Gay Wayne ships are not hurtful. Whatsoever. Especially not in the way that the fandom treats them.
Firstly, Wayne is not “straight”. He doesn’t state that he is a heterosexual on the show. He doesn’t say he’s straight. He doesn’t even say he “just likes girls”. He is just seen as a good ally to Raj, and makes no comments on his own sexuality. Yes, Terry claimed he was. But you should know that doesn’t mean that in canon, he is undeniably straight.
I’ve heard the argument of “he’s an important representation of straight allies”, and I have to refute it with… the fact that every other character is an ally in the show? There are no homophobic characters in the reboot. And unless all of these characters are confirmed canon queer, then we aren’t running low on straight ally characters.
Yes, it’s nice to have characters who support and are close with lgbtq characters. But all of the characters are supportive. Maybe Wayne being confirmed gay would be an odd route to take, but two gay people just being very close friends is also underrepresented in media. This isn’t some quota we have to fill, and gay Wayne ships aren’t erasing anything.
I used to have a fixation on lgbtq history and whatnot as a “strong ally”, so does that mean I’m a bad example for allies because I turned out gay? No! It doesn’t mean anything! It doesn’t mean all allies are gay! But it also doesn’t mean all gay people were once allies, and that allies will probably soon be gay. Gay people, believe it or not, are not “overrepresented in media”. This show has more allies than queer people by a landslide.
Say Emma was confirmed to like girls. Would that say that the friends of gay men are always sapphics? Would it be erasing straight-girl-with-a-gay-best-friend rep? Prolly not. Would it be saying girls who are friends with gay guys have to like girls? No. That’s ridiculous. And Emma is straighter than Wayne in canon, as she’s attracted to two men during the series while Wayne shows no attraction.
Would Rayne being canon erase rep? Uh… not really. It’d be weird to say that two close gay guys can’t just be friends, I guess? Or that guys who are very close can’t be straight? It really doesn’t, but I get how some people could interpret it. But Wayne being gay doesn’t erase anything. And shipping Rayne means even less! It doesn’t hurt you! It won’t affect the show! It’s not controversial or immoral in any way! Get over yourself.
Basically. Straight Wayne doesn’t represent shit. And there isn’t anything wrong with gay Wayne headcanons. Get over it.
-🦚 (coming from someone who doesn’t even like Wayne… let people live.)