We got an email about Thursday's strip that I thought was interesting enough to respond to publicly:

Is that supposed to be funny? Or is it supposed to show the speaker's ignorance? Because it's a very ignorant and offensive statement. I suppose I should have waited until following cartoons to see if you are going somewhere with the comment about transgendered people, but I had the feeling that it was just thrown in for its "humor" content.

I'm not transgendered, but I've known several people who were. They're not a third sex. They're male or female, just in their new bodies. Not the source of a cheap laugh.

It's a common misperception that we are speaking through our characters. Sometimes we do, of course, but if we're doing our jobs right they are speaking with their own voice, from their own perspective. Colleen fears computers, Ned hates governments,... and Mel, bless her heart, is like a one-person committee. The backstory in my head has her up all night arguing with herself over how best not to offend anyone in her hopefully diverse audience, and so she came up with the "members of our valued transgendered community" line. It's awkward and pandering and possibly downright offensive. And that, to me, is what makes it funny. Not a cheap laugh, to my mind, but a nuanced one.