History Main / GayAesop

** In ''[[Recap/SouthParkS19E6TweekXCraig Tweek x Craig]]'', a yaoi-loving troupe of Asian students pair up Craig and Tweek. Most of the town love their new gay couple because it makes them look open-minded and tolerant (never mind that both boys are pretty surprised and distressed by the whole thing). Craig's dad concludes that the Japanese simply decide who will be gay, and accordingly tells Craig that he doesn't love him any less. Afterward, Tweek and Craig pair up for real.

** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E18QuagmiresDad Quagmire's Dad]]", Quagmire's dad transitions into a woman. Despite a few flickering moments of sympathy for her (and [[WordOfGod MacFarlane saying it was gonna be awesome for trans individuals]]), other characters frequently refer to Quagmire Sr. as "it", and Brian vomits like a fire hydrant upon learning that he had sex with a former man. [[http://glaadblog.org/2010/05/10/glaad-shares-community-concerns-about-last-nights-family-guy/ GLAAD and many other LGBT groups were extremely unhappy with them about this one]].

* Subverted in ''Theatre/AltarBoyz' ', where Mark comes out...as a Catholic.

* The message of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYj2dWFNtpw this video]] for the Jefferson Airplane version of David Crosby's "Triad" is that it's OK for a guy to participate in an [[GuyOnGuyIsHot MMF bisexual]] [[AThreesomeIsHot threesome]].
** David Crosby's original song was about a man who wants to be with two ''women''. Crosby is open about the fact that having two wives or girlfriends has always felt right to him.

* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' gives us this story when Al and Peg meet Marcy's [[ActingForTwo identical cousin]] Mandy, who comes out as a lesbian. Ironically, the only person who acts homophobic towards her is Peggy, a character trait that came out of nowhere, though she warms up at the very end. Mandy was an AuthorAvatar of actress Amanda Bearse, who had become an executive producer of the show and was coming out of the closet herself. Unfortunately, Marcy's cousin was never able to come back to visit because there were only [[ScrewedByTheNetwork 4 episodes left in the series]]. There was a [[{{Pun}} Gaysop]] episode much earlier in the show's run (in the 5th season) where a gay guy played by Creator/DanCastellaneta was afraid that Peggy was stealing his husband. Al learned tolerance very quickly, because [[ThroughHisStomach the gay guy liked to cook when he was worried]].

* Averted on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. When Willow came out, the episode was more about her having to choose between her old love interest, Oz, and her new love interest, Tara, and the former's jealousy of the latter. The episode would still be mostly the same had both characters been male. Though, in earlier episodes, Willow hid the full extent of her relationship with Tara for a time, fearing her friends' reaction. [[StealthPun Played straight]] with a later episode with Tara's family visiting, and hoCreator/rribly mistreating her due to her in-born magical talents that they feel she should repress.

* ''Series/AllInTheFamily'''s Archie was just sure that Mike and Gloria's new friend was a "fruit" but later found out it was his own [[StraightGay ex-jock buddy who was gay]] (the episode ends with him still having his doubts, however. After all, a "fruit" can't hit that hard... right?). The actor who played Archie, Carroll O'Connor, [[MeanCharacterNiceActor was an advocate of Gay Rights]] in RealLife. The only thing that disappointed him more than receiving hate mail from people who disliked his character's homophobia was receiving ''[[FanDumb fan]] [[MisaimedFandom mail]]'' from people who agreed with it.
* ''Series/{{Wings}}'': Roy's son, played by guest star Abraham Benrubi.
* Averted on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. When Willow came out, the episode was more about her having to choose between her old love interest, Oz, and her new love interest, Tara, and the former's jealousy of the latter. The episode would still be mostly the same had both characters been male. Though, in earlier episodes, Willow hid the full extent of her relationship with Tara for a time, fearing her friends' reaction. [[StealthPun Played straight]] with a later episode with Tara's family visiting, and horribly mistreating her due to her in-born magical talents that they feel she should repress.

* Creator/TheodoreSturgeon's controversial 1953 short story ''Literature/TheWorldWellLost'' is about a pair of fugitive alien lovers ("loverbirds") from the planet Dirbanu. The main characters later learn that both of the aliens are male, and that this was the exact reason for their exile. [[spoiler:In a second, more poignant twist, it's ''heavily'' implied, if not outright stated, that the narrator has [[UnrequitedLove similar feelings]] for his partner.]] This has been milked for all it's worth by SlashFic fans of HoYay/StarTrek, for which Sturgeon wrote two episodes.

