Why Jason Being Closeted Makes Sense

Combination: Part Three

THIS IS JUST PARTS ONE AND TWO COMBINED, NOTHING IS ADDED AND NOTHING IS TAKEN AWAY

- NOT PROOFREAD, LOTS OF YAPPING, APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE

This has been a hyperfixation of mine for the past few days and when I tell you, I'VE SHED TEARS TO THIS LITTLE HEADCANON IDEA THING...
Okay, I may have lied BUT HEAR ME OUT!

From the moment we were introduced to this hunk of muscle, it's been pretty obvious he's not very accepting of what's considered wrong and out of the norm by mid-1980s standards, i.e. DND, punks, etcetc. Of course, none of this is really his fault, he's just a product of his time, (It is his fault). There's more to say about the 1980s and its very questionable views on many things, but that's not the main point of this post.

During the 1980s, and this no surprise, homosexuality was a hugely controversial topic among American communities, especially American suburbs; which, for the most part, Stranger Things takes place in.
The homophobia during this time was only made worse by the AIDS epidemic, which had slow down quite a bit by 1986, but neither the overall fear nor would people's growing animosity towards gays, specifically gay men, just disappear. I'd say it only got stronger, and strangly enough, united a lot of Americans at the time.
Even if you were to take the 1980s out of Jason... or the other way around, there's still a very prominent part of Jason that would cause him to ostracize and have very terrible opinions of those who differ from him; Jason is a Christian.
That sounded more dramatic than it needed to be, but I digress.

While I'm not trying to generalize and villainize all Christians because I know a lot of Christians aren't bigoted scumbags, but homophobia is a very serious issue among a lot of Christians, especially Christian men, which Jason is. With how easily Jason managed to put a whole ass manhunt against a group of people he's been proven to hate in some way or another in the name of religion and revenge, I wouldn't say a homophobic Jason would be too far out of the question.

Now, you may be wondering how this ties into my main point. Well, my dear reader, we're getting right into that. Let's say a certain attraction of sorts gets Jason questioning everything he's ever known. "If it's so wrong, then why does it feel so right?" Do you get what I'm laying down?

If not, don't fret! Here's a slightly better way of putting it:
Jason Carver, captain of Hawkins High Basketball Team, and Chrissy Cunningham, head cheerleader of the Hawkins Tigers; the perfect 'All-American' couple, right? While it isn't directly stated, it's sort of implied that the two were falling out of love, more Chrissy than Jason, but my point still stands.

"Jason's relationship with Chrissy was only initially believed to be healthy and loving. However, he may not have known her as well as he would have liked to believe... in fact, they appeared quite distant from one another. It is revealed that Chrissy never mentioned her troubled home life and inner struggles to Jason, thinking he would never understand her. Because Jason and Chrissy were the basketball and cheerleading captains, it is implied that their relationship was a case of forced conforming, as society expected them to be a couple. Despite appearances, they didn't truly know each other as well as they each believed."
— Stranger Things Fandom Wiki

I don't find the Fandom Wiki to be the greatest of sources, but this helps out my argument and makes me seem a little less 'reachy', if you know what I mean. While I do believe this relationship started out full of genuine love and affection, humans are naturally complicated creatures and things change; in this case, attraction.
This is the definition of a 'Beard', not the hair covering one's face but rather, a 'Beard Couple':

"A "beard" is an antiquated slang term for someone whose social presence serves to mask aspects of someone else's true self from the public. In the early days of queer culture, a "beard" was a wife, girlfriend or female companion who acted (wittingly or not) as social cover for a closeted gay man."
— The Wisdom Daily