These jokes hardly classify as homophobic.

eh… These gay jokes are “homophobic” in the way that jokes on “All in the Family” were “racist” - the humor was a play on cultural norms and attitudes, inviting us to dissect our own anxieties and explore why certain ideas about sexuality or gender permeate throughout culture, which is exactly what comedies of manners have done since Shakespeare. To me, “Friends” was a lot less worrisome to the LGBTQ movement than “Glee,” which does a hell of a job promoting gay stereotypes in the name of “tolerance.”