I did not want to write this recap. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to compare it to the difficulty that Sep had writing about the death of Joyce Summers. It's not that I don't have the cynicism handy to snipe MBTV-style at this episode despite it's "heavy" subject matter -- it's just hard to express my contempt for these clichéd plotlines without worrying that I could cross a line and offend someone who actually related to this episode in a big way.
So let me explain where I'm coming from. This episode was a huge step backward for Popular. Despite my near-complete disgust with the show this season, I will usually concede that Popular is usually a great showcase for gay themes. Even when Popular is bad, there's still a gay moment or two there that even Will & Grace doesn't have the guts to pull off. The fact that these kids' chemistry teacher is of ambiguous gender and no one seems to notice or care too much is the very thing that warmed me to this show. While other, lesser shows would give a hermaphrodite (or whatever Chem "is") "very special episode" status, Popular has permanently woven Chem into the fabric of the plotline, and doesn't even make him/her a particularly likeable character either. That takes moxie. One of the greatest conceits of last season occurred during a "very special episode" in which another teacher prepared for a sex change, and his most outspoken critic was none other than Chem her/himself.
With shows available to us these days such as Popular, Will & Grace, and Queer As Folk, it's not hard to forget how much of a vast wasteland TV used to be in terms of gay subject matter. Back in the eighties, there were no characters on TV who "happened to be" gay, just gay characters -- usually played by a guest star in a "very special episode." As soon as said gay guest star died of AIDS, got beaten to death by gay bashers, or killed him- or herself after a single episode, you could almost hear the producers and writers sighing, "Oh, thank God, we don't have to write anymore dialogue for that character. She was tedious!" There were no cool gay people on TV. None of them had sex lives, dressed well, had snazzy lines, or handled their gay-related setbacks with any dignity or panache. Instead, they got down on their hands and knees and begged the other straight regular characters for tolerance, and then thanked them at the episode's end for finally coming around.
So it's the year 2001, the golden age of gay television, and what does Popular give us this week? An un-charismatic gay guest star who gets victimized by homophobes -- and all so a straight regular cast member can come to his rescue. With all the gay writers and producers that this show employs, you'd think one of them could have delved inside themselves and created a fully nuanced gay character and a non-clichéd context in which to place him. Didn't Lily say a couple of weeks ago in regards to Josh's mullet that "the eighties retro thing is over"? I guess not.
Kennedy hallway. Sugar and Josh enter. Josh compliments Sugar on all the weight he's lost recently. Sugar is all, "Thanks, bro!" Josh compliments him on his cologne, then hesitates for a moment and then goes, "What I meant to say was [lisping] that shirt just really brings out your eyes." So Sugar plays along and is all, "Thtop it, you thilly beatht you!" Quite frankly, they're being adorable. I mean, clearly Josh and Sugar are tight and Josh knows how much Sugar wants to be attractive, so he's complimenting Sugar on the way he looks but then has a moment where he's like "oh, am I sounding like I'm hitting on Sugar" because straight guys don't usually say stuff like that to each other, so he makes a gay joke to diffuse the tension. This is not necessarily a homophobic act.
So they run into Lily, who is laughing along with them, sorta. This new boy comes up to Josh, Sugar, and Lily and asks them directions to Chemistry. Josh and Sugar keep doing their mincing and prancing routine, and Lily introduces herself to the new kid and points him in the right direction. The new guy, who minces for real, introduces himself as Brian Rose. But for now I'm just going to call him The One Who Will Be Called A Gay Slur, or TOWWBCAGS, because that is all he ever is to this plot line. As he leaves, Sugar and Josh start cracking up, and Lily is all, "That was so not cool!" So then Josh and Sugar are all "but we weren't making fun of him." And that's true. So Lily is all, "I know, but you made him feel uncomfortable." Which I have to admit was sort of sweet and decent of her, because yes, Josh and Sugar weren't doing anything wrong, but overhearing stuff like that without understanding the context can strike terror into the hearts of closeted gay boys. But on the other hand, high school is about feeling crappy and terrified for some reason or another, and if you wanted to save each and every high-school student from ever feeling left out or insecure, your only option is to hand out some heavy-duty recreational drugs. Josh and Sugar ignore her and keep doing their femme routine. Lily calls them "Neanderthals," and they vogue their way over to (oh, what class could they possibly be on their way to?) Chemistry.
