Sarah: I wanted to have a word with you about your news. Zoe: You mean the blessing. Jack: Uh, well, I have things to do. I'll see you later. Zoe: Fairly typical Emmerdale reaction. Sarah: Yeah, well, he just finds it difficult to know what to say. We've never been invited to a blessing before. Zoe: A lesbian blessing. (21st March 1996)
Sarah ready and eager to discuss Zoe's upcoming blessing VS Jack avoidant and unwilling to engage discussion of homosexual love. Typical Emmerdale reaction = Oh, so he's done this before. He's pulled this behavior before re: discussions of homosexuality, and Zoe's lesbianism in particular. He just finds it difficult to know what to say, but he wouldn't have this problem with a straight m/f couple, would he? He doesn't know how to respond or react to Zoe's lesbianism or Sarah's open acceptance of it, so he refuses to engage with it, refuses to acknowledge it. ("He said it was for skiving, but he couldn't look at me for weeks. I knew what it was for.") His homophobia! If he doesn't engage with it, doesn't acknowledge it, doesn't look at it, then it can't hurt him, it's not a threat to him or his way of life. He's not hateful but the topic makes him uncomfortable and he runs away to avoid it and he can't even look at his own son for weeks, he's afraid of homosexuality and what it means, the implications, the threat to idyllic pastoral patriarchal life.
