Stand By Your Man

[BestTVever]

In this episode a gay man falls in love with John and does not take no for an answer. This episode was aired when gay characters on TV were still pretty rare. It also embraced a silly concept that gay people fall in love with straight people and want them to fall in love with them. There is also a bit of gay panic in the episode too which was a common theme in the 70s and 80s if gay character showed up. A theme like this would never exist in a sitcom today. Sort of reminds me of the Golden Girls episode where Dorothy's lesbian friend fell in love with Rose after meeting her. When the gay character reveals their feelings gay panic begins.
I love looking back at these episodes because in real time having a gay character was bold and it looked like TV was getting with the times and acknowledging gay people. But in reality it was reinforcing gay stereotypes.
Famous actor Cleavon Little played the gay character and actually won an Emmy for best guest appearance in a comedy for this appearance. Sadly he passed away just a few years after this episode aired from colon cancer.