* ''Blog/LimyaaelsFantasyRants'': In point 7 of her rant on [[https://limyaael.livejournal.com/214314.html gay and lesbian characters]], she advises against writing "gay message fantasy", largely because it's frequently quite heavy-handed. She feels this increases the distance between LGBT and straight characters mostly, with a better way being to simply portray them as people like everyone else, not focusing too much on their sexual orientations or having problems so much about that. She admits however that Creator/MercedesLackey (who's criticized for this in her rant) was progressive to write pro-LGBT stories ''at all'' in the 1980s/early 1990s.

* In ''[[Literature/{{Stardoc}} Beyond Varallan]]'', we are informed that [[UnfortunateImplications the very idea of homosexuality]] is rather [[IncrediblyLamePun alien]] to [[ProudWarriorRace Jorenians]]. Then, in ''Plague of Memory'', the Jorenian warrior Qonja and [[WingedHumanoid Taercal]] [[HalfHumanHybrid 'breed]] Hawk—both of whom are dudes—[[InterspeciesRomance fall for each other]]. Turns out that [[AuthorsSavingThrow it's not that there are no gay Jorenians; it's that there's a disturbingly bigoted streak]] to their [[SuperiorSpecies otherwise quite exemplary culture]]. [[spoiler:This is made ''especially'' clear when [[IHaveNoSon Qonja is repudiated by his clan]] when he and Hawk basically elope.]]

* Creator/TheodoreSturgeon's controversial 1953 short story "The World Well Lost" is about a pair of fugitive alien lovers ("loverbirds") from the planet Dirbanu. The main characters later learn that both of the aliens are male, and that this was the exact reason for their exile. [[spoiler:In a second, more poignant twist, it's ''heavily'' implied, if not outright stated, that the narrator has [[UnrequitedLove similar feelings]] for his partner.]] This has been milked for all it's worth by SlashFic fans of HoYay/StarTrek, for which Sturgeon wrote two episodes.

* Creator/RayBradbury loved this. He wrote several stories with a gentle but firm Gay Aesop. For some reason, all of them involve Irish or Irish-American characters.

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

--> "Just because he's gay, doesn't mean we don't [[BetterAsFriends have things in common]]."

-->Now if you get an ear pierced, some will call you gay
-->But if you drive a pickup, they'll say no, you must be straight
-->What we are and what we ain't
-->What we can and what we can't
-->Does it really matter?

--> I'm insisting on containing my temper, but listen up!
--> You shouldn't ought to be intolerant about who queers like to fuck.

-->Why is it that even in this day and age
-->They're beat down, they can't just say "I love you"?

-->'''[[Creator/JohnWaters John]]:''' Well, Homer, I won your respect, and all I had to do was save your life. Now, if every gay man could just do the same, you'd be set.

-->'''Marge:''' Just because you're a lesbian, it doesn't make you any [[{{Pun}} less of a bein']].

* A classic example is the 1919 silent film ''Film/DifferentFromTheOthers'', starring Creator/ConradVeidt ([[Film/TheCabinetOfDrCaligari yes, that one]]) as a gay violinist who ends up being blackmailed by an extortionist.

** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS4E25YouMayNowKissTheUhGuyWhoRecieves You May Now Kiss the...Uh...Guy Who Recieves]]", Lois did not accept Brian's cousin Jasper's gay wedding, but turned around at the end of the episode when she found out that her parent's marriage is not happy (if unhappy straight marriages are apparently sacred, exactly what makes happy gay ones wrong, essentially). Brian ''holds the mayor at gun point'' in order to get gay marriage legalized, though Lois calls him on it, saying that he's no better for resorting to such an act.

* Another "gay man blackmailed" film with an anti-homophobia message is ''Film/{{Victim}}'', which was an Anvil dropped so heavily it is part of the reason homosexuality was decriminalized in Britain.

* "[[ForcedOutOfTheCloset Forcing someone out as gay]] is '''never''' a good thing and [[TransparentCloset no matter how obvious it is]], outing someone denies the other person the right to come out on their own terms".

* Parodied in Series/TheItCrowd, in the episode ''The Work Outing''. While Moss initially seems repulsed at Gay! The Musical, he doesn't care that it has themes about sexuality, he objects to seeing it because it's set in UsefulNotes/TheEighties. [[SpoofAesop He even comes around to it in the end]].

AnAesop (or Gaesop if you will) that was pretty common in TheNineties when gay people started becoming more and more prominent in the media. Basically, a character will be introduced that is soon revealed to be gay or bi (or if they were gutsy enough, a previously known character would be ForcedOutOfTheCloset). Then the rest of the episode would be spent on one of the main characters discriminating against them, or fearing that they'll turn him gay or something, even if [[CompressedVice previous characterization would indicate that he would not be so ignorant]]. (TruthInTelevision, unfortunately: one of the dangers of coming out is that an LGBT person can't always tell which way an aquaintance, even an otherwise progressive one, will jump, [[EasyEvangelism and it usually takes more than thirty minutes to change their mind]].)