This is an interesting point. And yeah, I do wonder a bit about how all of this is handled. On one hand, the locker room dance scene was hilarious and a fun mockery of how homoerotic jock culture actually can be. On the other hand though, Nate isn’t completely wrong in calling the performance homophobic; Lexi and Ethan at least are heterosexual (I think) so one could argue that they shouldn’t be the ones to be putting on such a flamboyant portrayal of queerness. Likewise, Sam Levinson (again, I think) is heterosexual, so you could also argue that he should at the very least be inviting LGBTQ+ people into the writer’s room when crafting such a scene.
I think the fact that Nate said that play was homophobic, it means Levinson at least is aware of the implications that scene has.
And yeah, I also don't think Nate is 100% wrong in calling that homophobic.
However, he found her on a gay dating app, so it’s possible that he originally went on their due to some bi curiosity.
I mean, Nate seems to be aware of his father's activities, so maybe he knew it was through that app that Cal had his encounters.
And then of course you have the scenes of Nate watching his dad’s homemade gay porn films and that dream sequence with his dad in this episode.
Those are 2 different things. Let's start with finding his dad's porn. He was 8 years old, if I remember correctly, so that was probably his first contact with sex. And it was through that violent and aggressive videos. Making people gag and vomit, and god knows what else. And it wasn't just watching his father having violent sex, which sounds dramatic enough, it was witnessing him cheating on his mom.
I once read about kids who found out about one of their parent's affair and had to keep that a secret. That alone can do some really big damages. So I can't even process all the consequences that had on Nate.
The other thing is his dream sequence. He's dreaming with a person who at first is Maddy, then changes to Jules, then changes to Cassie being in that exact same situation of abuse that Jules was, and then this person becomes Nate.
I once read about dreams, and dreaming with sex is not what most people think. It doesn't necessarily means you're attracted to that person in your dream. It actually has a lot of connections to power. And that makes sense when you look back at that disturbing scene at the S01 finale, with both Cal and Nate fighting in the room.
But my guess is that it means that Nate feels abused by his father. Not sexually abused, but emotionally.
While Jules is a girl, she's also trans and likely hasn't fully transitioned yet. They seem to be making it out like Nate is gay but id say he's more bisexual with a possible preference towards men.
Jules being trans or not having SRS doesn't change things. Nate wouldn't be gay, bi or pan simply for being attracted to Jules exactly how she is. He would be straight.
I don't rule out the possibility of Nate being gay or bi/pan and deeply repressing it. Or being confused about it, but it doesn't have to do with Jules.
On a side note, you did brought up an interesting thing when you mentioned "fully transition". In her special episode, Jules talks about possibly stopping hormone (which shows hormone therapy and SRS don't define gender), but unfortunately Jules's relationship with feminity and her identity as trans was apparently a storyline Levinson dropped, sadly.
I seem to recall the gay stuff coming up after Maddy found all the dick pics on his phone in S1.
Yeah, he seems to have this obsession which I particularly don't fully understand yet.
Anyway, I'll still put more thoughts on Nate.
