‘The Conners’ Reveals Family Member’s New Relationship

Love was in the air during the latest episode The Conners, and it brought an important conversation about self love with it. Tuesday’s new episode of the ABC comedy series revealed the beginning of a new relationship for one of the younger members of the famous family, shining a spotlight on the struggles of growing up as an LGBTQ individual in the U.S.

Spoilers ahead for The Conners Season 2, Episode 2: “A Kiss Is Just a Kiss”

The Roseanne spinoff series has addressed Darlene’s (Sara Gilbert) son Mark’s (Ames McNamara) sexuality and gender identity in the past. This week’s episode saw the young Conner family member struggle after getting in trouble when his friend Austin kissed him in the school cafeteria.

As Darlene struggled to make a decision about her love triangle with David (Johnny Galecki) and Ben (Jay R. Ferguson), she got a call from the school about the public display of affection. Harris (Emma Kenney) is jealous that Mark has a boyfriend to get in trouble with and she doesn’t, before Darlene asks what happened.

Mark reveals at the time that Austin came out to him as gay a week before, and the two were standing in the cafeteria when they found out it was personal pizza day. The excitement from the news motivated Austin to kiss Mark in front of everyone, leading to the school’s call.

Darlene, Mark and David later meet with his teacher, Austin and Austin’s stern grandmother at the school. Darlene quickly wonders aloud why the two boys are getting in trouble and lists examples of her own inappropriate behavior with boys when she attended the same school many years before.

The teacher clarifies that the meeting is not because the school has an issue with the same sex relationship, rather than with the public display of affection in the cafeteria. Austin’s grandmother is not as accepting and accuses Mark of being a bad influence on her grandson and criticizes him for liking nail polish and the way he dresses. Darlene quickly steps in to defend her son in the tense moment and tells the woman off.

Heartbroken, Mark tells his parents he wants to start dressing differently and not use nail polish anymore so that Austin will talk to him again. Darlene makes it clear that Austin’s grandmother is the one who hasn’t caught up to the times and there is nothing wrong with him or Austin. She explains that while it may take some time for his classmates and friends to live as freely and comfortable with themselves as he does, it will happen so he should never diminish himself for anyone.

What did you think of Darlene and David’s sweet parenting moment? The Conners airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.