History Main / BaitAndSwitchLesbians

Compare FauxYay and GayRomaticPhase. Related to the SweepsWeekLesbianKiss.

Compare FauxYay. Related to the SweepsWeekLesbianKiss.

-->-- '''Creator/BryanSafi''', ''[[http://current.com/items/90732681_thats-gay-lady-kisses.htm That's Gay]]''

This trope is also occasionally applied to male characters, usually in order to appeal to {{Yaoi Fangirl}}s and an LGBTFanbase without [[ButNotTooGay alienating homophobic viewers]], in which case it's usually known as queerbaiting. Queerbaiting is usually considered quite homophobic, or at least patronising and cynical when it's done these days, but in the past was often [[FairForItsDay the only way queer creators could make media featuring characters like themselves]] due to the values of the time. In these cases, the SlashFic fanbase often shows up to make the {{Subtext}} text.

* The opening credits of ''Manga/VenusVersusVirus'' combine this with BaitAndSwitchCredits, although the two girls never really have that kind of relationship in the show, which isn't helped by the GeckoEnding of the anime. Despite all this, the manga is licensed as a [[YuriGenre Girls Love]] manga. The two have quite the RomanticTwoGirlFriendship - not helped by all the touching, blushing, and lampshades- and by the end, it's all but stated Lucia is in love with Sumire. [[spoiler:However Sumire's bond with Lucia took a turn for the worse late into the series and even when it's rekindled it's ambiguous whether her affections are the same]]

* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' (the movie) Alice says that she and Bella will be "really good friends" in a suggestive manner, and Edward responds with a sneering, "Can you keep your thoughts to yourself!" It turns out that Alice is [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday definitely not gay]], and she really meant they would be good friends.

->''"We like our ladies to go les... but not full less."''

->"''We like our ladies to go les... but not full les.''"

* PlayedForLaughs in [[MultipleEndings one of the endings]] of ''Film/{{Clue}}''; after the whole movie is spent [[TransparentCloset dropping as many hints and gay jokes about Mr. Green as physically possible]] while giving him tons of HoYay with other cast members, Green casually declares that he’s going to go home and have sex with his ''wife'', causing the entire cast to do a DoubleTake.

%% Image kept on page per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1337714236094180100
%% Please start a new thread if you'd like to suggest a new image.

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/VenusVersusVirus https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lucia-sumire-bait1_2880.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:NotWhatItLooksLike.]]

* [[http://www.keenspot.com/data/news-candi-dec2008.jpg This]] ad for ''Webcomic/{{Candi}}''.

This trope is also occasionally applied to male characters, usually in order to appeal to {{Yaoi Fangirl}}s and an LGBTFanbase without [[ButNotTooGay alienating homophobic viewers]], in which case it's usually known as queerbaiting. Queerbaiting is usually considered quite homophobic, or at least patronising and cynical when it's done these days, but in the past was often [[FairForItsDay the only way queer creators could make media featuring characters like themselves]] due to the values of the time. In these cases the SlashFic fanbase often shows up to make the {{Subtext}} text.

* ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis: Tokyo 2040'' spent its first half building the SempaiKohai relationship -- and RomanticTwoGirlFriendship -- between Priss and Linna. The final half of the series drops this subplot like a hot potato for a [[LastMinuteHookup sudden romance between Priss and Leon]] that fits the "offscreen explanation" part of the trope to a T; Leon shows up at her club while she's on stage, does a smarmy clap for her, Priss grins a bit, and from thereon in they're treated as dating. Ironically, it was the original ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis'' {{O|riginalVideoAnimation}}VA that gave rise to the mantra among many early anime fans that "All women in anime are lesbians. Unless they're bisexual."

** One Nana develops an infatuation with her roommate later in the series, encouraging her to get together with (and get back to) the one decent opposite-sex relationship that she finds... because [[ValuesDissonance the man in question is close to both of them, and that will keep them together]]. She moons over her in a way that she doesn't moon over the man she eventually marries. Nothing comes of it though and both women do eventually marry. In later chapters however, we find that, after a short while, both women ''do'' separate from their husbands. One of them leaves Japan, and the other plans to go after her, claiming that she "loves" her.

