Greeting cards are now geared to gays

By Shelly Cohen

BOSTON

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Cropping up among the Peanuts birthday cards and those slick cards with the photo of a man and women walking into the sunset are a new breed of greeting cards catering to a whole new group of consumers: Homosexuals.

The cards are illustrated with charming etchings of a group of young girls at play or two women sharing a secret, or two young men with their arms around each other.

They are all illustrations from 19th-century children's books done at a time before Sigmund Freud would find hidden meanings in those innocent friendships.

"They're so totally unself-conscious," said Janet Cooper, who started the unusual greeting card business. "You wouldn't get a lot of this stuff after Freud."

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The cards are an outgrowth of both her professional training was an assistant professor of library science and children's literature and her own homosexuality.

"It was a way to earn a living without compromising my politics," she said during a recent visit to New England.

And it was in part a protest against the power of the librarians who have in many instances virtual veto power over the children's book publishing business, Ms. Cooper said.

"The minute these women take over, you don't get these stories stories where people touch each other, where children sit on parents' laps and like to," she said.

Ms. Cooper, who prefers that designation, started the business, which she runs from her Lancaster (Pa.) farmhouse, about six months ago.

"When I lost my umpteenth job for being a lesbian, I thought I'd better do something independent," she said.

She had earlier given a lecture before the Gay Academic Union at Fenn State on "Female Crushes, Affections and Friendships in Children's Literature." The lecture was illustrated with slides, showing pictures from those books.

And it was the illustrations that everyone remembered, Ms. Cooper said.

The cards have no greetings inside, but several have captions reprinted from the original book illustrations. One shows two young girls, one whispering, "Let's be intimate friends."

Some gay groups are buying the cards and reselling them as part of their fund-raising efforts, she said. One card has virtually become the official stationery of the Unitarian Gay Caucus and the Baptist Gay Caucus.

The card shows five young girls, three standing in one group and two in another. The caption reads, "Hattie took Emmy Lou aside, 'It's their religion." "

Ms. Cooper said she intends to do a set of Christmas cards by next year, but in the meantime hopes the boxes of notecards will sell as Christmas gifts.

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