Is Mr. Smithers a positive portrayal of being gay in animation?

I like Smithers but he's not really that known to be a model for gay america unless most homosexuals are meek yes man. That's like saying Helen is a good icon for divorced-single mothers. But he is one of the best potrayals of gay man in cartoons he's subtle with it.
 
He's deeply closeted, that's not a good model to follow. What a lot of you guys are interpreting as not being "in your face" about it comes from him fearfully hiding it. He's obviously not meant to be a positive portrayal, of course, he's meant to be a guy with problems.
 
That and not many gay and lesbian characters in (American) animation as it is, especially ones that aren't some sort of stereotype that even live-action shows mostly wouldn't use anymore or not fully acknowledged as being gay/having their relationships treated as openly on the show as the other straight characters' (just "nudge-nudge, wink-wink, you-know-what-we-mean" stuff...).

-B.
 
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