Watching The Simpsons was a form of rebellion for me. That may seem odd or even unthinkable to modern audiences, but in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the show was both a hot topic and, for certain demographics, a font of controversy. I can clearly recall other kids in elementary school proudly exhibiting their flawless drawings (well, tracings) of Bart, the rebellious figure we all admired. However, I also remember my parents switching off the TV at home whenever it aired, believing that along with a few other specific programs set a bad example. "They champion mediocrity", became my mother’s refrain any time she saw the show pass across the screen.
Near the start of my senior year, the go-to hangout spot was my friend (and major crush at the time), Keith’s house. We'd often watch The Simpsons on afternoon re-runs, with him hailing it as "incredible American satire". I felt like I was getting away with something as I began catching up on the years I’d missed! I even got bold enough to re-tell my mom jokes from the show, watching her laugh, and then explaining where I got them from — hoping to win her over into giving it another chance. (Never worked.)
Due to all that, The Simpsons has always held a special place in my elder Millennial heart. I still consider communicating purely in Simpsons quotes a love language. However, I’d never really given much thought to whether, in its thirty-plus year run, it had done anything great or even passably well regarding bi representation. In fact, the notion hadn’t crossed my mind until I received an excited, all-caps text from a friend one night while I was out running errands.
OTTO IS BISEXUAL! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! OTTO FROM THE SIMPSONS IS BISEXUAL!
What the what? It was time to assess a wide range of characters — both big and small — across multiple seasons to gauge whether my beloved show had improved its representation of bisexuality over the past fifteen years.
I should put a few disclaimers here. First off, SPOILERS, duh. Second: this will not be a complete list. A lot of characters are either bi, assumed to be bi, or hinted to be bi throughout the seasons, and I simply don’t have the time or the column inches to go over 30+ seasons in one article. I am excluding explicitly bi celebrity guest-voiced characters like Gaga or Bowie and instead focusing on more of the original characters. Finally, if this is your first time at the scale — welcome! — you may wanna take a gander over here.
What I Liked:
It's arguable that the show initially used queerness as the punchline in some jokes but improved on that aspect as it evolved over the years. Furthermore, there are characters in later seasons who have explicitly expressed or demonstrated their bisexuality. From this perspective, I aim to delve into two primary characters and subsequently explore several peripheral or episodic ones.
I know I came down hard on Lisa Simpson over on the Drive-Bis, but I’ve mellowed on this stance over time. We’ve seen a lot about Lisa’s budding attractions over the seasons. From marrying a Hugh-Grant-voiced floppy British lad (and later Milhouse) and her crush on Nelson Muntz to her later flashes of queer poly relationships and crushes on girls, we see quite a few glimpses of her fluid sexuality over the course of a generation of episodes. And we often get to see our beautiful brainiac go through a lot of emotions, hopes, and fears about these relationships as well.
But this may not be more apparent than in the growth and glimpses we see of the Simpsons patriarch Homer. Homer? Yes indeedy, arguably the most iconic of all the characters — you could make a pretty good argument for Homer being bi.
Across thirty-plus years, we've witnessed Homer's enduring attraction to Marge, so it's his attraction toward other genders that intrigues us here. Undoubtedly, there are the iconic "stupid, sexy Flanders" moments and a gradual unlearning process depicted in the classic "Homer's Phobia". However, even preceding these instances, we discern glimpses of Homer's curiosity about men. In "Simpson and Delilah", Homer acquires an assistant named Karl, whose inexplicable devotion and infatuation toward him stand out. During a period of self-doubt, Karl remarks, "My mother taught me never to kiss a fool", then proceeds to kiss Homer, followed by a playful butt smack. Curiously, Homer doesn't react with a gay panic; instead, he appears touched, flattered, and somewhat invigorated. In the memorable episode "Last Exit to Springfield", when Homer assumes Burns is making advances during union negotiations, Homer humorously admits, "Sure, I'm flattered, maybe even a little curious." It's worth noting that in season 8, Episode 15, "Homer's Phobia", the character voiced by John Waters initially challenges Homer's masculinity and sparks fears about Bart's influence, but these concerns dissipate by the episode's conclusion, paralleling the show's evolution in addressing such themes.
In season 27 during "To Courier With Love", he also insists on a better "French" kiss as an apology from the police. And in season 12 in "Lisa the Tree Hugger", Homer doesn’t hear what the environmentalist says because "I was lost in your eyes." Then in season 15, at one point while he’s doing dishes, Homer wishes "I’d married a businessman; then I’d have nice things." That could be read as more of a parody of midcentury wife longings, but that doesn’t quite land that way for me. Finally, in season 16, in a fantasy Homer marries himself — and makes out with himself extensively. Yeah. I’m ready to say that Homer is, if nothing else, bi-curious, but I am okay with saying that he definitely feels bisexual attraction.
What I Didn’t Like:
While the central Simpsons family encompasses a range from members of the bi community to allies, the evolution of non-central characters over the years also reflects a variety of portrayals of bi characters — some more nuanced or positive than others. Verity Heathbar in "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife" may be a tenured Harvard professor, but she’s also cruel, strict, uptight and verbally abusive to her husband, Charles (voiced by Ricky Gervais, who also wrote the episode).
Candace in the season 27 episode "Every Man’s Dream" doesn’t use the term "bi" to describe herself, but she does casually joke that even she has dated more women than Homer. Here we do end up getting a more well-rounded character for the course of the episode, though; Candace is there to help Homer but has her own personality and viewpoint on the world (even if the world is all in one of Homer’s dreams).
One of the last examples I’d like to bring up is Nigel, from the season 28 episode, "MoHo House". Creator Al Jean has reasserted multiple times over Twitter that Nigel is bi, so that’s cool. And it’s also good to see a bi man be monied and buck the trend of us being more likely to be poor. But that’s where the good things end. Nigel may be bi (as we see him both have a wife and hit on Smithers), but he’s also deceptive, a seducer, and manipulative to a fault — the product of a Trading Places-esque plot set in a world of animation. For God’s sake, he tried to buy Smithers like he was chattel! So we’re sex traffickers now, too?
Oh, also. That thing about Otto being bi? He was just in the background of a music festival, holding hands with a dude. There are lots of little casual nods to the mustard-colored ensemble being queer, especially in the later seasons, but it’s not often we get to be up front and center and celebrated.
The Rating:
While the options for bi characters in Springfield aren’t great, they’re definitely getting better for that particular sector of the rain-d’oh! community as the show continues to go on seemingly forever.
All of this deserves consideration as cultural perspectives and acceptance evolve and reflect back to us through a media creation that has endured across multiple presidential administrations. The Simpsons has thrived for over 30 seasons, surpassing most animated sitcoms with its extensive episode count. With hundreds of episodes, there's often the joke that they've exhausted all storylines, yet there seems to be no space carved out for a genuinely kind, central queer character? That's a bitter pill for me to swallow. However, I remain hopeful for what the future holds in this regard.
During a recent period of home care-taking for my father, I realized I needed to watch specific episodes for work. I invited him to join me after all these years, and to my delight, he accepted! Although I was too fatigued on that particular day to watch the intended episodes, I decided to show him some of my personal favorites: "Bart Sells His Soul", "Lisa the Vegetarian", and "The Last Temptation of Homer". To my joy, he chuckled at each one and remarked on their excellence as satire.
So if my dad, who is wholly supportive of me and my queerness, and after thirty years can admit The Simpsons is funny — I don’t see why Groening and Co. can’t afford to create and celebrate a couple more bi characters as beloved citizens of Springfield. Ay, caramba.
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