That episode is rightly praised for its wry take on LGBT politics in the shifting landscape of the late ‘90s - it showed us how straights’ gay panic is not merely stupid, but rather passé, and easily overmatched by a little additional life experience. Heel, toe.”Įvery Simpsons fan recalls that in “ Homer’s Phobia,” Homer suspects Bart is gay for a host of trivial reasons related to the influence of a family friend named John (voiced, in a timeless turn, by the national treasure John Waters): He starts wearing Hawaiian shirts, drops sassy phrases like “Homer, you are the living end,” and dances around the living room in a Hairspray-style wig.
And, perhaps, some hints about Bart’s sexual orientation, a characteristic that fascinates because it remains half-formed and necessarily ambiguous. There’s the continued refusal to specify which state the town of Springfield is in, Homer’s repeated false claims that some new ambition has been his “ lifelong dream,” and Ned Flanders’ obscenely well-toned physique, to name but a few. One of the curious side effects of The Simpsons’ maligned longevity - April will mark 30 years since the family’s debut on The Tracey Ullman Show - has been the near-subliminal continuity of a few motifs across those three decades, 10 show-runners and dozens of writers.
