# So what's the deal with Milhouse? Gay? Straight? Wimp? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2001, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790 "2001-09-05T01:58:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/1 "2001-09-05T01:58:41Z")
Like many dopers I’m a huge fan of the Simpsons. I love the way episodes are tied together in some way or another, and how each charachter, even minor charaters, have a specific personality and lot in life. For a cartoon, it’s good t.v… Which brings us to Milhouse. What’s the deal? In one episode he’ll make definite remarks about doubts in his masulinity (like the time he was riding a girls bike and said it was unnervingly comfortable) then in another episode he’s making out like crazy with a girl and get’s upset when Bart Breaks them up. Then in other episodes other characters make reference to Milhouse as though he were gay, including Bart, Homer, a psychologist, etc. Then in several episodes he is really hung up on Lisa. So what’s the deal? I know these questions run a little deep for a cartoon character, especially a cartoon character of a child, but what exactly is supposed to be the personality of Milhouse? A straight kid who’s just a big wuss, or a gay kid who stuggles with his homosexual tendencies. What exactly are the writers trying to show with this character? :rolleyes: I know, I know! It’s just a cartoon. Just a cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/2 "2001-09-05T02:05:06Z")
Milhouse is **iampunha**. [ul]:D[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/3 "2001-09-05T02:28:11Z")
Milhouse was strangely absent when the indian chief at the reservation casino fortold Bart’s Future. He’s hanging with Ralph, the dumb-ass. Maybe their sexual preferences did not jibe? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bitterdrunk\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@The\_Bitterdrunk\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bitterdrunk_Kid)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/4 "2001-09-05T02:32:50Z")
Milhouse is not gay. The file in the psychologist’s office was just a gag. Milhouse is a bit of a dork, with a bit of wussiness thrown in. The writers of the Simpsons have been adding quite a few “… might be gay” jokes lately. The Milhouse joke, one show had Homer saying “Stupid sexy Flanders!”, and of course, the whole Smithers thing(which has been going on for quite a while). Milhouse has a crush on Lisa, and in the shows that take place in the future, he still has a crush on Lisa (but Bart lives with Ralph Wiggum???). But his mom says he’s cool! ---
**Author:** ![Ripple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@Ripple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ripple)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/5 "2001-09-05T02:36:08Z")
I copied this from the Simpsons Archive: [http://www.snpp.com/guides/smithers.sexuality.html](http://www.snpp.com/guides/smithers.sexuality.html) Yeardley Smith: Kerro explains when Yeardley Smith was in Melbourne, Ms. Smith was asked if Smithers was gay. Ms. Smith said it didn’t start out that way, but somewhere along the line, the writers just started throwing in homosexual references for no particular reason. And they intend to keep doing so as well. David Silverman (Simpsons Staffer): Aaron Varhola, who attended David Silverman presentation in San Francisco, says: Someone asked if there were any gay characters. Silverman said `Smithers, and Karl (Homer’s secretary from 7F02)". End of story. (Add John from “Homer’s Phobia” to this list-Ed.) I have also read (and, no, I can’t find where) that Milhouse’s perceived homosexuality was explained away by stating that he was a typical, curious, pre-pubescent male. Not particularly gay or straight. There are many different writers for the show, so each of them may treat this a bit differently. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/6 "2001-09-05T02:50:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Road Rash \* > \*\*Milhouse was strangely absent when the indian chief at the reservation casino fortold Bart’s Future. He’s hanging with Ralph, the dumb-ass. Maybe their sexual preferences did not jibe? \*\* He wasn’t absent. He just was still sniffing around Lisa. Remember? He was on her staff at the white House. ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/7 "2001-09-05T04:27:56Z")
Remember in the episode where it flashed back to Bart’s first day of school? I believe there was a meeting between Homer and Marge and the school counselor. The counselor says something along the lines of, “I’ve never seen so many flamboyantly sexual tendencies at such a young age!” Homer and Marge are incredulous, and then the counselor says, “Oh sorry! Wrong child!” He then puts the file folder from which he had been reading into the cabinet and we clearly read the name as Milhouse Van Houten. ---
**Author:** ![Chocobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Chocobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chocobo)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/8 "2001-09-05T05:52:49Z")
“I drink soy milk! The doctor says the real stuff could KILL me!” Anyways, I don’t think Milhouse is gay. I think that the psychologist joke (flamboyantly homosexual tendencies) was just there for a one-time gag. I think Milhouse’s interest in Stanky (I don’t remember her first name offhand) and Lisa just goes to show that he’s straight. Of course…“I don’t know Milhouse…you’re like a…big sister to me.” ---
