Gleequality: How the hit show is damaging the fight for Equality.

I posted a clip from hit TV Series GLEE last week (the episode was titled “Theatricality”). The clip showed gay character Kurt’s dad ripping into straight friend Finn after Finn goes off on Kurt for the “faggy” decor in their room. I saw the clip and loved it: Kurt’s macho straight dad came to his immediate defense without a hint of equivocation. It seemed like everything you’d wish for from an accepting, protective father. The problem was, the clip was just that, a clip with no context. When viewed in the context of this season of the show (which I’m behind on viewing) this scene was nothing short of a disaster.

When you start watching this season of Glee, you very quickly learn that Kurt is obsessed with Finn. Some fans have described the obsession as “stalker-like” or “creepy”. I don’t think that’s true. Really, they’re just portraying an average teenage experience – desiring someone you can’t have. We have all experienced this to some degree, and we all learned from it and became better people. The problem is that the show hasn’t allowed that to happen to Kurt. Hopefully they’ll correct the problem before the season closes, and that will be the end of that.
 

A lack of consequences for an unwanted suit is not the real problem with the writing for Kurt. The real problem is far more serious: Kurt displays a perennial lack of respect for Finn’s sexuality that the show simply hasn’t tolerated from any other character when it is turned in the opposite direction. Thus far, whenever a character has displayed any level of bigotry toward Kurt and his sexuality, they’ve been slapped down – by friends, father or Mr. Shuster – or read out as obviously evil bullies and thugs. There is no equality in the show’s treatment of Finn.

Kurt has been allowed to walk all over Finn’s heterosexuality with impunity. He frequently implies that Finn’s sexuality is a choice – exactly the opposite of how he expects his own sexuality to be understood. Kurt needs to learn that his sexual orientation isn’t the only one that deserves respect. The American public has just begun to tip over the fence on LGBT equality. They need to be reminded that a one-sided approach to equality isn’t equality at all. For a show with such a wide audience as Glee’s to portray a gay character this way is seriously damaging to the equality movement.

While learning to respect other people’s sexuality is something that can still easily be taken care of in Kurt’s case, Kurt’s father may have been damaged beyond repair in this episode. Anger over ill treatment of your son is understandable, and he had every right – a responsibility, even – to step in and take Finn to task over his anti-gay language. He could have also used that moment to provide his son the course correction he so desperately needs; a few private words about respecting Finn’s feelings would have been entirely appropriate.
 

Instead of providing guidance, Burt Hummel administered unrelenting condemnation. He literally threw a young man with whom he shared a deeply paternal relationship out on the street for the angry use of a hateful word. To top it all off, he’d apparently just started a relationship with Finn’s mother, inviting them both to live with him. We have to assume that they are now both looking for a home. In my mind, this action is no more forgivable than that of a parent who abandons their child after finding out that he or she is gay. I will never again be able to view Kurt’s father as a hero. In my mind, the character is sullied beyond redemption.

I want to make it very clear that I do not believe for a second that the cast of Glee is trying to perpetuate some gay superiority campaign. I’m not even sure that the writers understand the subtle undercurrent of inequality infecting their show. Nevertheless, Glee’s portrayal of the struggle for equality stands to do at least as much damage as it does good because of this inadequately thought out sub-plot. The show’s writers and producers need to either address these issues publicly via the media, or find a way to address them in the scripts of future shows.