* The opening credits of ''Manga/VenusVersusVirus'' combine this with BaitAndSwitchCredits, although the two girls never really have that kind of relationship in the show, which isn't helped by the GeckoEnding of the anime. Despite all this the manga is licensed as a [[YuriGenre Girls Love]] manga. The two have quite the RomanticTwoGirlFriendship - not helped by all the touching, blushing, and lampshades- and by the end it's all but stated Lucia is in love with Sumire. [[spoiler:However Sumire's bond with Lucia took a turn for the worse late into the series and even when it's rekindled it's ambiguous whether her affections are the same]]

* The opening credits of ''Anime/MagicalPokaan'' feature TWO pairs. Although the four main female characters are paired up and almost-kiss each other while [[BarbieDollAnatomy sort of naked]], nothing even close to this happens in the actual show... but then again the entire OP seems [[BaitAndSwitchCredits deliberately misleading]].
* Played with in the opening credits of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. There's a scene where two naked, sparkly versions of Madoka hold one another in a transformation sequence, with the second Madoka kissing the transformed Madoka on the forehead to complete the transformation. Cut to the actual show and there's barely any touching or sign of a romantic relationship between the nearly all female cast. The infamous space hugs between the naked but sparkly forms of Madoka and Homura were edited in the movie cut to be wearing white dresses. Cue Rebellion, though, and the romantic tension seems to be turned all the way up in a deliberate fandom nod, with the English dub somehow being even more shippy between the girls.
* Used in an episode of ''LightNovel/RentalMagica''. In order to ensure the safety of her mage corporation, Addie plans on getting married -- to Honami. Almost the whole episode is spent on them preparing for this girl-girl wedding. Then Itsuki interrupts, runs off with the brides, and declares that he'd rather [[MarryThemAll marry them both]]. It was an AlmostKiss too....

** Actually, [[spoiler: Nanako refers to the "university student" she fancies in the end... with gender-neutral pronouns. She could perfectly be about to date an university ''girl'', as far as we know]].

* A particular egregious example is the relationship between Akihito and Hiroomi in ''LightNovel/BeyondTheBoundary''. The narrative is not at all shy about WillTheyOrWontThey tension between Aki and Mirai, and yet Hiroomi acts ''gay as hell'' whenever he's around Aki, including lovingly touching his body and giving him an AffectionateNickname. When Akihito and Mirai inevitably ended up together, some fans complained about Hiroomi allegedly existing just to trick {{Yaoi Fangirl}}s into watching a show revolving around yet another heterosexual romance.

* A somewhat mild version occurs in ''[[Anime/PrettySammy Magical Project S]]'' between Sasami and Misao, since the characters are underage. They're very close friends, and there's subtext there, but the end of the show very haphazardly pairs them up with their {{Mentor Mascot}}s Ryo-ohki and Rumiya respectively, even though they didn't know either boy had human forms until the end of the show.
* The old [[YuriGenre Girls Love]] manga ''Manga/MayasFuneralProcession'' ends with one of the girls marrying her male childhood friend, even though up until that point she'd been very {{Squick}}ed by the idea of marrying him, since she viewed him as LikeBrotherAndSister.

* Rika and Hanyuu come millimeters away from kissing -with hands intertwined and eyes closed, no less- in the closing theme of ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry: Kai''. Rika is fairly AmbiguouslyBi but it's never so obvious. To be fair though, [[spoiler: a big part of the reason why they're not a couple is because they're related... specifically Rika is Hanyuu's descendant]].

