Fuller House character Stephanie Tanner comes out
(L-R) Jodie Sweetin, Lori Loughlin, and Candace Cameron Bure (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty)
Stephanie Tanner, one of the main characters in Netflix’s Fuller House, has come out as LGBT+ in the show’s fourth season, which was released on December 14.
The character, who is played by Jodie Sweetin, hinted that she had dated a woman in episode eight of the newly-released season four.
In the scene, Stephanie is attending a veterinary awards ceremony with her sister D.J. and their friend Kimmy. When D.J. misses out on the award for best veterinarian in the area, Stephanie comments: “His clinic was only open for three weeks! I had a girlfriend longer than that.”
Stephanie’s “coming out” moment has drawn huge attention from queer fans across the world—some of whom have been following the show since it first aired as Full House between 1987 and 1995.
At the time, the show focused on Danny Tanner having to raise his three young daughters D.J., Stephanie and Michelle after his wife dies, counting on the help of two new housemates.
One fan tweeted: “STEPHANIE TANNER IS BISEXUAL I LOVE THAT.”
Another reacted with: “STEPHANIE TANNER CAME OUT AS BI???? WE BEEN KNEW.”
Somebody else added: “Can’t stop thinking about Stephanie Tanner being bisexual oooh ya.”
Another said: “Excuse me Stephanie Tanner had a girlfriend what the f**k I stan.”
Intrigued by the scene, one fan tweeted Candace Cameron Bure, who plays D.J., to ask if it had been improvised.
“Jodie changed up the line in that last take and I didn’t know it was coming.”
— Candace Cameron Bure
Cameron Bure replied on December 14: “Jodie changed up the line in that last take and I didn’t know it was coming—so that was our honest and true reactions.”
Stephanie is currently in a relationship with Kimmy’s brother, Jimmy—so it looks like she won’t be having a same-sex relationship anytime soon.
Is Candace Cameron Bure anti-LGBT?
Despite Fuller House‘s new LGBT+ theme, Cameron Bure has been accused of being anti-LGBT+ in the past.
In 2015, she sided with Christian bakers who refused to serve same-sex couples in the name of religious freedom.
Then, two years later, her views came into question again when Cameron Bure posted a photo of herself wearing a t-shirt that had drag queen Bianca Del Rio’s trademark line: “Not today Satan” written on it.
Bianca Del Rio responded by calling Cameron Bure “homophobic.”
However, she rejected the accusation of homophobia, writing in response to the drag queen’s remarks: “Why do you have to be nasty to me? You don’t know what’s in my heart. I’m not homophobic and always sad when people think otherwise. Loving Jesus doesn’t mean I hate gay people or anyone.”
Conservative viewpoints won’t affect Fuller House
Cameron Bure said in an interview in 2016 that her views on religious freedom would not affect how she would handle an LGBT+ storyline on Fuller House.
Fuller House cast (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty)
She made the remarks on a Television Critics Association (TCA) panel, and said she supports “all things that we go through as human beings.”
She also said she would love the characters in the show to explore “whatever issues that are current in our culture and our society today.”
Cameron Bure also added that comments she had made on The View were in relation to religious freedom, and did not relate to her feelings on marriage equality.