The boys sit down. The One Who Will Be Called A Gay Slur, George, and Carmen give them these strange looks. So today's Chemistry lesson is about "homogenization." Golly, I wonder where this is going. Chem holds up some raw milk in a beaker and tells everyone to take note of the layers that have formed. Hmmm. I'm sure there's a metaphor there somewhere, but I just can't wrap my mind around it. So then Nicole raises her hand and says, "So what you're saying is that raw milk is like our culture. The cream always rises to the top." Then she breaks into this big huge beaming smile. It's like Tammy Lynn Michaels is thinking, "This is my last line in this train wreck of an episode. As soon as I get this make-up off, me and Leslie Grossman are going shopping" -- she's not in this episode either. Chem likens the homogenization process to our society: "The more things are alike, the better they work together and the longer they last." I give. What is the subtext here? I've never watched a TV show before. So then of course, Lily is all, "But that doesn't take into account people's differences, sir!" and so Chem and Lily fight about "homogenization," which inspires Sugar to say to Josh, "I bet you could go for some homogenization, yourself. Couldn't you, Joshie?" So then Lily asks Chem to tell Josh and Sugar to "cut it out." Josh whispers to Sug that they should "drop the fag act," and Chem tells Lily to shut up.
Later after class has ended, Lily lags behind and tells Chem that she's "cultivating an environment of hate" by allowing Josh and Sugar to do their gay routine. Um, Lily? If you have a problem with Josh and Sugar, remember that they are friends of yours. In other words, you might want to talk to them yourself and not go through an intermediary who happens to be in a maniacal state of right-wing rage all the time. And hello? Since when is Kennedy High located in Buzzard County? According to Harrison in "Hope in a Jar," there were plenty of out gay men at Kennedy, so what's with Lily's "no one's gonna help the homos 'cept me" attitude? So then Lily quotes this statistic about how 97 percent of all teens hear homophobic slurs like the word "faggot," and very often teachers do nothing about this. Chem is all, "It's just a word!" but Lily argues that Chem would never allow "the N word" to be used in her classroom, and Chem agrees. So then Lily asks why "faggot" couldn't be just as much of a slur as "the N-word." I think that's a good question, because I always thought it was really stupid to assign such power to a word, even "the N word." I mean, didn't we all learn from the first OJ trial that our reverence for the destructive power of uttering "the N word" had gotten out of control? Don't get me wrong -- there are ways to use the N word, and the F word, that are indescribably hurtful. However, "faggot" and "nigger" are just words, and the more we suppose that these words have the power to hurt the pride of anyone black or gay in any context becomes, at some point, rather insulting to blacks and gays. I mean, I'm half Irish, and sometimes someone will call me a "mick." Does this "slur" get my blood pumping with rage or have me withdraw in self-loathing? Of course not. Why? Because I've never felt that there was anything wrong with being Irish. Maybe it's because it's been so long since I've felt there was anything shameful about being gay that the word "faggot" doesn't have me convulsing and clutching my Prada bowling bag to my face in fear. That's why I've never had a problem with any of Eminem's recordings, which I listen to because they're brilliant. I mean, if someone in reality kills a gay man for kicks, they deserve to be punished to the full extent of the law. But if Eminem, a victim of bullying himself, wants to use the word "fag," why should I be upset? Gay men are always making highly offensive statements in the interest of irony -- myself included. What right do we have to judge some five-foot-four piece of white trash for doing the same thing -- and quite eloquently, might I add?
But then, I had an uncommon -- yet not as uncommon as you'd think -- high-school experience. I was out in high school. I came out the end of my freshman year. A lot of people always tell me how noble this was of me, but frankly I was just lazy. It takes a lot of time and energy to construct a "straight" persona and I was just too busy lusting after everything in pants to keep up the pretense. It's not like I was fearless; I really only meant to have two people know -- close friends of mine -- but I told a couple other people, and eventually word spread though out my fairly large suburban Massachusetts public high school that I was gay. Meanwhile, I had read all those books like Reflections Of A Rock Lobster where Aaron Fricke, that guy who sued to take his boyfriend to the prom, is ostracized by the student body and tortured by homophobic jocks. I held my breath and waited in fear for the inevitable day I'd have to file some civil lawsuit against Newton North High School, because I'd been made a quadriplegic by the soccer team. The worst part of this fantasy was that once I'd been a noted victim of homophobia, I'd have to write one of those dreary books like Rock Lobster that would sit dutifully in the "Gay And Lesbian Studies" section of Waldenbooks somewhere between "The Best Little Boy in the World" and the complete works of Rita Mae Brown. I'd show up for my appearances at gay/lesbian book stores with my automated wheelchair and my neck brace. Crystal-wearing lesbians all over the US would insist on paying respect to my "courage" with songs they'd written about me, which they'd perform while accompanying themselves on an acoustic guitar. To me, this was a fate worse than death, so I spent my sophomore year waiting with baited breath to see when the first stone would be thrown. Would it be the word "fag" written in magic marker on my locker like I'd seen on a few after-school specials? Or would it be something ritualistic during gym class involving Ben Gay and wet towels? Well, as it turned out, absolutely nothing happened. I mean, it wasn't a party being the only out gay male at a high school of 2700. No one else came out, so I was pretty much alone out there. But if anyone had a problem with me being gay, I never heard a thing about it. Seriously. Not a word.