* ''Literature/SoundEuphonium'' has caused controversy due to this. Many (if not most) fans were drawn in due to Kumiko and Reina's relationship. Even though ''exact'' nature of their their bond is never specified, the first season is incredibly heavy on the HomoeroticSubtext, which all [[ShipSinking seems to be moot]] when Reina confesses to Kumiko that she has feelings for their (male) [[TeacherStudentRomance teacher]]. This doesn't do much for the subtext between the two, but it's still unusual to confess feelings for someone else if you like someone, making fans debate whether anything canon was even really occurring between them. Season 2 began with the same sort of tension between the two, but over time Reina's crush on Taki took center stage in her arc (despite the continued HomoeroticSubtext between her and Kumiko). This made fans believe even more that they were being baited last season. In the books Kumiko ultimately ends up with [[spoiler:Shuuichi]] but the anime downplayed him heavily, making fans worry that they'd get StrangledByTheRedString at the end. That didn't occur though. [[spoiler:[[NoRomanticResolution Nothing comes out of]] either Shuuichi/Kumiko or Reina/Kumiko.]] The ending ''did'' end with [[spoiler:Kumiko sobbing "I love you" to ''Asuka'', though it's hard to tell if it was platonic or romantic..]] Complicating things even further is the revelation in later books that [[spoiler:Shuichi and Kumiko broke up]], which makes any subtext between Kumiko and other girls afterward stand out even more.

* At the end of the first chapter of ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11376451/7/Celestia-takes-a-vacation Celestia Takes a Vacation]]'', Princess Luna is seen tackling Twilight into her bedroom once they're sure Celestia is gone. Several chapters later, it's shown the two are actually engaging in all night gaming sessions now that they don't have enforced bedtimes.

* ''Film/JennifersBody'': The earliest trailers showed Jennifer and Needy in intimate situations and despite their making out in the movie, both are only seen and mentioned as being with boys. However, there is enough tension seen between them in the movie for someone to reasonably assume that the two girls were bisexual. The argument could even be made for Jennifer being a closeted lesbian, since all of her male interests were either the result of jockeying for social position, or trying to keep Needy for herself. In fact, after a scene of Needy gazing a little too blissfully at Jennifer, another girl says to her point blank: "You are totally [=LesbiGay=]." Creator/MeganFox even says she played Jennifer as a very closeted lesbian. Needy also may be at least bisexual, since she's ''very'' into kissing Jennifer. Still, this bit only makes up a small part of the film, and it goes no further.

** Creator/PatrickTroughton and Frasier Hines were given a lot of room in how they wanted to play the Doctor and Jamie, and chose to interpret a lot of their scenes as if they were lovers. Particularly of note is the scene in "The War Games" where the Doctor has to look for an item in Jamie's sporran, and starts rooting around in there, with Jamie making appropriate facial expressions. There's also a telesnap of the Doctor looking up Jamie's kilt with an approving expression.
** Mike Yates would technically be the first canonically bisexual companion, but due to the era it's mostly expressed via innuendo, such as a ''very'' suggestive look at the tea-boy who [[HoneyTrap helped him infiltrate Global Chemicals]] and a little scene where he flirts with the Brigadier.

** There's a common fan theory that "Arc of Infinity" is based slightly on the Eurotrash gay porn that was popular in the 80s....

* A large amount of ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'' fans have speculated about the sexuality of Veronica and Betty. This occurred when the trailer was released showing the two kissing. In context, Veronica kisses Betty as part of an in-universe queerbaiting GirlOnGirlIsHot 'special move' during her cheerleading tryout, and Betty's main love interest in the show is Jughead. Actress Lili Reinhart, who plays Betty, stated that Betty and Veronica are just friends and that the show is not meant to be fan fiction (as if making characters non-heterosexual makes it fan fiction...) and that the kiss was just a taste of their friendship. Many fans have since stated that the kiss was used for queerbaiting. The fact that, after the kiss, the GenreSavvy Cheryl points out that hot girls kissing each other for male attention is cliché shows that the writers knew exactly what they were doing, as well. ''Riverdale'' then did it again by showing Archie and Joaquin kissing in a promo for a season 2 episode. In the actual episode, Joaquin only kissed Archie to distract him enough to stab him.

