9 Chickweed Lane was created in 1993 by Brooke McEldowney and is one of the few mainstream comic strips to feature a prominent gay character. It's syndicated nationally and its flights of fancy and vivid storylines have earned it a devoted following. Below is an “interview” with the character of Seth Appleby, a gay ballet dancer who shares an apartment with the heroine of the strip, Edda. It can be found on the web at comics.com.

I sat down with Seth at a pastry shop not too far from Seth's apartment, where we were joined by Seth's boyfriend, Mark. After I initially ordered a chocolate éclair, Mark silently scanned me, his gaze lingering a bit on my “Mom thighs.” “You know,” he said, “they make an excellent non-fat fruit torte here. You'd never know it was good for you!” After Seth removed his hands from his face, he turned to me with his huge, compassionate eyes and said, “I think I'll join you in an éclair. It's that kind of day.”

At this point, a very strange man insisted on sitting with us, referring to himself as “Seth's creator” – Brooke McEldowney. I asked if we should have him removed, but Seth nodded to him with an air of reticent familiarity, and Mark gently pointed out that he looked lonely and it was, after all, Manhattan. I noticed that both men edged their seats slightly away as Brooke slumped into his and began eyeing my éclair.

Seth moved to Manhattan from Waco, Texas and is a ballet dancer with a prominent New York company. The interview was to be primarily with him, but Mark interjected a lot, when he wasn't glaring balefully at my éclair. Brooke added strange, random comments from time to time as well.

AfterElton.com: First off, thank you for taking the time to sit down with me.
Seth: My pleasure.

AE: How old were you when you first realized you were gay?
Seth: I think that in some sort of uncodified way I always knew I was gay. I think it was there when I was a little boy, like a fingerprint. I didn't think about it, and didn't express it because it's not the kind of thing you think about expressing. On the whole, I tend to believe most boys up until a certain age – maybe 12 or so – are fundamentally gay. There's a kind of curiosity and general turn of mind that in an adult would definitely be called homosexual. When the fork in the road comes, some of us remain on our course, others take the fork. I think that's how it was for me. (Mark snickers.) Don't mind him.

He always snickers when I say "take the fork." It really irritates me during a serious discussion.

Mark: You're just way too serious. Now this guy... (he points at Brooke McEldowney)...he's a good example of what can happen to you when you take things too seriously.

Seth: I don't think he's had a serious day in his life. He's just kind of...well...pathetic.

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