**Author:** ![Mekhazzio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/9 "2001-09-05T05:53:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pkbites \* > For a cartoon, it’s good t.v… > > I know these questions run a little deep for a cartoon character, > > I know, I know! It’s just a cartoon. Just a cartoon. The Simpson’s probably has the highest quality of any prime-time series on TV. And you keep dismissing it as “just a cartoon”. :rolleyes: and people wonder why good anime does so poorly on this side of the Pacific. “It’s just a cartoon”, pfeh. Animation is a way to tell a story, it has no inherent bearing on the quality of that story. Assuming such is as false as saying that all live-action film is like Barney, Power Rangers and Mr. Roger’s – you’re only looking at a very small slice of the spectrum. ---
**Author:** ![RAWisSYDNEY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@RAWisSYDNEY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RAWisSYDNEY)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/10 "2001-09-05T06:56:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chocobo \* > \*\*“I drink soy milk! The doctor says the real stuff could KILL me!” > > Anyways, I don’t think Milhouse is gay. I think that the psychologist joke (flamboyantly homosexual tendencies) was just there for a one-time gag. I think Milhouse’s interest in Stanky (I don’t remember her first name offhand) and Lisa just goes to show that he’s straight. > > Of course…“I don’t know Milhouse…you’re like a…big sister to me.” \*\* You forgot to add milhouses following line which was: “Why does everyone keep saying that!” ---
**Author:** ![Redboss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8baadc/32.png) [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/11 "2001-09-05T07:58:05Z")
Get a grip, and stop labelling people (er, cartoons characters, I mean). My understanding is that kids will try out many roles as part of their growing up. Just be cool about it. Many men spend years as husbands and fathers and come out as gay later in life. There are men who used to be gay who are now happy heterosexuals. Nobody will know Millhouse’s lifetime sexual orientation until much later. Just leave him in peace, and enjoy him for the delightful child, er cartoon character, that he is. Redboss ---
**Author:** ![Reuben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@Reuben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reuben)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/12 "2001-09-05T09:19:56Z")
I seem to remember an episode set in the future where Lisa got married. While trying on her wedding dress, Lisa says to Marge (words to the effect of) “Mom, should I really be wearing white? What about … Milhouse?” Marge, being the fantastic mother she is, dismisses Lisa’s guilt about (so the suggestion is) having lost her virginity to the toad Milhouse with “Milhouse doesn’t count!” and a good laugh. So perhaps he’s bi? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/13 "2001-09-05T12:04:55Z")
Um, Redboss-people don’t change orientation. Anyhoo, the girl’s name was Michelle. ---
**Author:** ![aegypt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@aegypt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aegypt)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/14 "2001-09-05T12:20:36Z")
Hey, Milhouse is, what, ten? Kids aren’t normally out of the closet at that age. All in all, I think Milhouse is intended as a sort of average, ordinary, middle-class, run-of-the-mill kind of kid. A kind of straight man to Bart. ---
**Author:** ![Elvis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@Elvis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elvis)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/15 "2001-09-05T14:20:58Z")
Milhouse is just the dumping ground for everything lousy that can happen to a kid. He’s a nerd, he gets beaten up and given wedgies, his parents get divorced, he can’t see without thick glasses, he’s a little effeminate, girls don’t like him, he has to drink soy milk instead of the regular stuff… I think they just keep piling everything crappy that can happen to a kid on Milhouse. Doesn’t mean he’ll turn out to be gay. As for the episode in the future, Bart was buddies with Ralph because he was a LOSER, and Ralph was the perfect lackey. Milhouse got too smart to hang around with arrested-development Bart. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/16 "2001-09-05T14:45:43Z")
In the future episod, don’t they hint that Rod and Todd are gay as well?? Doesn’t Ned say, “for not outing Rod and Todd.”? ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/17 "2001-09-05T15:22:08Z")
Not gay, they just really like refinishing antiques while wearing tank tops, hot pants and hiking boots. Now if they did it while listening to Judy Garland records… ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/18 "2001-09-05T17:29:21Z")
I don’t think Milhouse is actually gay, but he has some stereotypically homosexual characteristics that cause other Springfieldians to perceive him as gay. I think that explains everything. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/19 "2001-09-05T17:34:53Z")
I think, frankly, they’re putting all the pieces in place for Bart to be gay. We have two episodes (at least) where he was cross dressing, the Gay Steel Mill episode, and the infamous line: Homer: Say something to make me angry boy bart: Ok, yesterday in Math, I looked at Milhouse and got a little excited. I think it would be a brilliant riot for this ‘boy of all boys’ to be gay. jarbaby ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-milhouse-gay-straight-wimp/79790/20 "2001-09-05T18:15:49Z")
Questions about the sexual orientation of prepubescent cartoon characters do not belong in General Questions. Threads about the Simpsons should normally go in Cafe Society, but this one is just too damn stupid for me to impose it on my colleagues over there. This thread is closed. bibliophage moderator GQ