Dear Evan Hansen: Is Evan Hansen gay?

Contents:

• DID YOU THK EVAN HANSEN WAS GAY? YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
• WHY DID PEOPLE THK DEAR EVAN HANSEN WAS A GAY MIL?
• EW TALKS YA: REVIEWS OF A BTERSWEET GAY ROM-, THE DEAR EVAN HANSEN NOVEL, AND MORE

DID YOU THK EVAN HANSEN WAS GAY? YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

) Search the terms “Evan Hansen gay. You’ll fd no shortage of people the procs of disverg, as the Broadway mil–turned–major motn picture heads for theaters everywhere on Friday, that Dear Evan Hansen is not a queer story—that the tular Evan Hansen is not some sad, gay kid gettg bullied and ridg out high school the bathroom at lunch. Yet this pervasive notn, that Evan is gay, lgers on, years sce the Broadway blockbter’s but.

The entire plot hg on the dience buyg to the ia that he is anx and weird but not gay. Baked to the song are both homophobic unrton and the lgerg notn that perhaps Connor and Evan doth prott too much.

WHY DID PEOPLE THK DEAR EVAN HANSEN WAS A GAY MIL?

There are supposed jok about how life whout Connor was “rough” or “hard, ” and the even more blatantly homoerotic le, “Our iendship go beyond/ Your average kd of bond/ But not bee we’re gay/ No, not bee we’re gay/ We’re close but not that way/ The only man that I love is my dad.

EW TALKS YA: REVIEWS OF A BTERSWEET GAY ROM-, THE DEAR EVAN HANSEN NOVEL, AND MORE

” It’s also worth notg the role of Evan Hansen has been played by a strg of out gay actors. ) Which is not at all to suggt gay actors n’t play straight, but this public knowledge and stg pattern certaly do ltle to shape the narrative away om the ia that “this is a gay story.

But ’s unfair to say that to watch Dear Evan Hansen and fd gay subtext is like readg tea leav for a hidn sign. Makg Connor nonilly queer only nfirms what so many fans and crics of the show knew herently, and what a zilln other people on Twter felt about the show whout really ever engagg wh the material beyond the surface: Dear Evan Hansen is, ep down, as gay a story as they e.

“The gay inty—you’re livg a world where the world is basilly tellg you that you’re not enough. ” Dear Evan Hansen traffics gay stereotyp and experienc, g them for s own benef to make Evan as othered om his classmat as possible (as othered as a whe man ever n be, that is). LGBTQ fans are wele to fd themselv him, while ternalized homophobia keeps the verse suatn, a straight dience member relatg to a gay character, om beg a realy the show nsirs.

All that we’re left wh are clichéd trop and close, vented, fely not gay male iendships. No wonr people thk Evan Hansen is gay, no matter how hard the mil might try to stop them om dog so.

So why was there an ia that Dear Evan Hansen was about a gay kid?

He mak a lot of jok about there beg a secret gay relatnship between Evan and Connor.

That is pretty much as “gay” as gets.

Evan beg seen as gay seems to have more to do wh how— 2016, when the show opened on Broadway—a lot of gay media had teenagers beg the subject of bullyg. Evan’s role as the “other” for his mental health and anxiety seemed to make those who’d never really seen the show thk he was gay.

It don’t help that the bt-known song the mil, “Wavg Through a Wdow, ” sounds very much like a gay “I Want” song. Not to mentn the hashtag for the show #youwillbefound sounds jt really gay.

"So many people wikipedia-g Dear Evan Hansen today and so many people fdg out 's not a mil about a gay kid who broke his arm lol, " tweeted Vox wrer Alex Abads.

For those who haven't seen the Broadway productn and have only the play to gui them, makg the assumpt that Dear Evan Hansen was about a gay teen who was gog through about of prsn and broke his arm seems easy enough.

There's even a song where Evan sgs about how he and Conner, the other boy, weren't gay. "Our iendship go beyond/Your average kd of bond/But not bee we're gay/We're close, but not that way, " they sg the song "Scerely, Me.