Case in point; the movie G.B.F. (2013), which apparently appeared in a few theaters (not here in the hinterlands) and has just gotten a DVD release. It tells the unlikely story of two gay but closeted teenagers, Tanner (Michael J. Willet) and Brent (Paul Iocono, who starred in MTV's The Hard Times of RJ Berger).
Tanner is accidentally outed, becoming the only "openly" gay student in his school. So is he ostracized, yelled at, beaten up, and called names, like what usually happens to outed kids in homophobic high schools?
No: he becomes a celebrity, as all of the heterosexual kids from the popular cliques compete to make him the must-have accessory of the season, the GBF (Gay Best Friend).
Meanwhile he finds that being The Gay Guy jeopardizes his relationship with his closeted friends.
Pretty tame stuff, right? A world where everyone is perfectly nice, and the only conflict comes from competing niceness. There's no sex, no violence, no profanity.So how did the MPAA rate the movie?
R. No children under 17 without a parent or guardian.
For "sexual references."
They meant R, for "gay references."
That's right: acknowledging the existence of gay people automatically means that your movie is not fit for children.