NBA player Dwight Howard, who has missed most of this season with an injury, was recently accused by his alleged transgender partner of trying to keep their relationship under wraps.

When this story first came out, I didn’t think much of it. The accusation wasn’t of any legal wrongdoing, just of… a famous man being intimate with men, and hiding it. That was the “news” of this, or at least that’s the part that anyone cared about.

I know the social media audience, especially on Twitter, to be irrational, reactionary and immature. But it’s almost 2019 — is a man being attracted to men even a story anymore? Is it something to joke about anymore? Are people still viscerally homophobic, enough to be loudly public about it?

Apparently yes, yes, and very much yes.