My first gay friend.

When I was a kid in the early 1970's I watched a lot of cartoons.  There happened to be two pink felines featured on Saturday mornings.
There was The Pink Panther who first appeared in 1963.

The theme song by Mancini was one of the reasons I started playing saxophone.
Here is a video.
The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther didn't talk but he was cool.
Yet even before him was Snagglepuss, a Hanna-Barbera cartoon created in 1959.  He DID talk...a whole lot!

"Heavens to Murgatroid" was one of his catch phrases.

I came across this Video  the other day and suddenly realized that Snagglepuss was probably my first gay friend.

I know it's not right to "out" someone and I find the best policy is generally NOT to assume anything about someone's sexuality.

Just like when I see a woman that looks like this...

I don't say a damn word about it. If they want to bring it up I'm cool with it but usually I keep my mouth shut.
But since we are discussing cartoon characters I feel safe saying Snagglepuss was modeled after a gay character.
Now, I don't know that the pink panther is straight.  I'm a little fuzzy on the finer points of cartoon sexuality. I do know that as a child I had a crush on Daphne from Scooby Doo. I don't suppose it hurts that she wears purple and gold.

Snagglepuss was simply funny to me and I liked him.

It must be said that gay comes in ALL different ways. I personally know some very tough and masculine gay men and Snagglepuss was cartoonish, literally. (That prior sentence contains the legitimate use of the word literally.)  He sure talked a lot more than the pink panther and I liked him for it.

Mostly, I don't think about people's sexuality. It doesn't matter to me. How one treats another, the words they use and the actions they choose do.