10 Ways The Simpsons Changed The World
4. The Simpsons Was The First Cartoon To Feature Gay Marriage
"The Simpsons did it first" usually refers to it's endless back catalogue of gags, homages and parodies, but it's also a show that has indeed been the first one of its kind to break new ground. This is what happens when your show is built around reacting to the world around you, after all.
One example is that The Simpsons is the first animated show to have an episode centred around gay marriage. This came as part of season 16's There's Something About Marrying in 2005, where in the United States the subject of gay marriage was a hot-button topic. Some states had begun to legalise the practice and it was thus in the mainstream news.
The Simpsons responded by having Springfield welcome the queer community by allowing gay marriage in their town in a bid to drum up tourism. Aunt Patty comes forward as a lesbian, and the episode largely deals with the acceptance of others around this.
The episode itself is pretty terrible, emblematic of the decline of the show after its first ten years by failing to provide many laughs or emotional pathos in a story that is prime for such a thing. Still, it proved that the show was still ahead of the curve.