Mike Wheeler was just made unambiguously, or—in practical terms—canonically queer.
I just found a brilliant thread on Twitter by @stachaser about the Jack Kerouac poster visible in epilogue Mike’s college bedroom (written in Portuguese but I included the full translation under this embedded link).
Here’s the translation:
They can do whatever they want, but nothing will change the fact that Mike is implicitly queer.
He’s the only character—along with Robin and Will—who has queer references inside the series.
In fact, he has even more references than Robin and Will, who are canonically part of the community.
He knew community terms back in the 80s.
He defended a queer punk rock band [Butthole Surfers] that used queer references both in its name and in its lyrics.
He has a Jack Kerouac poster in his damn bedroom—a bisexual writer.
If he likes Jack Kerouac, then he likes Allen Ginsberg too, who was openly gay and Jack’s best friend.
He knows the Beat movement, which was against conservatism and conformity.
In his works, Jack talked about attraction and passion for other men—and not only that, but also about the religious guilt of feeling it, which could very well be a sign of Mike’s own internalized homophobia.
Mike, canonically, likes works, music, and literature that go against the norms and standards of society at the time.
He canonically likes songs that make fun of fragile masculinity.
The band he likes so much has an explicitly queer name, and its songs do too.
He appreciates Jack’s works, which talk about desire for other men.
None of that is there by accident. Those elements are carefully chosen to fit together and make sense with the character’s personality.
Mike is a writer who is against conformity, likes works that mock it, defends freedom, and rejects imposed standards.
I don’t know which old bald white guy prevented him from being officially gay in the show, but all the references to Mike’s sexuality are in the show itself—implicitly—even in his last scenes.
I don’t care if you disagree or come insult me. I’m not going to see it because my notifications are turned off. So you can cry and seethe in my comments or in the quotes—I don’t give a damn.
Nothing is going to change the fact that Mike is, yes, implicitly queer.
Mike was never made official as a straight character, so considering him straight is also a headcanon.
He never rejected Will—he never even knew about Will’s feelings.
The Byler ending was left totally open to the audience’s interpretation, as was Mike’s sexuality.
And it’s not just his personal tastes that are queer-coded—his clothes in S4 were, too, yes, deliberately thought through. All the characters’ outfits have details with meanings.
And if you’ve never studied the Beat Generation or don’t know Allen and Jack, I recommend looking them up and reading their works!
There’s also the movie Kill Your Darlings, which talks about the start of Allen’s career, his friendships, his SEXUALITY, and the beginning of the Beat Generation.
You can’t talk about Jack without talking about Allen, and you can’t avoid talking about the Beat Generation.
They were its pillars, and that movement opened the way for freedom of sexual expression.
Allen defended that openly.
They were important figures who challenged the norms.
Mike having him in his room means more than many people think.