Although harsh realities of rewatching Roseanne is the realization that some of the show’s jokes have aged terribly. However, for every gag that feels tasteless or problematic in 2024, there are moments that stand out as strikingly progressive. Roseanne’s story of a working-class middle-American family tackled poverty, gay rights, racial discrimination, parental abuse, and a whole host of other hot-button issues with surprising tact and dexterity.

As The Conners’ large cast of characters never included the late, great Martin Mull, even though Mull played Roseanne and Jackie’s boss Leon Carp throughout much of Roseanne’s original run. A thoroughly unique character, Carp was a groundbreaking character in of LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream media and a testament to Roseanne’s surprising achievements in the world of sitcoms.

Roseanne’s “December Bride" Featured Network TV’s First Gay Wedding

Leon and Scott Wedding’s Wedding Was A Historic Moment For Representation

On 12 December 1995, Roseanne season 8, episode 11, “December Bride,” aired. The outing was Roseanne’s penultimate Christmas episode before the infamously disastrous season 9 aired its infamous episode 12, “Home for the Holidays,” wherein Jackie discovers Dan is cheating on Roseanne with his ailing mother’s nurse. However, “December Bride” was notable for more than just being Roseanne’s last good Christmas special. Roseanne’s season 8 Christmas episode featured the first same-sex wedding depicted on network TV, between Mull’s Leon and Fed Willard’s Scott. The episode centered around this event and, more specifically, Roseanne’s attempts to plan the nuptials.

When Leon is unexpectedly reunited with his ex Scott, who he left at the altar some years prior, the pair take this as a sign and decide to go ahead with their wedding. Much to Leon’s chagrin, an over-zealous Roseanne immediately begins planning the wedding and ensures that it is as tacky, over-the-top, and stereotypical as possible. Leon objects to the presence of drag queens and male strippers at his wedding, but soon reveals that the real reason behind his reticence toward marrying Scott is that he isn’t comfortable calling himself gay. This prompts a sweet and hilarious final scene.

Why Roseanne’s Last Christmas Episode Was So Important

Friends Featured A Lesbian Wedding One Month Later

Roseanne and Leon kiss, allowing Mull’s character to confirm to himself beyond a doubt that he is gay. The wedding in “December Bride” goes ahead as Roseanne chides Dan for objecting to two men kissing, and the episode ends with a lot of jokes about gay stereotypes but an unexpectedly straightforward message of acceptance nestled among them. While not as controversial as The Conners’ banned Christmas episode, “December Bride” did meet some resistance from conservative cultural commentators. “December Bride” was a landmark moment for gay representation, not just due to its wedding, but also the surrounding storyline and Leon’s unique character.

Only a month later, Friends season 2, episode 11, “The One with the Lesbian Wedding,” became the second sitcom episode to focus on a gay marriage ceremony. However, unlike "The One with the Lesbian Wedding,” "December Bride” spends its entire story interrogating gay stereotypes as Roseanne tries to make a mortified Leon’s wedding appropriately “Gay.” This led ABC to move the Roseanne episode from its usual 8:00pm time slot to 9:30pm. The network’s spokesperson told The Washington Post that this had nothing to do with the “Idea of a gay wedding,” and was instead due to its adult humor.

Roseanne’s Christmas Episode Almost Spawned An LGBTQ+ Spinoff

Roseanne Barr Proposed A Series Starring RuPaul and Don Knotts

The fact that most of Roseanne season 8’s episodes featured more explicit jokes than “December Bride” calls this claim into question, but it remains notable that the network aired the episode at all. Leon Carp was a rare gay Republican character and one of the episode’s funniest scenes saw him claim that he couldn’t be gay thanks to his insensitivity, his dislike of Barbara Streisband, and his political affiliation. This underlined the character's complexity and divergence from straightforward stereotyping. Where The Conners season 7 can comfortably depict Darlene’s son Mark as a gay teenager, Leon’s role in Roseanne prompted significantly more backlash.

Barr and co-producer William Lucas Walker pitched a series where Leon and Scott co-parented a teenage daughter Leon fathered years earlier.

Despite this, according to Steven Capsuto’s 2000 book Alternate Channels: The Uncensored Story of Gay and Lesbian Images on Radio and Television, Roseanne’s star and co-creator Roseanne Barr attempted to utilize “December Bride” as a backdoor pilot for an LGBTQ+ spinoff of the sitcom about Leon and Scott raising Leon’s teenage daughter. Barr and co-producer William Lucas Walker, who went on to work as a supervising producer on Will and Grace, pitched a series where Leon and Scott co-parented a teenage daughter Leon fathered years earlier. The show would have co-starred RuPaul and Don Knotts as the couple’s neighbors.

Roseanne’s Spinoff Wasted Leon’s Story

Martin Mull Never Reprised His Role In The Conners

Even though Leon was a pivotal figure for much of Roseanne’s original run and he almost headlined a spinoff of his own, The Conners never mentioned Martin Mull’s Leon Carp in its first six seasons. While The Conners season 7's Roseanne character returns might ameliorate this by acknowledging his existence, it is unfortunately too late for the show to feature Leon or Scott onscreen. Willard ed away in May 2020, while Mull died in June 2024. The Conners’ failure to mention either character was made more notable by the spinoff’s focus on The Lanford Lunchbox, the restaurant where Leon worked as Jackie and Roseanne’s manager.

Roseanne's season 10 revival and The Conners seasons 1-3 focused on Mark’s struggles growing up gay in Lanford, and Leon’s story could have meant a lot to him.

Although The Conners revealed that Roseanne and Jackie’s mother Bev still secretly owned the deed to the restaurant, the spinoff never explained what happened to Leon and why he stopped working there. This was a major oversight since Roseanne's season 10 revival and The Conners seasons 1-3 focused on Mark’s struggles growing up gay in Lanford, and Leon’s story could have meant a lot to him. Sadly, after centering one of Roseanne's best Christmas episodes on the character’s wedding, The Conners went on to forget all about Leon Carp and his spouse decades later.

Source: The Washington Post

Alternate Channels: The Uncensored Story of Gay and Lesbian Images on Radio and Television, Steven Capsuto, 2000.