Thursday night’s episode of CBS’s The Great Indoors, “Party Paul,” revealed an interesting take on gay pride. As in, there should be none. At least not in the form of supportive comments from straight “allies.” Unless you want to be subject to eye rolls and groans of annoyance, that is.
Perhaps this is an example of a possible generational divide on the preferred PC approach to gay issues? The Great Indoors centers around main character and Generation Xer Jack (Joel McHale) and his struggle to understand his staff of Millennial writers. The show’s entire theme, according to IMDB, is his need to “adapt to the times.”
He apparently doesn’t understand today’s youth and their take on sexuality. The more supportive Jack tries to be when he discovers that one of his writers, Mason (Shaun Brown) is bisexual, the more annoyed Mason and the other writers become.
Jack: Wow, you guys got here quick.
Clark: Oh, we were already here working so hard on that hiking guide.
Mason: No, these guys are helping me pick which hottie to ask out.
Jack: Huh. Th-there's two men and a woman. Hold on. So, this means, in fact, that you are... Bi...
Mason: Lingual? Sí, claro. I'm fluent in Spanish.
Jack: Right, right, right, I mean, but you're also bi...
Mason: Racial? MM, sort of. My grandfather was Dutch.
Jack: Yeah, yeah, yeah, uh, fun stuff, but, uh... You're also bi...
Mason: Coastal, no. I've spent my whole life here in Chicago. Where I have sex with both men and women. Jack, I'm bisexual.
Jack: Wow. Mason... Thank you for trusting me. Did they know?
Mason: Of course. Obvi.
Roland: Jack. Time to get woke, bro.
Jack: You are so brave. I just want you to know, I'm an ally. I go to a predominantly gay gym.
Clark: Stop. Uh...
Jack: And I enjoy the attention.
How dare he! Poor Mason, being subjected to such supportiveness! Definitely eye-roll worthy!
Mason was "victimized" throughout the show, in fact, with more of Jack’s supportive comments. When Jack tells Mason, “Love wins,” he’s met with more disdain. Mason says, “Jack would have made a really good supportive mom in 1998.”
And there we have it! Though the phrase “love wins” was created not that long ago to show support for gay marriage, it’s apparently archaic and cliché to Millennials.
At the end, Jack sees Mason at a bar with another guy and shouts, "Oh, my gosh. This is incredible. You two, together, out in a booth. 2017, people! We all had a hand in this, and it got better!" while Mason shakes his head. "It got better," is, of course, a reference to vulgar, anti-Christian gay activist Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" Project.
So does this mean an end to gay pride parades? After all, if the message is that it got better and a show of support is annoying, certainly crowds of bystanders cheering on flamboyant parade floats and public displays of vulgar sexuality (no one wants to see that from straights either, for the record) must be complete overkill, right?
Maybe this change will help true love to win. Meaning love for all, including Christians who believe homosexuality is a sin based on God’s word yet have nothing but love for everyone. Maybe if we’re not expected and required to openly embrace and support the act of homosexuality in the Millennial age, we won’t be accused of being hateful and cruel for refusing to deny our religious beliefs.
Because Christian pride matters, too. And we would very much welcome supportive comments instead of hateful stereotypes. Even from Millennials.
