Was Will Byers’ Coming-Out Scene in Stranger Things Historically Accurate?
Coming out in a room full of people could have been dangerous in the 1980s. Read on to see just how risky it would have been for Will to come out publicly.
The final season of Stranger Things has come to an end, and many viewers are still processing it. However, several moments from the second and third volumes left audiences disappointed. Alongside the finale itself, which has sparked mixed reactions, one particular scene from Volume Two stood out: Will Byers’ coming-out scene.
The act of coming out itself is not the issue. Rather, it is the way the scene was written and presented that left many viewers dissatisfied. Since Stranger Things is set in a specific historical period, namely the 1980s, it raises an important question: was Will’s coming out historically accurate?
Will’s Coming-Out Scene
I’ll answer immediately: Will’s coming out is unrealistic for the time period depicted in the series. In fact, the scene is depicted in a modern way. When a show is deliberately set in a specific historical era, it is reasonable to expect a certain level of authenticity, not only in interior and exterior design or costume choices (which Stranger Things handles quite well), but also in the mentality and social attitudes of the time.
Will’s coming out in a room full of people is not only historically implausible, but it could also have been dangerous in real life. During the 1980s, homosexual individuals were frequently rejected, judged, disowned, and discriminated against. A more historically accurate scenario would have been for Will to come out privately, perhaps first to his mother and brother, and only later to his friends. Such a scene would likely have carried greater emotional weight and felt more grounded in the realities of the period.
Moreover, many gay individuals who were young during the 1980s might have found such a portrayal far more relatable. The social climate of that decade, particularly shaped by the AIDS crisis, offers a clear picture of what life was like for homosexual people at the time.
AIDS and Mentality
To better understand why Will’s coming out feels modern rather than historically grounded, it is important to briefly explain the context in which AIDS emerged. The appearance of AIDS in the early 1980s created global panic, as the disease was largely unknown. Since many of the first identified AIDS patients were homosexual men, the media at the time portrayed it as a “gay disease.” AIDS was often referred to as the “gay plague” or GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency).
Fear surrounding AIDS led to widespread stigma and discrimination against those infected with HIV or suffering from AIDS. Individuals who succumbed to the virus were often associated with homosexuality and perceived as immoral. Combined with misinformation and ignorance about how the disease spreads, this fear resulted in abandonment, social isolation, and serious violations of human rights.
Final Thoughts
With this context in mind and considering the fact that Will and his friends come from Hawkins, a small Midwestern town in Indiana, it is very possible that Will would have experienced abandonment or discrimination. Not necessarily from his friends, but more likely from other members of the community. In small towns, word spreads fast, and secrecy would have been hard to maintain.
For these reasons, Will’s coming out, had it occurred in real life during the 1980s, could have been extremely risky. Of course, Stranger Things is ultimately a Netflix series. Still, this context helps explain why the scene feels disconnected from the historical reality it aims to portray.
Let us know in the comments what you think about Will’s coming-out scene!
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Sources:
Baingana, F.; Thomas, R.; Comblain, C. HIV/AIDS and mental health, HNP The World Bank, Washington D.C., 2005
Cartwright, F. F.; Biddiss, M. Bolest i Povijest, Naklada Ljevak, Zagreb, 2006
Fee, E.; Fox, D. M., ur. AIDS: The Burdens of History, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1988
Stranger Things, Netflix, 2016-2025