So Lily and Chem have this conversation that I try to tune out where Lily tries to convince Chem that gay jokes create an atmosphere of hostility, which can lead to violence. Chem is all, "But there are no gay people in my class." Lily is all, none that you know of. Chem is all, "You've made your point." Lily is all, "No, I haven't...but I will!" Oh, that's for sure.
Credits. The credits? All this has happened and we're only up to the credits? I'm not going to make it. I don't think there's enough alcohol in the state of New York.
Oh, and did anyone else notice that Popular is brought to you tonight by Pringles? I'm not joking. Is this the first time this has happened? Or is this the first time I've noticed this?
Kennedy hallway. Lily goes up to The One Who Will Be Called A Gay Slur and apologizes on behalf of whatever for having to hear gay slurs. The One Who Will Be Called A Gay Slur is obviously not comfortable outing himself to a complete stranger. Gee, how unliberated of him. He's all "and I would care because...?" Way to go, Lily. But instead of backing off and politely changing the subject -- I mean, God forbid Lily should actually talk to this guy and get to know what he's like above and beyond being gay -- Lily tells him about a "Gay and Lesbian Student Support club" that she's starting up. So then TOWWBCAGS is all, "I'm not gay!" So Lily's all, "Well, if you are, there's place for you where you'll get the support you need." At this point, I hit the stop button in the VCR, go upstairs, get the vodka out of the freezer that I reserve for occasions like this, and put on Guns 'n' Roses' first album while I chug it. I leave a couple of inches in the bottle in case Matthew Shepard's name is invoked later and pray that, by the time I come down and press play, Lily will leave this poor guy alone! Does she? Of course not. Instead, she proceeds to give the whole "last year I was experimenting but now I'm happy with Josh" expository play-by-play and invites TOWWBCAGS to the meeting again. TOWWBCAGS tells Lily to stay far away from him and stomps to his class. Well they, may not have given this schlub any character traits besides his gayness, but at least they gave him a good set of instincts. Lily stares off into space, obviously trying to come up with a way to force TOWWBCAGS out of the closet so he can be the object of some gay bashing and he'll have to join her club.
Random classroom. Brooke is paged over the loudspeaker to come to the principal's office. It turns out to be that guy she met at the frat party who took her scarf. He snuck into Calvin Krupps's office during his 10:30 jog and summoned her on the loudspeaker. Brooke is totally charmed, especially when he gives back her scarf. He wants them to skip school; Brooke begs off but gives him her number. Okay. Nothing political about this scene, unless you count a potential stalking. Let's move things along, then.
Cafeteria. One big table full of Blondes and Browns, except Mary Cherry and Nicole. Lily does an expository rant at Carmen on how Calvin Krupps won't let her form a club unless she can get a faculty sponsor. Josh wants to know why she's forming a gay club and starts getting scared that she's going back to the other team. Lily assures him that she's not gay; she just wants to support gay people. "Support"? Is that what they call bulldozing gay teenagers out of the closet before they feel ready? This calms Josh down. Carmen -- who keeps a Naya bottle at her lips for this entire scene unless she has dialogue -- brings up how dangerous it could be, and cites real-life situations in other parts of the state where gay high-school groups met and were terrorized. Carmen looks really good, by the way. Josh wonders if there's any other way that Lily could show support for gay people besides a starting a club. Lily is all, "Are you both looking for an excuse to not join?" in a tone that faintly calls to mind Carmela Soprano terrorizing that woman into writing Meadow a college recommendation by showing up at her office with a ricotta pie. Carmen and Josh give each other this covert "busted!" look, which I have to admit was a sweet moment between Sara Rue and Bryce Johnson. "Great!" says Lily before they can protest. "Because I've been thinking and Carmen, I'm going to nominate you for Vice President." Carmen does a really cute Naya spit take as Harrison sits down at the table. As soon as his butt hits the bench, Lily nominates him for secretary, which he is forced to accept because his mom is gay. Josh explains about his misgivings about having to join a gay support group and risk being mistaken for gay. "I'm no hater," he says. "But it's complicated." Not to mention, Lily, that you're not gay yourself and you don't have any gay friends. Who do you think you are, forcing your straight friends into donating their precious time to a club that's all about you and your cause of the week? No one is even asking for your "support."
