Sky News story. Fox 5 News is supposed to cover this story tonight on their 10:00 broadcast (according to the blurb I just saw).
With Smithers and Selma as the two more obvious choices, I’m going to say it’s Lenny. Or Carl.
Or possibly Moe.
No, Selma’s the twice-divorced one-Patty’s the one in the closet. (She was seen leaving the Maison Derierre (how do you spell that) in the one where Bart works at the burlesque house.)
I hope it’s not Smithers. It’s sooo much funnier with the inuendo all the time. I think he left the closet a long time ago-but if they came right out and SAY he’s gay, it would suck.
So I’m guessing Patty. Or maybe Milhouse.
Smithers would be the most believable choice. If they’re going to pull someone out of left field, then I bet Moe.
Patty, Selma, I can never keep them, uh, straight.
It notes that Homer is to become an Internet-ordained minister who can perform same-sex marriages. This leads me to eliminate Milhouse.
Then again it IS the Simpsons.
There’s something on the SNPP.com “Upcoming Episodes” page that I think probably settles the issue.
Smithers isn’t in the closet - they went with the innuendo for years, but it’s become more than obvious now. At least one of the writers has said positively that he’s gay (and also that Milhouse isn’t). This can also be found at the SNPP site, I’m not sure which one said it.
Yeah, but I still say it would suck if it were Smithers. It’s funnier when they just make it so obvious, but never come out and say, directly, “Smithers is gay.”
Lenny and Carl would be a good choice. (After Milhouse, I’d guess Rod and/or Tod, but since neither are old enough to get married, it wouldn’t work)
There have been a dozen or more hints about Homer being gay.
“Stupid sexy Flanders.”
What if it were Mr. Burns? Then he and Smithers could get married!
It’s got to be Barney. I just read in another thread that he has stopped drinking recently, so it sounds to me like changes are already underway with his character. It also wouldn’t contradict his past, since he hasn’t hooked up with anyone previously. (Not that having dated women would make it impossible, just that it would be a bigger change than having a non-dating character come out, making it less likely. I really can’t see it being Apu, for example.)
And the other suggestions of it being Smithers or Patty doesn’t make sense either. Why would they kill their own jokes?
My moneys on Barney, so to speak.
They already did an episode about that… sorta. Anyway, it would cause too many problems. Here are some comments from the SNPP’s List of Inquiries and Substantive Answers (LISA)
What about Comic Book Guy? “Mister X? Should I cross the Final Frontier??”
(Yes, I know he dated Mrs. Skinner).
Although if they wanted to make a statement, they would go with Ranier Wolfcastle. Not that I have any idea what sort of statement that would make…
http://www.doheth.co.uk/lists/smithers.shtml
Season 4
[9F05] Marge Gets a Job
When Burns fantasies about Marge, he asks Smithers about that dream where you’re in bed and they fly in through the window. Smithers groans, imagines Burns himself flying through his bedroom window.
HOW can that be other than a gay reference? That is from the first half of the 1990s. Smithers is hardly in the closet.
Well, it’s obvious to us, the audience, but within the show, the closest Smithers ever came to being out was his failed attempt to march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. The rest of the time, he’s so in, Peaches.
How about the time he took a vacation where taking photographs was frowned upon?
I said he’s not in the closet. The thing is this: at first, he was just Burns’s lackey. Then it started getting over the top, and you started wondering if he was a suckup or if he actually loved Burns. I think the great sequence you refer to still fits in that category - Smithers seemed like the type so totally devoted to his job as a sycophant that you could believe he’d be with a woman and still have that dreams.
Eventually they crossed the line and made it clear he was gay, although I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when. They did start consistently making gay jokes about him, like his little run-in with John in Homer’s Phobia, and Burns’ great line in Homer the Smithers - “that man doesn’t know the meaning of the word gay” (cut to shot of Smithers in what appears to be a gay bar). 
That, and when John (the gay men that saved Homer’s life) is at a restaurant w/ the Simpsons, and Smithers comes in and says,
“So John, this is your sick mother!”
But Smithers has confessed his love for Mr. Burns, had “Thank you Smithers for turning me on” on his computer, and he kissed Mr. Burns when they thought they were going to die.
Doesn’t mean they actually had a date. 
Smithers isn’t open about why he’s peeved, it’s just clear to us. Likewise, the Burns thing on the computer isn’t an example for being out. He does tell Lisa “you probably should ignore that.”
I still say the sequence I refer to is the first clear indication that Smithers is in the closet. All the other early references basically are others commenting the consider or suspect that Smithers is gay. However, that scene is about Smithers’ obviously homoerotic fantasy. However, as you point out later in the show’s run they make Smithers’ homosexuality increasingly obvious. As such, him coming out of the closet would just be a yawner of an episode.
Exactamundo.