3. Is Bart Gay?
Long before 'There's Something About Marrying', the Simpsons tackled another theme relating to homosexuality with the 1997 episode 'Homer's Phobia'. In this episode, Homer becomes "concerned" that his son, Bart, might be gay after befriending a collector (voiced by John Waters). So worried about his son's sexuality is Homer, that he makes Bart stare at a cigarette billboard featuring scantily-clad women, and even takes him to a steel mill to show him a "manly environment". Unfortunately for Homer, each of these plans are thwarted in some way or other, particularly when the entire workforce at the steel mill reveal themselves as gay. Homer's display of outright negativity to the thought of Bart being gay led to critics slamming the episode. In 2002, writers
Steve Williams and Ian Jones blasted "Homer's Phobia" and named it one of the five worst episodes of The Simpsons, explaining that it "leaves such a nasty taste in the mouth", as Homer is "quite simply a bastard" throughout the course of the episode. The pair concluded by saying "this is a side of the show we'd not seen before, nor particularly wanted to see."