'Simpsons' Animates Gay Nuptials, and a Debate

S. Waxman

In the ongoing culture wars over whether gays should have the right to marry, an animated question reared its head on Sunday prime-time television: as goes "The Simpsons," does the nation go, too?In an episode titled "There's Something About Marrying," a longtime character on Fox's 15-year hit - it was Marge Simpson's sister Patty Bouvier, a closely held secret until the 8 p.m. broadcast - came out of the closet while Homer Simpson conducted dozens of same-sex weddings after small-town Springfield legalized the unions in a bid to increase tourism. As television's longest-running situation comedy, "The Simpsons" is no stranger to hot-button social, religious and political issues, mocking wardrobe malfunctions, Hollywood liberals and born-again Christians, among other targets.But when a show as mainstream and popular as this takes on one of the most divisive issues in American society, it is certain to attract attention.