, and even gives a speech after scoring a winning touchdown about how homosexuality is ok.

This show was not only nominated for an Emmy, but also a GLAAD award. It shows that acceptance of people of differing sexual orientation is okay, and that its not right to attempt to change them. Strange as it may seem, parents of gay children may want to watch this episode for a cue as to how to react to their child coming out.

Season Thirteen - "The F Word"



In this episode, Eric Cartman sets off a wave when he calls the local Harley riders fags for wanting attention and being very loud. The Harley riders are outraged and just become louder. As a result, all the kids in town start calling the Harley riders fags. In order to get the Harley riders out of town, the kids start painting the phrase "Fags get out!" all over the town. Mr Slave and Big Gay Al are at first horrified by the signs, but when they find out who they pertain too, they put their support firmly behind the boys. The town of South Park brings the dictionary people to change the word, at which point the Harley riders attack. The gay residents come to the rescue of the boys, telling the Harley riders to get out of town, at which point the Harley Riders accept they are fags.

The thing that I really enjoyed about this episode was that when the kids were reprimanded for using the word "fag" and the adults thought that they were saying it in reference to gay people, the kids were horrified that the adults thought that and accused them of being homophobes. I also loved the scene where all the gay people in South Park got together and decided to support the boys in changing the word "fag" to mean annoying bikers rather then gay people.

Season Eleven - "D-Yikes!"



This episode was done as a spoof of the movie "300", and revolved around Mrs. Garrison, after her sex change operation. Sick of men, she meets a woman at Curves one day while working out. The woman, Allison, invites Mrs. Garrison out, and she agrees, only to find that its a lesbian bar. At first, Mrs. Garrison is horrified and says she is not a lesbian, but when she kisses Allison, they end up "scissoring" all night long. When Persians attempt to take over the bar, Les Bos, Mrs. Garrison stands up to the Persians, driving them from the bar. The Persian's leader, Xerxes, comes to Les Bos, where Mrs. Garrison reveals she knows that Xerxes is really a Persian lesbian, evidenced by a photo obtained from Curves by some Mexicans posing as Persians. They proceed to "scissor" and Les Bos is saved.

I love that an episode on South Park was finally devoted to the lesbian community. It was also good to see that the lesbian members of the bar, under the leadership of Mrs. Garrison, were able to stand up againt the Persians and keep the bar from being turned into a bar for Persians.

Season Seven - "South Park Is Gay!"



In light of the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy show, all the male residents of South Park have become metrosexual. At first Kyle resists, but gives in when Stan, Eric, and Kenny give him a makeover. At first Gerald, Kyle's father, is horrified to see his son acting this way, but submits to the metrosexual fad later on after being encouraged by his friends to do so. After many trips to the mall and jokes about conditioner later, Kyle decides to go kill the Queer Eye guys, as does Mr Garrison who is sick of not being able to find anyone in town who is actually gay and who will pound Mr. Slave's tight ass. They arrive in New York and discover that the Queer Eye guys are really crab people intent on making all the men of the world effeminate and not willing to fight. When Kyle and Mr Garrison fail to stop them, all seems lost until the women of South Park break into NBC headquarters and beat the Queer Eye guys to death, at which point the NBC producers decide to bring back the Hispanic programming, at which all the men in South Park become stereotypically Hispanic.

This episode is possibly one of my favorite South Park episodes. I loved that the whole town turned metrosexual, and the idea of a metrosexual pride rally was so funny. When you see the boys in school all dressed up as metrosexual, it is very hillarious. Another hillarious moment is when Eric insists he is a quarter bisexual, because his grandfather was bi.

The South Park Movie, South Park Season Four



In the South Park movie and two episodes of Season Four, Satan is involved in a homosexual relationship first with Sadaam Hussein in the South Park movie, in which Sadaam treats Satan like his slave. At the end of the South Park movie, Sadaam is impaled on a piece of rock, and supposedly dies. During the time between the movie and the season four episode "Do The Handicapped Go To Hell?", Satan begins dating and moves in with a guy named Chris, a "vegan pussy", according to Sadaam. When Sadaam shows up at the door to their apartment, Satan refuses to let him in, saying he is happy now. Sadaam leaves, but is invited to dinner behind Satan's back by Chris. Satan is not happy, and when Sadaam comes to dinner, he tries everything he can to kill Chris. At the end of dinner, Sadaam gives Satan the key to his hotel room. Satan goes to the hotel room to give Sadaam the key back, but instead Sadaam gets him drunk. The next day, Satan wakes up in bed with Sadaam after a rowdy night of sex. He goes to Chris, but instead of Chris getting mad, he said he understood. Chris asks Sadaam to go for a walk, where they both attack and kill each other. In the interim, Satan talks to God, who tells him to stop being a wuss and just pick one or the other. Satan instead decides to not date either of them, and breaks up with both of them.

Another hilarious set of episodes and a movie. While not a healthy relationship shown, it was funny to see.

