MovieChat Forums > Remember the Titans (2000) Discussion > Issue of homosexuality in 1971

Issue of homosexuality in 1971

posted 10 years ago by jaystarstar
1 reply | jump to latest

I was in 8th grade in 1971, playing football, in a fairly liberal city, and I can assure you that the issue of homosexuality was NOT treated in an enlightened or humorous way as illustrated in the movie.

In 1971, 'tolerance' of homosexuals basically meant, "I won't beat the crap out of them or try to kill them."

If a HS football player was suspected of being openly homosexual, as in the case of Sunshine, it would be highly highly highly unlikely any teammate, such as Petey, would say, "I just gotta know, it don't matter to me," etc etc etc etc., ESPECIALLY in a big lunchroom gathering of the entire team.

About the most "enlightened" thing anybody would say would be something like, "do whatever the hell you want on your own time but stay away from me in the locker room."

And for the record, no, I'm not. NTTAWWT, etc.

================

4) You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.

[–] dabukaba 9 years ago

Yes, and I also found the locker room scene extremely unrealistic for the time setting. To be honest I'm not a person who's against homosexuals, but I thought it was highly inappropriate and out-of-place for a family movie (including children) with the Disney label on it what with the heavy implied sexual nature of the scene -- they're half-naked and Sunshine asks the other guy if he wants to go to the shower and when he asks why Sunshine even goes "you know" with a slight head gesture. Back to the main point, though, there's no way any of this would be happening in 1971, you're right. To put things into perspective, my friend's mother in the early-'70's was "permanently" kicked out of Disneyland for innocently dancing with her female friend on a dance floor. People today just can't understand what things were really like back then.