Was Billy Loomis Gay?

For a number of years now, the characters of Billy Loomis and Stu Macher from Scream (1996) have been the focus of rather serious conjecture, implying that the partners in homicide may have also been intimate with each other—or, at the very least, at some point, they shared a lustful connection. A point of ambiguity has always been whether the homoerotic subtexts present in Scream were included deliberately. At the time the murders occurred, were Stu and Billy actually in love? Alternatively, had Billy—a narcissistic psychopath—simply used Stu to do his bidding, taking advantage of their bond in order to have power over Stu? Or, are the enthusiasts of horror films simply over-analyzing things, interpreting the subtext of Scream in ways that were never intended?

Prior to the release of last year's Scream (2022), the writer Kevin Williamson clarified the situation, stating that the romantic connection between Stu and Billy wasn't simply fodder for memes. Williamson penned the initial script, taking cues from the real-life gay murderers Richard Albert Loeb and Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr. Fans of horror are aware that these individuals were students attending the University of Chicago in the beginning of the 1900s and that their ambition to carry out the ideal killing served as the basis for Hitchcock's well-known film Rope (1948), and additionally, the suspense film featuring Sandra Bullock, titled Murder by Numbers (2002). Williamson encourages admirers to delve into the background of Leopold and Loeb for the purpose of gaining a more complete comprehension of Billy and Stu:

One of the reasons that one could get the other one [to follow] is because I think the other one was secretly in love with him. And it was sort of a fascinating case study on double murderers. If you Google ‘Leopold and Loeb,' you will see. And you'll read about it and you'll get, OK, that's Billy and Stu.

Kevin Williamson, ‘Scream' Screenwriter Kevin Williamson Confirms Billy and Stu's Queer-Coded Relationship Was Based on Real Gay Killers

Franchise leading lady Neve Campbell also saw the queer subtext, stating that "If you wanna go there, maybe some of their anger arises from not being permitted to be themselves." During an interview conducted by Pride Source, she also pointed out that Stu was likely much more infatuated with Billy as opposed to the other way around. Williamson concurred, stating that "One assumed the role of leader, whereas the other played the part of follower." Pride Source additionally brings up that, several decades ago, Shawn and Marlon Wayans recognized the nuances of the relationship between Billy and Stu when they incorporated jokes alluding to their homosexuality within the Scary Movie (2000), which served as a spoof of Scream.

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Extracted From Thought Catalog Books