Of course the readers know he and the other men are, but LKH has been denying this all along. Now she outs him

I always assumed JC and the other men in the series were bisexual, unless it was explicitly written that they were gay or straight. Most of them have had/enjoyed relations with both men and women.

As to Richard, yeah I agree...I don't so much see the homophobia. A lot of people aren't comfortable around nudity, let alone nudity of the same sex. Doesn't mean he has issues with homosexuality.