Andy Lippincott is a fictional character in the comic strip ''

Doonesbury ''Doonesbury'' is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States to the title character, ...

''. An attorney, he is the openly homosexual best-friend of Joanie Caucus, one of the core members of the strip's ensemble cast. Although Joanie initially sees Andy as a potential romantic partner, the two become best friends, and she supports him as he navigates the difficulties of

gay culture Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men also identify as queer. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, including '' ...

in the 1980s, including his eventual contraction of

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

and subsequent death from the disease. Andy is significant for a number of reasons in the history of newspaper comics, including being the first openly gay character and the first character to die of AIDS.

Publication history

The character first appears in January 1976, in a law library.

Joanie Caucus Joanie Caucus is a fictional character in Garry Trudeau's comic strip ''Doonesbury''. She first appeared in September 1972 in which she has a fight with her husband, Clinton, over her rights as a woman. She finds that her recently acquired femi ...

becomes attracted to him before Lippincott says he is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. Joanie is heartbroken, and takes some time to recover. Lippincott contributes position papers to Virginia Slade's failed run for

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

in 1976. He disappears from the strip for a few years after this storyline. In 1982, the character reappears as an organizer for the Bay Area Gay Alliance, and contributes to the congressional re-election of

Lacey Davenport Lacey Davenport is a fictional character in Garry Trudeau's comic strip ''Doonesbury''. She is often said to be based on Millicent Fenwick, a Republican member of Congress from New Jersey, although Trudeau has denied this link. She and Dick Daven ...

. In 1989 he returns to the strip again when he is diagnosed with AIDS. Over the course of the next year, Lippincott's battles with the disease, and eventual death from it, helped bring the AIDS crisis into popular culture. Ultimately, he is shown dying to the sound of the

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

' song "

Wouldn't It Be Nice "Wouldn't It Be Nice" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys and the opening track from their 1966 album '' Pet Sounds''. Written by Brian Wilson, Tony Asher, and Mike Love, it is distinguished for its sophisticated Wall of Sound-s ...

", finally fulfilling his wish to hear the (then newly released) CD version of their album ''

Pet Sounds ''Pet Sounds'' is the 11th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on May 16, 1966, by Capitol Records. It was initially met with a lukewarm critical and commercial response in the United States, peaking at number 10 on the ...

''. Shortly thereafter, Andy made posthumous appearances in the strip, making several days of appearances in a self-made video shown during his memorial service. He later appears in the dreams of Joanie and

Mark Slackmeyer Mark Sheldon Slackmeyer is a character in the comic strip ''Doonesbury''. Character biography Mark starts out as a Radicalization, radical at Walden College, and leads several peace rallies (in his first appearance, he referred to himself as "'M ...

, helping the latter come to terms with his own homosexuality.

Significance

This storyline led to more notability for

Garry Trudeau Garretson Beekman Trudeau (born July 21, 1948) is an American cartoonist, best known for creating the '' Doonesbury'' comic strip. Trudeau is also the creator and executive producer of the Amazon Studios political comedy series ''Alpha House'' ...

, but three newspapers of the 900 carrying the strip refused to publish it as being in bad taste. Andy Lippincott may be the only

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...

with a panel on the

AIDS quilt The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, often abbreviated to AIDS Memorial Quilt or AIDS Quilt, is an enormous memorial to celebrate the lives of people who have died of AIDS-related causes. Weighing an estimated 54 tons, it is the largest piece o ...

. The panel (created by G. Scott Austen, Marceo Miranda and Juan-Carlos Castano) reads: "In Loving Memory: Andy Lippincott 1945–1990. Community leader, conservationist, author, Olympic medalist, and winner of the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...

!" The panel hangs in The NAMES Project Foundation's offices in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and was not actually sewn into a block of The AIDS Memorial Quilt.Details on Lippincott's panel for the AIDS quilt from the ''Doonesbury Flashbacks'' computer program by

, published by Mindscape in 1995 ().

Notes

References

Lippincott, Andy Lippincott, Andy Lippincott, Andy Lippincott, Andy Comics characters introduced in 1976 {{comics-char-stub