Airdate: March 8, 2009
While on his way to buy groceries, Peter buys a mentally-challenged horse instead, which not only creeps everyone out but also causes $100,000 worth of damage when Peter enters it in a race and it goes on a rampage. Though the horse ends up dying of a fatal heart attack and Peter disposes of the body by flinging it into Mort Goldman's Pharmacy, the Griffins are in debt for initial damages. To make money, Peter works as a test subject for medical experiments, being injected with various genes to see their effects; these include the squirrel gene, the Seth Rogen gene (with Rogen himself providing the voice of the transformed Peter), and the gay gene, which turns Peter into a flamboyant homosexual.
"Family Gay" contains examples of (YMMV goes here):
- All Gays are Promiscuous: Peter's partner Scott presents him with an eleven-way gay man orgy shortly before the gay gene wears off.
- All Gays Love Theater: When Peter and Lois are in the doctor's office to try and learn how long the gay gene will last, one guess the doctor makes is 525,600 minutes, to which Peter responds, "RENT! RENT!"
- Bait-and-Switch:Peter: You know how you always wanted a real diamond engagement ring?
Lois: (excited) Oh my god!
Peter: That's right! I bought a horse! - Black Comedy: The disastrous horse race has a woman hysterically screaming, "My baby's dead!".
- Brick Joke: Peter sends the horse to Mort after it dies. Mort gives it back to them at the very end.
- Burning Bag of Poop: Invoked when Peter throws the dead horse through the window of Mort's pharmacy.Mort: Oh boy. I miss the old days when it was just a flaming bag of poop and a hurtful note.
- Camp Gay: Peter after injected with the gene.
- Clueless Aesop: The episode attempts to show that being gay is not a choice by having Peter, a straight man, choose to have the "gay gene" injected into him. It's also trying to teach tolerance of gays, which doesn't work when Peter is as over-the-top, obnoxiously stereotypical as you can get.
- Cure Your Gays: Brian attempts this on Peter just so Lois can have her husband back.
- Didn't Think This Through: Apparently, Lois thought that since Peter is now gay, he will just simply act like a gay guy. She didn’t realize until Peter pointed out to her now that that he’s gay, he’s not interested in her anymore.
- Dysfunctional Family: Stewie lampshades the Griffins' status as this trope after Peter comes home with a brain-damaged horse and yells at them all to piss themselves to make the horse feel better.
- Fanservice: Lois in that nightie.
- Hereditary Homosexuality: Played with; although the plot revolves around the existence of a "gay gene", it is given to Peter through LEGO Genetics rather than being hereditary.
- Heteronormative Crusader: Stewie of all people.
- Incompatible Orientation: Lois and Peter after Peter becomes injected with the gay gene.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Lois is depressed without Peter to cuddle, but she gets Peter out of the Straight Camp because she wants him to be happy being who he is with Scott.
- LEGO Genetics: Peter is injected with the squirrel gene and the gay gene. He also gains the Seth Rogen gene, which gives him the appearance of being funny even though he hasn't done anything funny.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Literally said by Meg when Peter becomes straight again.Peter: That's right sweetie!
- Out-of-Character Moment: At this point in the series, Brian's been established as a strong supporter for gay rights, and while he admits that sending Peter to the straight camp goes against his beliefs, he does it to make Lois happy.
- Overly Long Gag: "Guiltyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy."
- Precision F-Strike: "TAKE BACK YOUR FUCKING HORSE!!!"
- Running Gag: The Cleveland Bathtub Gag. This time, Cleveland is greeted by the mentally challenged horse, who proceeds to lick up the bath water.Cleveland: Oh, that's got all my stink of the day in it. That's nasty.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The gay gene wears off just as Peter was taking part in an eleven-way. Upon realizing what's happening, Peter runs out of the apartment naked and screaming, albeit briefly returning to grab some balloons.
- Situational Sexuality: After Peter hits on Quagmire at the Drunken Clam, Quagmire reluctantly agrees to have sex but only if they do it "his way".
- Status Quo Is God: According to the doctor's notes on the gay gene, the effects wear off after about two and a half weeks (about 17 or 18 days), which happens right when Peter's in the middle of an 11-way orgy (the doctor lost Lois's phone number, so he was unable to let her or even Peter know about it).
- Take That!:
- Peter recalls predicting the ending to Wild Hogs.
Peter: This movie's gonna suck.- When the doctor injects Peter with the Seth Rogen gene, he informs him that it will give him the appearance of being funny in spite of not actually doing anything funny.
- Test Subject for Hire: Peter becomes one in this episode to help pay for damages caused by his mentally-challenged racehorse.
- Understatement: After the horse urinates, Peter says he doesn't want it to feel self-conscious and tells everyone else to start peeing.Stewie: We're an unusual family.
