Okay, I showed my dad a picture of Maserati (
http://mugourth.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24#/d3k57np The giant rat in this drawing) and my dad commented on what a cool character he was. I also told him about his laughing habit, which was caused by a joke told to him when he was young that he never forgets, then my dad comments on it's creativity.
...Then I tell dad the character's gay and everything falls apart. Dad keeps saying it's disgusting and it's stereotyping gays as well as other things. Of coarse I had to tell dad he was thinking about it too much.
1: I was simply using an animal I liked. I personally like rats for many reasons. Mostly because there's always been something about them. They run a sad life. Part of their hate is due to the fact that they spread diseases, when the fact of the matter is is that it's not even their fault. That, and the rats at the pet-shop have horrible lives. More people buy them as Snake Fodder than Pets, which makes me sad. I am not stereotyping gay people just because I'm using a rat. Besides, the lizard's gay too, and most people like lizards.
2: Despite looking kind of scary, Maserati is a very goodhearted character. There are points in his life where he's done good things. In his home town, he's considered a hero due to the fact that he saved many children from a burning school. He also refused to rob a bank after one of his ex-boyfriends told him to. There are other things as well. So even though he's a rat, he's still done many good things in his life. Is it wrong to portray goodhearted gay people as rats?
3: Maserati is married to the lizard, Harley. So WHAT? Let me ask you. What is more gross: Tran-species marriage or Tran-species GAY marriage? Don't tell me, I'm pretty sure the discussion isn't allowed here. But again, he's married to a lizard. So what? This is a fictional world, it's made up. I can pair my characters with whatever I want. More often than not I want to pair my characters up with their own species, but that doesn't mean there aren't going to be breaks in this chain.
4: Dad also says there's no record of animals being gay. Again, it's a fictional world, common real-life sense doesn't apply to a world ruled by several different anthropomorphic creatures. Even if rats aren't gay in real life, that doesn't mean they can't be gay in a fictional world.
5: My sister is gay, and I'm perfectly fine with it. So obviously I'm not stereotyping them if I have nothing against them to begin with. Like I said, my dad's just thinking about it too much.