‘Duck Dynasty’s’ Phil Robertson on Infe Hiat Followg Anti-Gay Remarks – The Hollywood Reporter

Contents:

• DYNASTY’S JOURNEY OM GAY PANIC TO GAY PRI
• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• ‘DUCK DYNASTY’S’ PHIL ROBERTSON ON INFE HIAT FOLLOWG ANTI-GAY REMARKS
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH AND NDNG ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

DYNASTY’S JOURNEY OM GAY PANIC TO GAY PRI

The TV show Dynasty featured a gay in (and her son). But for years, spe the show’s anythg-go nature, there was one thg that Dynasty uldn’t get away wh: showg a happy homosexual.

Puttg a gay man on one of the most inic and popular shows of the was a long, multi-year fight — both on-screen and behd-the-scen — but was nothg pared to the battle took to keep him there. The story of Dynasty’s ntroversial gay son starts back 1979 wh, of all thgs, the oil crisis.

JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

And the son, Steven, who’s hidg his homosexualy om his nservative dad. ” There had seldom been any recurrg gay characters on primetime TV — there was Jody on Soap, a fotten barfly on The Corner Bar, and gut-player Lori Shannon as Beverly LaSalle on All the Fay. Dynasty’s pilot posns Steven ont and center, wh a climactic scene which Blake nonts his son about beg gay.

He mands that Steven “straighten yourself out, ” hurls slurs at him, and sists that Steven never brg homosexualy to the hoe.

JAGUARS ASSISTANT KEV MAXEN IS FIRST MALE NFL ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

There was so much stigma around homosexualy then that for many queer people, was simply easier to acquice and pretend they’d gone straight — pecially around fay.

Over the 1970s, there had been a steady rise gay characters, acpanyg the growg queer liberatn movement. ) But the rise gay visibily on televisn ran to a brick wall late 1980s wh the electn of Ronald Reagan.

There were over a dozen gay characters on TV 1979, but by 1981 there were almost none. He’d appeared on a gay-ish episo of The Love Boat a year earlier, and had lots of ias for where he uld take one of TV’s only gay characters. And then there was Newt Dieter, a gay muny lear who was often sought out by TV producers to vet their scripts.

‘DUCK DYNASTY’S’ PHIL ROBERTSON ON INFE HIAT FOLLOWG ANTI-GAY REMARKS

His job was to make sure Dynasty didn’t ploy any offensive trop; for example, he advoted for a rctn the number of f-slurs, as well as removal of the somewhat ls egreg phrase “gay schmay. So when this pilot fally aired, was wh a lot of liberate work on the part of creators, the producer, the actor, and even a gay muny lear to make sure they got the Steven character right. And bee of the sudn reluctance to put gay characters on TV the wake of Reagan’s electn, Dynasty wound up beg one of the only shows of s time to even attempt a storyle like this.

Dynasty eely showed Steven gettg gay bashed, he jt uldn’t have have a gay kiss. Season 1 ends wh Blake on trial for murr, which provis ample opportuny for him to reerate his homophobia. The show’s settg up a real-life legal tactic known as a “gay panic fense, ” whereby a person argu that they were so upset by the prence of a homosexual that they beme, for legal purpos, temporarily sane, and therefore no longer legally rponsible for their actns.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

A study 2020 found that gay and trans panic fens rulted urts rcg charg 33% of s where was ed. Blake was origally gog to be found not guilty until Newt Dieter tervened, aghast that the show would pict the killg of a gay man as havg zero nsequenc.

JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH AND NDNG ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

Executiv noted that Steven appealed to women viewers, and wanted the producers to end the gay storyl and pair him wh women — sentially they wanted a py of the popular Bo character on CBS’s D of Hazzard. Like this post about gay TV history? Read more: The Story Behd the Gayt Week TV History How Barney Miller’s Gays Defeated ABC’s Network CensorsWhy Do Gays Love The Goln Girls?

Ra Moreno vs Hollywood: The Other Wt Si Story Rumble How M*A*S*H Predicted the Rise and Fall of Don't Ask, Don't Tell What Mak Disney Villas So Gay? The Gay Magic of The Nanny The Straighteng of Chandler Bg How Bewched Went Gay Whout Ever Sayg "Gay". Durg a brief heterosexual experiment, Steven had a baby, and Blake is termed to take ctody — he feels that a gay man n’t possibly raise a child.

That’s where the seeds are planted for the show’s next major gay twist. That year, another Aaron Spellg seri, The Love Boat, featured a gay uple; Kate and Allie troduced a lbian landlady, and even Night Court had a gay episo. This was happeng, part, bee the last few years gay activism had bee much more urgent and visible, particularly around HIV.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

But as queer activism got bigger, lour, and more prent than ever Amerin life, and was gettg harr and harr to rema stuck that old tradn of pretendg homosexualy didn’t exist. A recurrg gay uple on a primetime show was a big al — not gut stars, not sassy bt iends who are only there to support the straight characters’ stori, but two ma characters formg a relatnship as part of the re storyle.

Bee HIV was largely affectg gay men, nservativ saw as an opportuny to ramp up the hostily toward gays. Pat Buchanan, a close Reagan ally, wrote an op-ed, “The poor homosexuals… they have clared war upon nature, and now nature is exactg an awful retributn.