** There was a spoof of the song featuring Creator/KarenGillan as Katy Perry called "Why I Kissed a Girl" where she claims she only kissed a girl to get a hit. At the end of the video she is picked up by her boyfriend and rudely ditches the female dancers she was performing with up to that point.

* ''Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild'': Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy hit this hard given their fierce devotion to each other is at the heart of the whole play and they invoke almost every romantic trope along the way. Their formerly-warring families [[StarCrossedLovers disapprove of their friendship]], when the rest of the school shuns them they declare they [[UndyingLoyalty don't need anyone but each other]], are canonically "heartbroken" [[ForbiddenFriendship when they're forced apart]] and exchange [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove numerous heartfelt confessions]] about how much they mean to each other. [[note]] Albus: "You're probably the best person I know. And you don't - you couldn't - hold me back - you make me stronger - and when Dad forced us apart, without you...." Scorpius: "If I had to choose a companion to be with at the return of eternal darkness with, I'd choose you." [[/note]] Albus is named after one of the only confirmed gay characters in the franchise, and the two of them together are pretty much a GenerationXerox of its most popular gay pairing. [[spoiler: Scorpius refuses to live in a world without Albus in it, the villain knows Scorpius is Albus's greatest weakness and the script outright parallels their feelings with the doomed Snape/Lily romance. Then in the second to last scene Scorpius... asks out Albus's cousin Rose who has acted like a complete {{Jerkass}} and treated him horribly.]] A number of fans were ''not'' pleased, especially as Rowling was seen as a genuine advocate for the LGBT community (well… the LGB community…).

* On the surface the ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' series seems to have all the LesYay an all-female game could want, but playing through the games themselves shows that there is only one, possibly two, girls that like girls, and the only certain one is a dlc character in a game that got retconned.
* You can bet that, considering the ImprobablyFemaleCast, the ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' fandom has every trope regarding to love etc covered in detail multiple times over - including this one. That said, ZUN never stated or denied homosexual relationships between his characters and also never used this trope himself, so when discussing it with fans, please use discretion.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' is very, very, ''very'' homoerotic, which is a major part of its appeal (as it's [[{{Camp}} one of the things that sets it apart from other cinematic-styled games]]). This was not really the focus in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', which, despite the innuendo-laden subplot about Gray Fox, was marketed as a heterosexual love story about Snake and Meryl, but has received increased attention from ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 3|SnakeEater}}'' onwards - ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 4|GunsOfThePatriots}}'' trailers showed Raiden and Vamp in [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything white-blood-spraying]] OrgasmicCombat, and trailers for ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid V|GroundZeroes}}'' prominently featured Snake and Kaz's AlmostKiss, for example. Despite this, most indication of Snake's bisexuality is kept to acting choices (whether voice or motion capture) or humorous {{Easter Egg}}s, with Snake and Otacon remaining nominally heterosexual (although clear [[TheNotLoveInterest Not-Love Interest]]) characters until the very end. And Kaz is supposed to be a womaniser, something that gets on Snake's nerves enough that Snake has to fight him completely naked with soap flying everywhere. The only same-sex relationships that are utterly, canonically confirmed are: Volgin is having sex with Raikov, Ocelot is in love with Snake (whose degree of reciprocation is ambiguous), and Strangelove was a lover of The Boss. Even Vamp, an openly bisexual character, is only ''rumoured'' to have been involved with Scott Dolph, who he never mentions in the game (outside of a LooseCanon bonus mission); his relationships with Fortune and Naomi are way more important than anything he has with a male character.
* ''VideoGame/TheMissingJJMacfieldAndTheIslandOfMemories'' majorly plays with this trope. The game begins with what appears to be J.J. and Emily on a romantic camping trip, until Emily goes missing and J.J. goes looking for her. Their conversations in the messenger app show J.J. to be a lot more talkactive than with other people, and go into more in-depth, personal issues, and giving mentions of J.J. having a secret that only Emily knows. Everything looks like the two of them are in a potentially secret, lesbian relationship. Near the end of the game things become even more complex. [[spoiler:The events were a dream J.J. had while in a coma, having tried to commit suicide some time earlier. She did this because she's transgender and began to get bullied and harassed over it, and leaving her relationship with Emily in the 'real world' to be even more ambiguous. And that's not getting into the fact that Emily herself is implied to be a homoromantic asexual -- someone attracted to their own gender, but having no sexual interest in anyone -- and she might have been going through her own little journey.]]

