Straight guy goes on homophobic rant about ‘Sense8’ and the Internet lashes back

When you have to couch an argument with “I’m not homophobic, but…”, chances are you’re about to put your bias on full display.

That’s precisely what one Redditor proved in a post blasting the Netflix show, Sense8 – and Hollywood in general – for “really shoving the gay propaganda down our throats.”

Here’s what “ggezlol_” just needed to get out of his system in a forum dedicated to the show:

“No, in real life not almost every single person is either a tra*ny, gay or the like. In fact I haven’t even met a single gay person in my life because guess what, they are actually quite rare.

“I am currently watching season 2 and it feels like the entire show is revolving around the sexuality of lito at this point. It starts getting annoying quite frankly, which is a shame because the concept of the show is interesting.

“No I am not homophobic by the way, but the sheer volume of content related to one sexual preference or another is getting very boring.”

Setting aside the fact that the show’s creators, Lana and Lilly Wachowski, are themselves trans, his supremely flawed logic did not make it very far out in the web before being smacked down, then smacked down again. Then really, really smacked down, just for good measure.

First up, this pitch-perfect message from a straight ally:

“I gotta say as a straight dude, I am not even slightly bothered by this. Sure, the gay sex isn’t what I’m into, but I can always alt-tab it for a minute or eat some popcorn. For the rest…it’s about people being happy! Caring about each other! I like all these characters and so it makes me happy when they are happy.

“And further, most of my friends are gay or trans* or brown. They aren’t 90% of the world’s population but they do tend to know one another, in little local groups or across the world. In fact the idea of a “cluster” tends to resonate with these people because, for many of them, the only friends they have who really understand them are their friends on other continents, time zones, cities, not their family, their classmates, their coworkers.

“This show is for them. Not me. Not you. We just have the additional gift of being able to see it, because they’re happy to share it with us. Respect that. Respect that you’re a guest in someone else’s story.

(Also, from a story perspective, Lito’s arc IS about his sexuality, because being a gay celebrity is HUGE in Mexico. So yes, it’s about his sexuality, and if you don’t like it, that’s not a problem with the story.)”

And while that just about covers it, others weighed in with some equally valid points:

–Maybe you should stick to watching the thousands of other heterosexual shows that cater to what you like.

–Pal if you honestly don’t think you qualify as a homophobe then maybe you need to re-evaluate your life or get some therapy.

–YES you ARE homophobic AND transphobic. If you don’t like it then don’t watch. It makes you uncomfortable because you’re insecure with your ever so delicate “masculinity”. What a laugh.

–Out of the main characters in the show (including the main 8 and their family/friends) Lito, Nomi, Hernando, Amanita and Zakia are explicitly part of the LGBTQ+ community. That is 5 people out of around 25-30 characters who all get pretty consistent screen time, or, at least, have their character fleshed out. Meanwhile, the plethora of heterosexual relationships in this program is actually quite consistent with mainstream media. Will/Riley, Kala/Wolfgang, Kala/Rajan, Capheus/Zakia, Sun/Mun (to an extent) – which, i might add, is not a bad thing! It’s normal. In fact, this season (not including the Christmas special) includes two sex scenes (in one) which are between two heterosexual couples. Lito’s story is merely 1/8 of the entire story, so don’t pretend that you aren’t biased/homophobic or uncomfortable with gay people/stories when you try to claim that Lito’s story is taking up the entire show, that the existence of these people is “actually quite rare” and when you use words like “tranny”.

After just two seasons, the sci-fi drama, Sense8, was recently cancelled by Netflix.