Outsmart Magazine examines how anime relates to the gay and lesbian community.
Outsmart Magazine, a prominant gay and lesbian publication has feature a piece dealing completely with Japanese Anime. The piece covers some of the stigmas associated with anime containing homosexual themes. Here's an excerpt:
Many if not most anime titles are geared for adult audiences with highly sophisticated story lines that can require numerous screenings to get the finer plot points. Nonetheless, many in the U.S. still view anything animated as kids’ stuff. Anime has been gaining an underground cult following in the U.S.; conventions and fan clubs have been sprouting up around the country, not to mention the success of the Houston-based ADV, which has become one of the leading distributors of anime in North America. Still, there’s a stigma that’s been hard to overcome.
"You know what? I think if you say right now, ‘I think I like anime,’ people would look at you funnier than if you said, ‘I’m gay,’" Foster says. "I think they’d say, ‘Okay, you’re gay, but what’s up with the cartoons and comic books?’"