* ''Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild'': Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy hit this hard given their fierce devotion to each other is at the heart of the whole play and they invoke almost every romantic trope along the way. Their formerly-warring families [[StarCrossedLovers disapprove of their friendship]], when the rest of the school shuns them they declare they [[UndyingLoyalty don't need anyone but each other]], are canonically "heartbroken" [[ForbiddenFriendship when they're forced apart]] and exchange [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove numerous heartfelt confessions]] about how much they mean to each other. [[note]] Albus: "You're probably the best person I know. And you don't - you couldn't - hold me back - you make me stronger - and when Dad forced us apart, without you...." Scorpius: "If I had to choose a companion to be with at the return of eternal darkness with, I'd choose you." [[/note]] Albus is named after one of the only confirmed gay characters in the franchise, and the two of them together are pretty much a GenerationXerox of its most popular gay pairing. [[spoiler: Scorpius refuses to live in a world without Albus in it, the villain knows Scorpius is Albus's greatest weakness and the script outright parallels their feelings with the doomed Snape/Lily romance. Then in the second to last scene Scorpius... asks out Albus's cousin Rose who has acted like a complete {{Jerkass}} and treated him horribly.]] A number of fans were ''not'' pleased, especially as Rowling was seen as a genuine advocate for the LGBT community (well… the LGB community…).

* ''Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild'': Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy hit this hard given their fierce devotion to each other is at the heart of the whole play and they invoke almost every romantic trope along the way. Their formerly-warring families [[StarCrossedLovers disapprove of their friendship]], when the rest of the school shuns them they declare they [[UndyingLoyalty don't need anyone but each other]], are canonically "heartbroken" [[ForbiddenFriendship when they're forced apart]] and exchange [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove numerous heartfelt confessions]] about how much they mean to each other. [[note]] Albus: "You're probably the best person I know. And you don't - you couldn't - hold me back - you make me stronger - and when Dad forced us apart, without you...." Scorpius: "If I had to choose a companion to be with at the return of eternal darkness with, I'd choose you." [[/note]] Albus is named after one of the only confirmed gay characters in the franchise, and the two of them together are pretty much a GenerationXerox of its most popular gay pairing. [[spoiler: Scorpius refuses to live in a world without Albus in it, the villain knows Scorpius is Albus's greatest weakness and the script outright parallels their feelings with the doomed Snape/Lily romance. Then in the second to last scene Scorpius... asks out Albus's cousin Rose who has acted like a complete {{Jerkass}} and treated him horribly.]] A number of fans were ''not'' pleased, especially as Rowling was seen as a genuine advocate for the LGBT community.

* In the opening credits of ''Manga/{{xxxHOLiC}}'', Maru and Moro are seen holding each other and being very touchy-feely, and it's clear that they're about to kiss before looking at the camera. However, the show proper shows absolutely no clue of a romantic relationship between them, depicting them as young children who rarely emote and share a sisters-like relationship.