Lily is aghast that any boy she knew would sit complacently by while an act of homophobia is being committed and not want to spend all of their free moments supporting the victims of such acts. Harrison mollifies her by reminding her that he's joined her club. "Thanks," says Lily. "I knew I could count on my friends." "I didn't really say that I was in," says Carmen. Whoa! When did Carmen start sticking up for herself? Go girl! Lily reminds Carmen that she has been the victim of discrimination -- you know, the fat thing? Carmen repeats Harrison's sentiment about it being "complicated" and reminds Lily that last year, thanks to Nicole, there was gossip about her and Lily's experiment, and she'd like to avoid anymore such gossip since she doesn't even have a boyfriend to prove her heterosexuality at Kennedy. "You have Josh," says Carmen. "I have no one." And besides, she tells Lily, "I've got a job at the mall and I'm starting this week." Lily gives Carmen this look as if to say, "You are dead to me!" with her tongue sticking to the side in her mouth making a big mound in her cheek and everything. Ironic, considering that Lily was telling Mary Cherry how important it was to have a job just a few episodes ago. "Sorry," says Carmen, grabbing her apple and getting up to leave. "But I'm not budging on this one." Sam says she can't attend, because she's going shopping with George to buy a prom dress. "Great," says Lily sarcastically. "Glad your priorities are in order." What a bizzotch! Sam explains that she's spent lots of time on Lily's causes, including participating in the "Karen Silkwood bumper car fundraiser." Hee! "I am down with your politics," says Sam. "But I need a teen life. I'm sorry." "Yeah," says Lily. "So are the people who need your support!" I would so love to smack her right now.
But it just gets worse, because to corroborate Lily's call for everyone to "support gay people," there is an incident at the other end of the cafeteria. The entire baseball team wanders over to TOWWBCAGS, who is sitting by himself eating a sandwich, and one of them -- the "ringleader," I guess -- comes up really close to TOWWBCAGS and goes, "Hey, fag!" Then he goes to the other end of the table and says "Fag" again. And then he and his buddies march off. So, uh, that was it? That was the gay slur? That was lamer than Carmen's date rape last week. Of course, Lily sees it happen and just has a hate-crime orgasm over it. Sugar Daddy also sees it happen, and he and Lily share an unspoken moment over it.
I would like to point out at this point that TOWWBCAGS would never have been harassed if he hadn't been sitting by himself. Had Lily invited him to sit with her friends? Does she ever during this entire episode? No. Thanks, Lily, on behalf of the gay community, for the "support."
Chem's class the day. As Chem passes back papers or tests or something, Lily stands up and invites everyone to attend the first meeting of the Kennedy Students Support Gays and Lesbians Club. Like, could that name be any clunkier and hard to understand? Why couldn't she have named it Friends of Gays and Lesbians at Kennedy? Oh, never mind. So then, to make sure that one of her friends will have to deal with a violent confrontation before the episode is over, she makes a big point of telling everyone that Josh and Harrison are also in the club. Chem threatens to shut the club down, 'cause she's wacky like that. She and Lily fight over gay rights: Lily pro, Chem con. Matthew Shepard's name is invoked. I swig the last couple of inches of vodka. I'm so glad I had the foresight to see that coming. Finally, class is dismissed, and when Lily gets to her locker, she finds that someone has painted the word "fag" on it. Frankly, I think someone accidentally misspelled "hag," but that's just me.
Later, in the boys' locker room, Josh and Sugar, fresh from a baseball practice or something, enter and go to their lockers and talk about their favorite thing -- how great Josh is. The captain of the varsity baseball team, who also just happens to be the Sayer of the Gay Slur (and played Les, the gay cheerleader in Bring It On), asks Josh to be on the team. Of course this turns out to be a joke. Sayer of the Gay Slur has heard that Josh has joined Lily's gay support group, and tells him that no "fags" are allowed on the team. TOWWBCAGS is also in the locker room, listening nervously. A fight breaks out, and Josh and SOTGS roll around on the ground. Josh is shirtless, but unfortunately SOTGS is fully clothed. Oh wait, I meant to say that I'm really outraged by this anti-gay violence. Can't we all just get along? And take our shirts off? I didn't mean to say that last part.
