Jimmy’s homophobia seemed too obvious a cover for his own sexuality from early on in the story. It’s so sad that things haven’t improved enough in the US for all teenagers to be able to accept their own feelings. The layers of homophobia (institutional, societal, interpersonal, and personal) are incredibly deep-seated. Although things have improved in many areas (in the sense of the four layers as well as geographically) since I was a child, LGBTQs+ are still not as accepted as cis-heterosexual. There is always an assumption of heterosexuality unless there is evidence to suggest otherwise.