* ''Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild'': Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy hit this hard given their fierce devotion to each other is at the heart of the whole play and they invoke almost every romantic trope along the way. Their formerly-warring families [[{{StarCrossedLovers}} disapprove of their friendship]], when the rest of the school shuns them they declare they [[{{UndyingLoyalty}} don't need anyone but each other]], are canonically "heartbroken" [[{{ForbiddenFriendship}} when they're forced apart]] and exchange [[{{AnguishedDeclarationOfLove}} numerous heartfelt confessions]] about how much they mean to each other. [[note]] Albus: "You're probably the best person I know. And you don't - you couldn't - hold me back - you make me stronger - and when Dad forced us apart, without you...." Scorpius: "If I had to choose a companion to be with at the return of eternal darkness with, I'd choose you." [[/note]] Albus is named after one of the only confirmed gay characters in the franchise, and the two of them together are pretty much a GenerationXerox of its most popular gay pairing. [[spoiler: Scorpius refuses to live in a world without Albus in it, the villain knows Scorpius is Albus's greatest weakness and the script outright parallels their feelings with the doomed Snape/Lily romance. Then in the second to last scene Scorpius... asks out Albus's cousin Rose who has acted like a complete {{Jerkass}} and treated him horribly.]] A number of fans were ''not'' pleased, especially as Rowling was seen as a genuine advocate for the LGBT community.

* You can bet that, considering the ImprobablyFemaleCast, the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' fandom has every trope regarding to love etc covered in detail multiple times over - including this one. That said, ZUN never stated or denied homosexual relationships between his characters and also never used this trope himself, so when discussing it with fans, please use discretion.

* ''VideoGame/AtelierAyesha:'' In an early cutscene, Regina jokes about marrying Ayesha if she can't find a man. In a later cutscene, she gropes Ayesha in a dark cave, and Ayesha tells her to stop "Before I get confused about a lot of things," which suggests that Regina's attentions are not unwelcome. Nothing comes of any of this: Ayesha ends up living with her sister, and Regina gives up adventuring to look after her younger siblings.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The original ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' series ended with [[Characters/{{Runaways}} Nico Minoru]] declaring that she was done with boys and sharing a meaningful look with Karolina, who canonically had a crush on her. Throughout much of the second series, Nico angsted about losing Karolina after the latter went off to space, and it seemed like they might become a couple when Karolina returned. But then Karolina came back with a fiancee, and Nico ended up with Victor for the rest of Creator/BrianKVaughan's run. A similar thing occurred when Nico joined ''ComicBook/AForce''; the creative team hinted that something might happen between her and Singularity, only to turn around and state point-blank that it was merely a PrecociousCrush on Singularity's part.

* The original ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' series ended with ComicBook/NicoMinoru declaring that she was done with boys and sharing a meaningful look with Karolina, who canonically had a crush on her. Throughout much of the second series, Nico angsted about losing Karolina after the latter went off to space, and it seemed like they might become a couple when Karolina returned. But then Karolina came back with a fiancee, and Nico ended up with Victor for the rest of Creator/BrianKVaughan's run. A similar thing occurred when Nico joined ''ComicBook/AForce''; the creative team hinted that something might happen between her and Singularity, only to turn around and state point-blank that it was merely a PrecociousCrush on Singularity's part.

-->-- '''Bryan Safi''', ''[[http://current.com/items/90732681_thats-gay-lady-kisses.htm That's Gay]]''

* Elphaba and Glinda from ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' have a very close bond. It starts off as pure FoeYay full of BelligerentSexualTension but morphs into a fluffy friendship, most likely the closest in the musical. It's even thicker than in the [[Literature/{{Wicked}} source book]], as the musical focuses almost entirely on them. However Glinda is apparently in love with Fiyero and Elphaba's in love with Fiyero, [[spoiler:plus he lives in the musical]], so that gets in the way of any of their romance. WordOfGay backs their romance up but it's hard to say whether they were ever together.

