2011-11-24
Explanation
This comic jokes about the intersection of coming out as gay and fundamentalist Mormon polygamy. A young man is shown saying: "Mom, Dad, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom... I'''m gay." The caption below reads: "Coming out of the closet is a lot harder for fundamentalist mormons."
The humor is straightforward: in fundamentalist Mormon communities that practice polygamy, a man may have many wives. So when this young man needs to address his parents to share important personal news, he has to individually address his one father and his many, many mothers. The long list of "Mom"s turns what is normally a dramatic, emotionally charged moment into something that is awkwardly drawn out and almost comically tedious before he even gets to his announcement.
The votey panel shows one of the fathers responding: "87.5% of us disapprove." This extends the joke in two ways. First, it implies the listener also comes from a polygamous family ("us" rather than "I"), and second, the oddly specific percentage suggests a precise tally has been taken among the many parents, treating what should be a deeply personal family moment like a statistical survey. The fraction 87.5% (or 7 out of 8) humorously implies that exactly one parent out of eight is supportive.