I have always found honesty to be the best policy, despite the cliche of the statement, and despite the fact that following that policy may be inconvenient at times.

I will be honest here. I don't like homosexuality, but where some of the more opinionated among us believe it to be a sin, I simply believe it to be wrong...simply because it is.

The reason this is an issue of an editorial is because I have noted some anti-Sailor Moon sentiments based on the fact that in the original, there are a number of characters who are in romantic relationships with members of the same sex.

However, there are two ways to handle this. The first is what you are reading now. I don't mean revealing my faults to you and writing this. I mean, you are on my turf, reading my editorial. I am not forcing you to read this, and if you want, you can leave. I am not forcing my opinions on you.

The other method is the method used by the people who have it in their heads that those who don't think like thay do are wrong and the best way to convert them is to be direct about it and tell them so to their face.

So they go to a forum and open a thread and there yell about how Haruka and Michiru are NOT lesbians and how lesbianism is a sin and how Amara and Michelle are cousins, not lovers and whatever else they can think of in the less than a minute it takes to write a three sentence long note. AND THEY GENERALLY DO IT IN ALL CAPS SO THAT THEY MAKE DAMN SURE TO GET ACROSS THE POINT THAT NO MATTER WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT, THEY ARE DAMN MAD ABOUT IT, YOU CAN BE SURE...

The problem with this approach to the issue is not only that it is incredibly rude. However, in making this black vs white argument, they miss the point of Sailor Moon. Above everything else, Sailor Moon is a celebration of love, and how love can triumph over selfishness, greed, and just plain old fashioned evil. It doesn't matter what kind of love it is, and it doesn't matter whether the rest of the world approves of the love...the message is simple. Love...ANY kind of love, comquers all.

There is a counter argument, because there are people on the other side of the fence who see the relationship between Haruka and Michiru as an opportunity to advance gay and lesbianism as an issue. They point to the original, and to Kunzite and Zoisite, and Haruka and Michiru as examples of how the Japanese are so much more open to off-the-wall gender roles than Americans are, and if only we could be so much more like them... They refer to the relationship between Haruka and Michiru as THE Relationship and attach a special meaning to it within the universe that is Sailor Moon. Anyone who disagrees with any part of this is prejudiced, and they need to have their minds examined because they are apparently not enlightened enough to realize the rightness in same-sex relationships and see the beauty in the relationship between Haruka and Michiru.

Before I present my original argument against the above paragrapgh, let me share the newest one. This is an argument that I just came up with, and it has to do with the running joke behind the reason that boys and men have become fans of Sailor Moon.

See, the dirty little secret is that most of the boys and men in the Sailor Moon fan base want to date, marry, and have sex with Sailor Moon, and perhaps not necessarily in that order. They look past the short skirts and the kidsy presentation of the dub and see the girl of their dreams. No matter what other people tell them, their love for this fourteen-year old girl is not diminished.

Now, I hope you all realize that I have just presented an argument for pedophilia love in Sailor Moon. It's a ridiculous argument, and it is an argument about a repulsive kind of person. But I make the argument to show you that there are lines that people simply do not cross because they are simply WRONG. If you want to validate this view, simply ask yourself if Sailor Moon meant pedophilia when she talks about defending love and justice. I think not, yet people who are all in favor of same-sex relationships sometimes push The Relationship on other people as if those people's feelings on the matter aren't worth a hill of beans.

But what if the person being assaulted in this manner thinks of same-sex relationships as most other people feel about pedophilia?

The point I was originally going to make here at the end of this editorial is this... Sailor Moon does not differentiate between one kind of love and another. To her, the defense of love in and of itself is worth the troubles and perils she goes through to make sure people can experience it. The love between friends, a man and a woman, and two people of the same sex are of equal value as far as the fight for love and justice is concerned.

Since some Sailor Moon fans pride themselves in living by what Sailor Moon herself does, perhaps they need to make sure they know what code of conduct they are asking themselves to live under before they take to the Internet with the next batch of venom.

Artemis

(comments welcome - please email me at [email protected] and I will post your comments here as well.)