Hallway. Lily is telling Harrison that she's basically psyched that someone wrote "fag" on her locker, because it proves that they need a club to fight homophobia. Lily is starting to remind me of that guy at MIT in the early nineties who started an anti-racism club and got attacked by a group of racists -- only it turned out to be a hoax that he perpetrated to get publicity as a politico. They run into Josh, who has a black eye and has just noticed the "fag" written on Lily's locker. "Dave Farber called me a fag," says Josh. Um, Josh? Dave Farber just gave you a black eye. Calling you a fag was the least of it. Lily, who says nothing about the black eye, is all, "Who cares what he thinks?" Josh explains that he wants to be on the varsity baseball team, and Dave Farber is the captain. Lily points out that civil rights are more important than baseball. Hi? Black eye? Is anyone going to say something about the injuries here? Josh insists that he needs to quit the club. Lily points out that he's not going to get to spend much time with her because the club is her first priority. They break up. Black eye? Anyone? Hello? Harrison enters again with a rag and some sort of solvent to clean off the locker. "No, leave it," says Lily. "I want people to see what hate looks like!" Lily? It's graffiti on your locker, not the president's brains all over your pink Chanel suit. And does Lily even thank Harrison for trying to do something nice? No. Instead she's all, "I'll see you after school at the club." As the Casio mini-keyboard plays a few notes, Chem walks by and sees the writing on the locker. She pauses momentarily, then keeps walking.
The camera pans on a big pink and orange sign that reads, "Kennedy Students Support GAYS & LESBIANS club." Such a lame moniker. We come to rest on the "club," which consists of Lily, Harrison, and absolutely no one else. Harrison posits that maybe they got the wrong room number on the signs they posted. Lily is all, "Thank you for supporting me, Harrison. I know this is hard." After a few moments, Sugar Daddy enters. He's not gay, but he feels like sharing about how he tried to get a job at a swanky hotel as a doorman, but because of his size, they wanted to put him back in the kitchen. I guess this is a shout-out to the Mondrian Hotel, which purged their staff of middle-aged black guys recently and replaced them with young buff white guys. "Maybe we should broaden our definition of discrimination support," says Lily. Yeah...considering that you started a gay club and absolutely no gay people have joined, you might want to look into that.
Tres Jolie Lady, a clothing store at "the mall." Sam is trying on dresses for the prom, and Carmen is being trained to work there by the manager. While Carmen is taught to fold gauchos, a trio of black girls checks George out. Carmen points out the black girls to the manager, who tells her she's not going to help them because "they never buy anything. They just take what they want." Carmen is all, "That's racial profiling!" The black girls walk over to George and ask him which one of them looks "the most like Beyonce." When Sam comes out of the dressing room and the black girls notice that he's got a white girlfriend, they start making disparaging comments. "Seems like someone in my presence is an Oreo," says Black Girl #1. "Black on the outside, white on the inside," explains Black girl #2. Thanks, ladies, but I have seen a few episodes of The Jeffersons and perused a snack food aisle or two, and I realize what the term Oreo means. Black Girl #3 diffuses the tension by getting the other girls to back off, and apologizes. Sam wants George to explain to her what that was all about. George explains to her that, since they're an interracial couple, they're going to get shit from time to time. This is news to Sam for some reason. Although when she stops and looks around, everyone is staring at them in slow motion while a Lilith Fair reject caterwauls. They're probably just staring because Sam has the fugliest hair style anyone's ever seen, and her robot boyfriend has bigger boobs that she does. All of a sudden Sam feels oppressed. Sam? Try being a black man in a city like LA just for a day. It's not about you, okay?
Hallway. Josh walks past TOWWBCAGS, who gives him the hairy eyeball. TOWWBCAGS approaches him, introduces himself, and congratulates him for breaking up with Lily. "That girl is trouble with a capital T," he says. Music Man shout-out! He must be gay! "I don't think we should have a club at all," says TOWWBCAGS, anticipating more shit happening to both him and Josh if they continue to "speak out." He tells Josh that he was the one who wrote "fag" on Lily's locker, because she had to be stopped. "That's seriously messed up, bro!" says Josh. "That word was one of the reasons that Lily and I broke up!" Black eye? Hello?
