That Gay Thread

[Rev. Rye]

Watched An Open Secret a last night, and one thing struck me was that Todd Bridges talks about the “Bicycle Man” episode of Different Strokes (despite the documentary focusing more on a different era of pedophiles) and it even includes the scene near the end where Willis says "I never would have guessed that Mr. Horton was...you know...gay." And the cop explains "He's not, Willis. That's the common fallacy about child molesters. They're not gay, they're only interested in little boys or little girls, not adults." And it got me thinking about the modern day: On the one hand, it’s a bit problematic that this is the only time homosexuality is mentioned on the show, and Arnold and Willis seem disgusted by the whole concept.

On the other hand, not only was this message given in 1983, when many states still criminalized gay sex, and I suspect that a majority of people who heard of the burgeoning AIDS pandemic thought the gay men who were disproportionately affected by it were reaping what they supposedly sewed, but disturbingly, almost 40 years later, this assumption has returned to mainstream right-wing “thought.” since apparently any LGBT person who dares to exist within the line of sight of a child is automatically grooming them. Hell, some people believe this so fervently, they’ll go through all the trouble of moving to another state just so he can go to a local school board meeting and call them groomers.