It was also made clear that he was doing it strictly as a way to get out of the military. He was never a trans or gay character.
True. It did add to the anti-military message in it, and we didn't watch it much in my house (a military family) but I did watch it a few years later in re-runs.
It was largely a sitcom, so this guy who seemed perfectly normal wearing a dress and acting like a guy in every way, while everyone else around him mostly stopped noticing, was mildly funny to me. All in all, I saw the actual movie twice, and less than ten episodes.
I always find it interesting when decry open homosexuality in movies and television, and LGBTQ people look a and say "Why are you upset about homosexuality in movies? Flip Wilson, Benny Hill, or even Mrs. Doubtfire have all been on the screen..." to which I reply "Everyone knew they were a movie prop, meant to get a laugh, not to promote homosexuality...and none of them were homosexual."