Marge Simpson Is a Homophobe and a Transphobe
Added 2021-06-24 23:18:50 +0000 UTC“There’s Something About Marrying” (February 20, 2005)
Gayest Episode Ever would not exist without The Simpsons — mostly because we stole Talking Simpsons’ format and applied it to LGBT episodes of classic sitcoms, and Talking Simpsons would not exist without The Simpsons. But cultural and personal importance aside, there comes a time to point out when a thing you love screws up, and this episode — the one that should be about Marge disapproving about Patty marrying a woman but ends up being a nasty little parable about transphobia — is not the series’ best moment, despite promising bits in the first two acts. We’ve brought in both hosts of the Totally Trans podcast — Ada-Rhodes Short and Henry Giardina — to discuss why Marge really sucks and why the episode’s conclusion is hard for some trans folks to watch even today.
Listen to some of Henry and Ada-Rhodes’ favorite episodes of Totally Trans
Watch Drew’s video compilation of every LGBT joke ever on the history of The Simpsons.
Buy Glen’s movie, Being Frank.
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This episode’s outro track is “Summer Time” by Plastic Mode: Apple Music • Spotify
Comments
It’s Drew and I edited it out of the public feed. Basically he was gay and it was an open secret. I resent the fact that he kept his sexuality private because he was very popular with conservative viewers and it would have benefitted gay visibility that this amicable man that nostalgia-focused republicans liked had come out.
Drew Mackie
2024-11-21 18:05:49 +0000 UTCI know it's *very* late, but I'm catching up on episodes. Did Glen ever share his story about Huell Howser somewhere? I'm curious because I used to watch him on PBS
Dave Nelson
2024-11-21 17:17:13 +0000 UTCThis was a very hard listen. The last few minutes of the episode are exactly the kind of humiliating violence that real people openly fantasize about inflicting on us every day. I'd love to see an apology from Al Jean about this but it will of course never come just like it will never come from Seth MacFarlane or Jim Carrey or Trey Parker and Matt Stone or a thousand other writers and media people who correctly identify us as a minority it's OK to shit on.
crystalhearts
2021-06-27 06:00:47 +0000 UTCOoh, timely <i>Dykes to Watch Out For</i> reference! Alison Bechdel's latest, <i>The Secret to Superhuman Strength</i>, just came out, and I've been enjoying it immensely. I've had the commercial music for this episode stuck in my head for a long time. I know you've used it before. What is it?
Seth Aaron Hershman has they she pronouns
2021-06-26 23:31:56 +0000 UTCGreat episode, great guests. Going to listen to this one a second time, and check out "Totally Trans." The Spuds MacKenzie ep honestly sold me.
Kat Heagberg
2021-06-25 23:03:56 +0000 UTCI never saw any of this episode until I saw some clips in Drew's compilation, but everything about the ending is so bafflingly wrong-headed it's kind of hard to know where to begin or what would compel me to sit through the whole of it. The effort to tackle the entire episode even knowing what awaits is appreciated.
SomeBloke
2021-06-25 15:08:17 +0000 UTC