Switiching Roles: The Transgendered Hindu Gods

Hinduism is considered to be one of the oldest religions in the world. It can trace its roots as far back as 5000 BC and before. It is the most widely practiced religion in Southern Asia, and estimates today place worshippers in the millions. Worshippers pay homage to a large number of deities, known as devas, who make up the Hindu pantheon.

In addition to Hinduism having a large number of devas, the number of entities is made larger by that fact that each deva has a certain number of avatars, beings that represent different aspects of a deva. A deva is able to take on the form of an avatar at will, which grants the deva different powers and a different personality. In some cases, the deva will perform a gender switch as part of the avatar switch.

Vishnu is probably the most well known of all the Hindu devas. He is easily recongizable in paintings from his blue skin. He is also one of a trinity of gods considered to be the most supreme, which includes Brahma, the creator, and Shiva, the destroyer. Vishnu has many avatars, including a fish, a boar, and the epic heroes, Rama and Krishna. But in one of his avatars, he takes on the form of a woman.



As this avatar, Vishnu takes on the name Mohini (pictured above in a temple carving). Mohini is an enchantress and a femme fatale. She attempts to seduce the creator god Brahma, who turns her away. Legend says that she seduced and charmed several demons in order to enter a cave and achieve an artifact known as the Amarita, or the pot of immortality. She is also a well known demon slayer, having killed many after seducing them.



The most stunning myth regarding Mohini involves the god Shiva. One day, while Vishnu is visiting Shiva, Shiva implores Vishnu to become Mohini, so he can see for herself her great beauty. At first, Vishnu is reluctant, but after much cajolling, relents and transforms into Mohini. At first sight, Shiva instantly becomes aroused, and then has sexual relations with Mohini. The most shocking aspect is that in the middle of having sex, Mohini becomes Vishnu, but the two gods continue to have sexual relations. The result is the birth of a son, Shasta, by Mohini, a portait of whom is shown below. It bears mentioning that Shiva and Vishnu did not take an active part in the child's upbringing, but rather had him adopted by a Hindu king.



Later, in his Avatar form as Krishna, Vishnu again takes on the form of Mohini, this time to wed a demon ruler named Aravan, who is going to be sacrificed to the Hindu goddess of death, Kali. Aravan has three wishes he can receive, and one of them is to be married before he dies. Mohini then marries him, and the next day when Aravan dies, she wails and weeps at his funeral, like a true wife, before returning to the form of Krishna. Today, this story is retold through the actions of Aravanis, transgendered men who become the brides of Aravan and mourn his death.

It is interesting to note that Mohini is one of the most popular Avatars of Vishnu. So much so that on certain feast days in India, worshippers will take it upon themselves to dress up the male form of Vishnu in female clothing, to worship him as Mohini.



Another member of the Hindu trinity of head devas is Shiva, the destroyer. He is possibly next to Vishnu the most popular Hindu deva, and has worshippers all over the globe. One of Shiva's avatars is named Ardhanari, and is portrayed as being a half man, half woman split down the middle, as seen in the temple carving above. The purpose of this Hindu avatar of Shiva is to show that the female and male aspects of God can never be divided, but are always together.



A deva named Surya was considered to be the ancient Hindu god of the sun, shown above. A story goes that one day, Surya in his avatar guise as Aruna, god of dawn, was spying upon the Earth. While doing so, he noticed that a festival was occurring, one which contained a large number of beautiful women. However, only women could enter this festival. In order to do so, Aruna became a beautiful woman, who descended to Earth and went to the festival. During the course of it, Aruna had lesbian relations with two women, and each woman became pregnant with a child as a result of the union



It is important to note that tales of men becoming women are not limited to the devas. One of Hinduism and India's most prominent heroes, Arjuna (a statue of whom is shown above), was transformed into a member of a third sex that was neither male nor female. The legend goes that for a time, Arjuna was sent from his kingdom into exile. During his travels, he came across a wood nymph Urvashi, who upon seeing the handsome warrior king wanted to make love to him. But Arjuna refused. In an act of revenge, Urvashi turned him into a member of the third gender, known as a kliba, that was neither male nor female. Arjuna despaired at first, but Vishnu descended to Earth and told Arjuna that this would serve him well as a disguise until his last year of exile was finished. Taking the name of Brinnhala, Arjuna went to a far away kingdom and for the last year of his exile taught the princess of that kingdom and her maids to dance. Upon completion of the year, he became a man again.

These stories of transgenderism are accepted and beloved tales of Hindu worshippers. In some ways, it could be argued that Hinduism is far ahead of the western world's Christinaity, Islam, and Judaism. Hindus accept the idea of God as man and woman, mother and father. In some cases, they even view God as genderless. It is to Hinduism's credit that these legends did not die as a result of the British colonial Era and years of occupation by the Western world. There is something to learn in this, not only a lesson of acceptance, but also a lesson of faith.