Noah Schnapp has confirmed that his “Stranger Things” character is gay. But let’s remember what the ‘80s were like for the LGBTQ+ community ...
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00We just got confirmation on a long-speculated Stranger Things theory, Will Byers is gay.
00:04In a recent interview, actor Noah Schnapp said, quote,
00:07It was always there, but you never really knew.
00:09Now it's 100% clear he is gay and does love Mike.
00:11The hit Netflix series takes place during the 1980s in a fictional midwestern town.
00:15It has introduced queer storylines in the past,
00:17but the topic carries a deep history for the time period.
00:20The 1980s was a decade of great struggle for the LGBT community.
00:23The New Right was a political movement that emerged with an open hostility
00:26towards gay and lesbian people.
00:28Combining evangelical Christian takes on morality with a political agenda,
00:32the New Right called for a return to what they deemed American family values.
00:35This was compounded with an absence of discussing homosexuality in school
00:39and a lack of representation in media.
00:40On top of all of this was the unfolding of the AIDS crisis,
00:43which was tied to the gay community and turned them into figures to fear.
00:46Being gay in the 80s meant being isolated from an identity,
00:49which is something Will appears to grapple with throughout season four.
00:52Schnapp said he hopes to see the show further
00:53explore his character's identity in the fifth and final season.