Revisg the first-ever gay episo of The Simpsons • GCN

Contents:

• REVISG THE FIRST-EVER GAY EPISO OF THE SIMPSONS
• THREE GAYS OF THE CONDO
• ‘THE SIMPSONS’ LANDMARK GAY EPISO KEEPS THE FAY

REVISG THE FIRST-EVER GAY EPISO OF THE SIMPSONS

The SimpsonsCast & crewUser reviewsTriviaEpiso aired Feb 16, 1997TV-1423mAfter Marge beiends John, a gay store owner, Homer worri that his prence will have a negative effect on Bart's Marge beiends John, a gay store owner, Homer worri that his prence will have a negative effect on Bart's Marge beiends John, a gay store owner, Homer worri that his prence will have a negative effect on Bart's productn, box office & pany PhotosReview served Emmy Award wner - endlsly re-watchableI had been wag for the Eight Season of The Simpsons to be released on DVD jt to own a good qualy, plete py (i. I liked that Homer's Phobia was ma wh such rmed awarens of the stereotyp which persist of both gay men and of the people who refe to accept them as beg see Homer quickly formg a tstg, affectnate and purely platonic relatnship wh John Waters - only to aggrsively disrd that iendship when he (fally) prehends that John is show is certaly empowerg for viewers - both young and old - who know they are same sex attracted, but also mt be the most entertag, ncise and effective program the history of televisn for lettg the general public know that there is nothg at all to fear about beg 's Phobia is packed wh memorable l - such as "You know me Marge - I like my beer ld, my TV loud and my homo-sexuals FLAMING! Cult in John Waters was the first openly gay character on The Simpsons, and the show's treatment of him signaled a tidal shift Amerin TV.

When a character was referred to as gay, the figure qutn almost always played as tragic or, more often, herently il. The Simpsons mocked almost everythg (except Scientology) s Goln Age, but unlike most ss of the time, the seri didn’t treat s first openly gay character as a walkg joke. Beg gay was, and of self, seen as a punchle even for progrsive televisn of the ‘80s and early ‘90s, and few shows were terted challengg this.

THREE GAYS OF THE CONDO

However, the show was still subject to work censorship and, although the star of Ellen me out as a lbian two months later, “Homer’s Phobia” was one of the first attempts to break down the visible barrier faced by gay characters. While no one explicly stated that any characters were to be stereotyped, was all-but-unheard of for a character like John, who was picted as charmg, lm, and genial, to be gay. The Simpsons rarely ma small-town Sprgfielrs the villas of the story, but this stance, turng Homer to the bad guy led Amerin dienc to intify wh a sweet, likable character who happened to be gay over the regnizable s dad they were ually expected to love and see as herently harmls spe his prejudice.

However, “Homer’s Phobia” picked Waters not bee of his fame but bee his public image reprented the perfect tersectn between all-Amerin manners and the more outre, unfaiar aspects of queer culture, mp, and the gay experience. Castg Waters as a level-head, kd, and unrstandg face of the LGBTQ+ muny allowed The Simpsons to celebrate mp, queer culture, and outsir art whout makg the character himself a stereotype or offensive riture of what was perceived as “gay. In ntrast, anyone unfaiar wh the director’s ovre got a funny, self-pretg look to LGBTQ+ culture a story where beg gay was neher a joke to lghed at, or an odd spectacle to be leered and jeered at.

‘THE SIMPSONS’ LANDMARK GAY EPISO KEEPS THE FAY

Waters had a sense of humor about John and ma him a funny figure whout treatg his gayns self as a joke. The fact that his character The Simpsons was both mp and ol pared to Homer and pany’s “normal” and nrotic reactn to him was one of televisn’s first attempts to see homophobia as the exceptn and not the norm. I danced wh a gay!

However, when Marge tells Homer that John is a homosexual, Homer eaks out and, fearg that his son will emulate John, tak Bart on a misguid journey to make his son heterosexual. When Marge rms Homer that John don't have a wife and is a homosexual, he is horrified.

Bart starts wearg Hawaiian shirts, dancg women's wigs and eatg cupk wh strawberry icg stead of cholate icg; which mak Homer worry that Bart might be gay. Homer tak Bart to a steel l to revel a manly environment; however, the entire workforce is gay, which Homer learns when the steel l turns to a gay dis durg breaks. Bart is nfed until Lisa explas Homer thks that Bart is gay.

"Homer's Phobia" was the show's first episo to revolve entirely around gay them and received a posive cril rponse both for s humor and anti-homophobia msage.

The seri ma several referenc to homosexualy before the episo aired. However, "Homer's Phobia" was the first episo to revolve entirely around homosexual them. Two later episos that explored LGBT issu were "Three Gays of the Condo" and "There's Somethg About Marryg", both of which have been pared unfavorably to this episo, as "Three Gays...

" rorted to offensive stereotyp of homosexual men (to the pot that Harvey Fierste, who origally was supposed to gut star that episo, refed to e back for that episo) and "There's Somethg About Marryg" did a poor job of lampoong same-sex marriage and had unfortunate implitns and stereotyp about the transgenred (even though Patty's fiancee was a man cross-drsg as a woman rather than an actual transman or transwoman).

" In the book Leavg Sprgfield, Matthew Henry praised the episo's criqug of "the most mon misnceptn about homosexualy: namely that gayns is somehow ntag", as well as s other them.