Llanford is a small town and I don’t believe for one second that Mark wouldn’t be experiencing anti-gay incidents. Barring one episode in which there was mention of Mark kissing a boy, the entire town and family seems ok with him being gay. Not reality. I’ve always got the impression that Ben wouldn’t be tolerant of Mark being gay, but he’s just going along with it because Darlene's his mother.

The family should be okay with Mark being gay, and accepting of him, but I tend to agree that it is unrealistic for a young kid like Mark to be flaming gay in a small town without being bullied or having anti-gay experiences discussed.

They also don't show that much of Mark, in general, and a whole lot of Darlene's parenting.

I am watching the latest episode and Jackie is having a three-some relationship. I don't know why they are going in that direction too, steering it away from a family appropriate show.

Frankly, Jackie (Laurie Metcalf) should be written off the show, or spinned off as sitcom lead (same character, or different character) on another show, and more focus on the kids' character development. DJ's black daughter is hardly ever shown also but just randomly.

I got some anti-gay vibes from Ben in that episode, too.

Didn't he face some bullying earlier in the series and in the reboot? I also feel like the gay bullying storyline has been way over done that it's becoming cliche (even though it was still very much prevalent in real life) and I'm actually glad they're not focusing on it too much.

There was an episode where Mark kissed a boy and the school kind of had a small prob with PDOA, but I meant more about familial probs. As I have said before, Dan was always a huge homophobe and bigot. Ben made some odd homophobic comments in the live episode, too. There is no way that Mark wouldn’t face homophobic pressure at home. Mark is also on the cusp of being a cross dresser, too, but - once again - nothing is ever said and in a town as small as Llanford, that would NOT go over well.