Back at the very same hotel that discriminated against Sugar Daddy, Brooke and her new stalker...I mean, "beau" share a latte. When the guy who turned Sugar down for the job walks past their table, he greets Brooke's beau in a really smarmy way. Brooke's beau gets all quiet and confesses to Brooke that he was blackballed from a fraternity for being Jewish, and that guy was the main instigator. All of a sudden they notice how homogeneous the hotel staff looks and decide to get the hell out of there.
All of a sudden, the "Kennedy Students Support GAYS & LESBIANS club" has a bunch of new members: Sam, George, and Carmen. None of them is gay, but they all feel the pain of discrimination since their trip to the mall. Carmen tells the group that she quit her job because her manager was practicing racial profiling. Sam is still recovering from being called an Oreo. George is all proud of Sam for being so strong in the face of such a huge burden. Whatever. Lily announces that they can't find a faculty adviser and they might have to stop meeting. Yeah, no wonder you can't find a faculty adviser. No one teaches at this school besides Chem. The kids realize this too, and they decide to ask her again. "You'd think out of everyone, she'd be open to the idea of a gay/lesbian support group/anti-discrimination club," says Sugar. "We don't even know if Glass is a he or a she." "Listen to what you just said, Sugar," says Harrison, who points out that calling her "sir" is a form of discrimination. Um, Miss Glass isn't shy. I'm sure if she had a problem with being called "sir," she would have said something. Nevertheless, Lily has an idea.
She visits Chem in her classroom and apologizes to her for calling her "sir." Chem admits that it hurts. Lily presents her with a petition, signed by everyone, vowing to stop calling her "sir." God, this episode just keeps hitting new levels of suckiness. Chem confesses to being confused about who she is and agrees to be the sponsor of Lily's club. Lily takes her to a gay-and-lesbian community center so she can get to the bottom of her gender issues. At the community center, Lily's lifelong dream of being gay bashed comes true. They get attacked in the parking lot, in broad daylight, by a gang of homophobes. As if gay bashers would attack gays on their own turf during the day. Puh-lease? I mean, how does that work? "Are you free for lunch? I was thinking of doing some gay bashing today but I've got a meeting with a really important client at 2 pm. If we met at the LA Gay and Lesbian center with our baseball bats at 11:30, do you think we could wrap it up by then?" Thank God they cut to a commercial before we have to see the whole thing happen. At this point I am drinking my roommate's ear-infection medication because it says on the label that it contains a high percentage of ethyl alcohol.
Josh gets the news from Sam that Lily's in the hospital. He visits her. She tries to put a brave face on things, but she's obviously traumatized -- when she's not proudly showing off her battle scars, that is. "This is the first time I've really risked something for what I believe in," she says. "They want to keep their world homogenized and I don't want to live in that world!" Josh tells her he hates himself for not being there.
The baseball team shows up at the "Kennedy Students Support GAYS & LESBIANS Club" to make trouble. Josh tells Dave Farber that his fastball has been clocked at 85 mph, but he won't join the varsity team because they're homophobic. This puts Dave Farber in his place, and everyone gives Josh the high five. Whatever. "Maybe we should do something in honor of Lily," says Carmen. Sam returns her dress to Tres Jolie Lady and tells the racial profiling manager that she's reported her to management. Brooke goes up to the discriminating hotel worker and tells him that she's notified the owner of the hotel -- who, she says, is fat and Jewish -- that he discriminates against Jews and fat people. Um, Brooke? Who do you think is behind this lookist policy?
Chem and Lily compare battle scars and congratulate each other on sticking up for themselves. Chem decides not to sponsor the club after all. "This whole thing has changed me," says Chem. "And I have you to thank for that. But the world hasn't changed enough. I could lose my job. I could lose the fight." Finally Lily lets it go and allows Chem to back out.
Kennedy hallway. Lily stands there contemplating the "fag" written on her locker, which you'd think would have been cleared by the custodians by now. TOWWBCAGS enters and talks about what an ugly word "fag" is. Okay, for the forty-fifth time, "fag" is not an ugly word. Some of us in the gay community actually embrace it . He's all, "I heard they shut your club down." Lily nods. TOWWBCAGS comes out to Lily. Lily apologizes for asking too many personal questions. He apologizes to her for vandalizing her locker. "I just wanted the pain to stop!" He tells Lily that they can hold club meetings at his house, and they won't need a sponsor. He cleans off her locker, and they both walk off into the sunset. So long, gay guest star!