A Show about Straight People Called "Breeders."? What's Next, a Show About Black People Called ____

 Breeders!  What a tone-deaf title for a sitcom!  Surely someone somewhere in production knew that "breeder" is a derogatory term for heterosexuals, not as bad as the f__ word for gay people, but still bad:

"A breeder walked up to a drag queen and said '"If being gay is so great, why are there so few of you, and so many of us?."  The drag queen gave him Attitude and said 'Honey, have you checked all the closets?"

"A breeder came home to find his house on fire.  He collapsed onto the ground, sobbing.  A fireman came up and said, 'Don't worry, your wife and kids got out safely.   "Yes, but I'm missing the big game!"

"What's more boring than two breeders having sex?  Um....[Pretend you're trying to think of something. Take a long time.)"

It's not a relic of the 1980s-90s gay world, or confined to America..  The popular British website Breederf*kers frames BDSM scenes as gay guys "getting revenge" on breeders who are homophobes, racists, bullies, or just jerks.

On Grindr, profiles commonly state "No breeders," meaning nobody "on the downlow," enjoying all of the privileges of heterosexual identity while having gay sex in secret.

So maybe the title is intentional?  According to the premise of Breeders, "Paul is a caring father who discovers that he's not quite the man he thought he was."  "Not quite the man" is usually homophobic code for "less than a man," that is,  "gay."  He's also got a "partner" named Ally, a couple of kids (aged from 4/6 and 11/13 between seasons), two aging parents,  a ne-er-do-well father-in-law, and a friend.

Top photo: Two guys who pop up when you do a Google Image search on Patrick Baladi (the friend). 

Left: Alex Eastwood, who plays the older version of Luke (the son).  He has anxiety issues.

So how would coming out in this tight-knit extended family of "breeders" be handled?  Especially if the producer is too homophobic to have any gay friends and become aware of the term's meaning?

The episode guide on IMDB gives no hint that Paul is coming out:

"The kids won't sleep at night."

"Paul and Ally are thrilled that the family gerbil has finally died."

"After his father-in-law's death, the family stays with Darren at his country house."  It sounds like Darren is the father-in-law's widowed partner, but he's actually the friend. 

"Ava struggles to keep a profound secret from Paul." Sounds like Ava, Paul's daughter, is coming out, but as she's only four years old, that is unlikely (you can know that you're gay at age four in real life, but on tv you have to be a teenager or an adult).  

"Ally struggles to avoid revealing her true feelings to Luke."  "True feelings" usually means "romantic feelings," but Luke is Ally's son.  

The fan wiki doesn't give any indication, either.  Apparently Paul is straight  "Not quite the man he thought he was" means "a different type of man," one who is prone to anger.

Paul is played by Martin Freeman, who is also executive producer.  Not Morgan Freeman: A British actor known for playing Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit and LOTR movies and Dr. Watson on Sherlock Holmes (in the series criticized for teasing a romance between Sherlock and Watson, only to heterosexualize them at the last minute).  

White-haired at age 50, he is woefully miscast as the father of 2 and 4-year old children.  He should be playing one of the grandparents. But he is politically liberal and probably a gay ally.

Didn't he know?  Surely someone in the cast and crew was gay, and could tell him.  Or maybe not.  

I can hear the gay crew members gossipping: "Did you hear what our show is called?"  "Who's going to tell him?"  "If a breeder wants to call himself a breeder, who am I to complain?"