* ''Literature/SoundEuphonium'' has caused controversy due to this. Many (if not most) fans were drawn in due to Kumiko and Reina's relationship, though what ''exactly'' is their bond is never specified. The first season is incredibly heavy on the HomoeroticSubtext, however near the end Reina confesses to Kumiko that she has feelings for their (male) [[TeacherStudentRomance teacher]], Taki. This doesn't do much for the subtext between the two, but it's still unusual to confess feelings for someone else if you like someone, making fans debate whether anything canon was even really occurring between them. Season 2 began with the same sort of tension between the two, but over time Reina's crush on Taki took center stage in her arc (despite the continued HomoeroticSubtext between her and Kumiko). This made fans believe even more that they were being baited last season. In the books Kumiko ultimately ends up with [[spoiler:Shuuichi]] but the anime downplayed him heavily, making fans worry that they'd get StrangledByTheRedString at the end. That didn't occur though. [[spoiler:[[NoRomanticResolution Nothing comes out of]] either Shuuichi/Kumiko or Reina/Kumiko.]] The ending ''did'' end with [[spoiler:Kumiko sobbing "I love you" to ''Asuka'', though it's hard to tell if it was platonic or romantic..]] Complicating things even further is the revelation in later books that [[spoiler:Shuichi and Kumiko broke up]], which made any later subtext Kumiko have with the other girls stand out further.

* Classic ''Series/DoctorWho'' often did this - while the people making the show were open-minded about the subject (as theatrical people tended to be even in those days), homosexuality was illegal for the first five years of its run and then prohibited from children's television by MoralGuardians for the next ten. Same-sex innuendo was often put in as a means of adding colour to the often programmatic side characters, GettingCrapPastTheRadar, or as a means of poking gentle fun at the Doctor's [[ChasteHero enforced lack of interest]] in women. Naturally, this got it a large LGBTFanbase, and many of its stars (Frasier Hines, Creator/TomBaker, Kate O'Mara, Creator/SophieAldred...) got serious gay-icon cred for their roles in ''Who''. By contrast, the 2005 revival series skips the coy innuendo and allows itself to be ''actually'' gay (with occasional falls into friendly QueerPeopleAreFunny from time to time).

* The emotions between the girls in ''Manga/{{ARIA}}'' often reach romantic levels, only to be cut off before they become ''too'' obvious. Many fans complained about this trope applying to Alicia and Akari, the intimate mentor/student main duo; and Aika, who had a huge girl crush on Alicia for her work as one of the top Primas in Neo Venezia. That the story focuses so much on the former two's relationship, with the finale placing extra emphasis on [[spoiler:their emotional goodbye before Alicia's retirement and Akari beginning to place herself in the same role for Ai]], feels very weird when compared to the boys they were all actually teased with (who admittedly do get chapters devoted to their relationships with the girls, but not nearly as much as their relationships with each other). [[spoiler:And sure enough, Alicia was revealed to be in a heterosexual relationship the whole time, with [art of the reason for her retirement being that she's getting married soon]].

* The emotions between the girls in ''Manga/{{ARIA}}'' often reach romantic levels, only to be cut off before they become ''too'' obvious. Many fans complained about this trope applying to Alicia and Akari, the intimate mentor/student main duo; and Aika, who had a huge girl crush on Alicia for her work as one of the top Primas in Neo Venezia. That the story focuses so much on the former two's relationship, with the finale placing extra emphasis on [[spoiler:their emotional goodbye before Alicia's retrirement and Akari beginnign to place herself in the same role for Ai]], feels very weird when compared to the boys they were all actually teased with. [[spoiler:And sure enough, Alicia was revealed to be in a heterosexual relationship the whole time, with [art of the reason for her retirement being that she's getting married soon]].

* The emotions between the girls in ''Manga/{{ARIA}}'' often reach romantic levels, only to be cut off before they become ''too'' obvious.
** Fans noticed quite a few scenes in which Alicia and Akari seem to be ''very'' close to kissing. Maybe this is the reason why Amano introduced some rather forced male romantic interests later on.

* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'': Former lore writer Runaan wrote a Twitter post where she accused Riot of queerbaiting with Graves and Twisted Fate after the ''Double Double Cross'' cinematic. Within the post, she explained she had been trying to write the pair as married for years and faced open hostility about it from her higher-ups, only for Riot to claim the HomoeroticSubtext between the pair was intentional, suggesting that teasing the pair was okay but [[ButNotTooGay actually having the two be married was unacceptable.]]