tank as part of a paranoid delusion, though the episode recognized Ritalin as a legitimate alternative. This plot was revisited in the season 30 episode "Crystal Blue-Haired Persuasion" when Bart has to change his medications. LGBTQ Issues LGBT themes and issues are explored in several episodes. In an interview, Matt Groening expressed his friendship and support to homosexuals, saying that "gay men are starved for positive portrayals of lasting love". The first appearance of a character implied to be gay was in the season 2 episode "Simpson and Delilah", in which the character Carl (voiced by Harvey Fierstein) kisses Homer. The season 8 episode "Homer's Phobia" was the first episode to entirely revolve around homosexual themes. The episode features the gay character John (voiced by John Waters), who is not immediately identifiable as a gay man and does not conform to the typical gay stereotype. After initially being fond of John, Homer acts strongly against him when he finds out about his sexuality. Homer eventually accepts John for who he is. The episode won a GLAAD Media Award, with GLAAD calling the episode "a shining example of how to bring intelligent, fair and funny representations of our community onto television". Two later episodes that explored LGBT issues were the season 14 episode "Three Gays of the Condo" and the season 16 episode "There's Something About Marrying". The former features Homer's time living with gay roommates, while the latter centered on the right for homosexuals to get married and included Marge's sister Patty coming out as a lesbian. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation described the latter episode as a "ray of light". The character Waylon Smithers was presumed to be gay for much of the show's run and came out in the season 27 episode "The Burns Cage", in which he briefly dates Julio. Smithers is shown to have a passionate and deep love for Mr. Burns; as late as 2007, during the show's 18th season, Matt Groening and executive producer James L. Brooks wrote in an interview that Smithers, being focused on one particular individual, was not homosexual, but "Burns-sexual". Smithers had expressed feelings for Mr. Burns in several episodes prior to his coming out. Immigration The season 7 episode "Much Apu About Nothing" follows the immigration debate as Mayor Quimby blames higher taxes on illegal immigrants, and the city undergoes a period of xenophobia targeting foreign residents.