Background Audio... Clip #1: Ellie: Okay I cannot believe Friendship Club brainwashed Spinner. Jimmy: There’s not much brain to wash. Marco: Guys they don’t brainwash. They’re too busy singing and praying and stuff.

Ellie: Tomato, tamoto. Religion is so boring and lame. Marco: Uh hello, Catholic over here. Ellie: Um Marco you’re gay. Marco: And therefore I can’t be Christian? Ellie: All I’m saying is the church…not too big on the gays. Marco: Well things are gonna change. It just, it takes time. Clip #2: Marco: Stop. Look just leave us alone. Go home, go to church, do whatever! Linus: Why don’t you try going to church? Marco: I do. Every Sunday. *Marco shows him his necklace* Linus: They let you in? Marco: What’s that supposed to mean? Linus: I think you know exactly what it means. The bible’s clear about sexual deviancy. Marco: What?! Who is this bigoted freak?! Linus: So I’m a freak? It’s better than being a homo. (transcripts from Degrassi:The Next Generation Transcripts)

Background Info...

Marco Del Rossi, a young Italian boy born and raised in a Catholic home. His father and mother are very strong in their traditions, his father even having a strong Italian accent. Marco attends church every

sunday and lives a life pleasing to his parents, until he becomes confused. The episode "Careless Whisper" (season 2, episode 14) starts off with people teasing Marco about being gay. Marco swears he isn't gay, or at least he don't think so. To prove to the guys in his class that he isn't gay, Marco decides to ask his best friend Ellie out on a date. They are extremely good friends and good friends make good dates, right? The thing Marco doesn't realize is that Ellie actually has feelings for him. This leads to uncomfortable situations for Marco when they are at the movie theater and Ellie tries to hold his hand. It's also very uncomfortable for Ellie when she has to be constantly defending Marco's sexuality. Finally Marco breaks down. Ellie and Marco are alone in a room ready to make out when Marco confesses to Ellie. He's confused. He don't know if he's gay or not and he just wants to take things slow, to see if it's only a stage.Ellie agrees to play his girlfriend for a while until he figures out what he wants in life. Finally, after roughly a year goes by and still no sign of Marco wanting to actually start anything real, in the episode "Pride" (season 3, episode 4), Ellie breaks up with him. This leaves Marco depressed and Paige's older, gay brother, Dylan, to comfort Marco. Dylan was telling Paige that he knew Marco was gay but Paige wouldn't hear any of it, saying Marco was cute, a friend, and happily involved with Ellie (that was before the break-up). Marco then develops a little crush on Dylan. In the episode "It's Raining Men" (season 3, episode 19) Marco and Dylan go on their first date. All of this happening but Marco still never letting his parents know anything about his secret.

By the time season four rolls around, Dylan gets a little aggrivated with Marco. He don't want to force Marco into doing anything he don't want to, but the charade with his parents have gone on long enough and in the end, Dylan leaves Marco in the episode

"Moonlight Desires" (season 4, episode 20). Marco becomes really upset with this and when his mother questions him about being upset, she thinks he lost Dylan as a friend, until she starts to understand that Dylan was more than just a friend. Marco's mother ends up accepting her son for who he is, but they dare not tell his father. By the time season five starts, Marco is over Dylan and ready to move on. This is when Tim shows up. Tim is a new guy and is very shy. When he starts to open up to Marco he admits to being gay. Marco talks Tim into coming out. When Tim tells his father that he's gay, his father kicks him out of their house. Marco feels responsible for what Tim had to go through. He also feels bad for being such a hypocrite, telling Tim it would be easy to come out, yet he never told his father. Because of this Marco asks his parents can Tim stay at their house. Everything was alright at first, until Mr. Del Rossi found out that the reason Tim was kicked out was because he was gay. Mr. Del Rossi is very homophobic and gets very upset. He tells Marco that he don't want any queer under his roof. This is what angers Marco and Marco's reply is "What if you already have one?" Finally, when Marco gets his 3 year old secret off his chest, he finds out that although his father is upset and thinks he raised his son wrong, he don't get mad and kick him out. Mr. Del Rossi actually ends up accepting his son in the end, although he do keep teasing Marco about girls and stuff, in a way it's almost like he is hoping his son is only going through a stage. After coming out to his father, Marco and Tim finally start dating.

Issues Concerning Religion...

Season five is the first glimpse we get of Christianity on Degrassi: TNG. In the episode I Against I (season 5, episode 14) we first get a run in with Christianity and homosexuality. When Marco decides to organize a  Safe Sex Seminar, the Christian

students in "Friendshiop Club" get offended. They think that giving out free condoms are only going to encourage teens to have sex. Linus, the President of "Friendship Club" tells Spinner to try and talk Marco out of it, because Marco is his friend and might listen to him. When Marco don't listen, Linus and Spinner devise a plan. They are going to protest with signs, tell the people that the only safe way is abstinence. This is when Linus comes to blows with Marco.

Prior to all of this, we find out that Marco considers himself a Christian. Earlier that week (before the safe sex seminar) Marco and Ellie are at the school carnival passing out flyers for the safe

sex seminar. Ellie sees Spinner hanging with "Friendship Club" and mentions how she thinks they have him brainwashed. Ellie though is a self-proclaimed atheist and even mentions how she thinks religion is boring and lame. Marco gets offended at this, mentioning how he himself is Catholic. Ellie counters this remark by telling him he is gay and that the Church  is "not too big on the gays." This leads to Marco saying that everything takes time and things will change (background audio clip).

Ellie's Statement is somewhat reconfirmed when Linus and "Friendship Club" Protest the Safe Sex Seminar. It starts off by Linus telling Marco that by giving away free condoms he is only

encouraging students to have sex. Marco finds this statement to be crazy and tells Linus and "Friendship Club" to go home or go to church or something. Linus then replies, saying "Why don't you try going to Church?" Of course, Marco and his family are Catholic and Marco is in church everyday, so Marco tells him he does go to Church and shows him his necklace. Linus is a little shocked but says that he's surprised they let him in. Marco calls Linus a freak and Linus tells him that being a freak is better than being a homo. This leads to a fight between Linus and Marco, other students jump in to split them up.

In society today, to be Christian is to be a homophobic. People put two and two together. Degrassi: TNG plays on this assumption. A lot of the times this assumption is true though and homosexuals do get a lot of ridicule from the Church. In most cases though it is not. Most Christians live and judge their lives by love. The reason why Degrassi: TNG shows "Friendship Club" in such an extreme way is more of a teaching than it is a bashing. It isn't trying to show Christians as the bad guys like most people think when they first watch the episode. It is trying to show these extreme Christians who take every word of the Bible to be literal that there are things in this world that goes against what the Bible says. It also shows them that, like Darcy, we have to live our lives for ourselves and not follow other people (Darcy didn't take part in the protest because she thought that someone would get hurt and she didn't want to hurt anyone even if she didn't agree with what they were doing).