History Main / ButNotTooGay

* Parodied in ''Series/QueerAsFolk (US)'' (which averts this good and hard) with the ShowWithinAShow ''Gay As Blazes''. The characters [[HaveIMentionedIAmGay mention that they're gay every five seconds]] which is the only indication whatsoever of any of their sexual orientations. [[JerkassHasAPoint Brian calls this out immediately]], while the others take a while to lose patience with the show.

* Production stills for an episode of ''Series/HappyEndings'' showing Max kissing a male guest star were released but the episode as aired had them awkwardly fist bump. Showrunner Jonathan Groff[[note]]Not that one.[[/note]] was so concerned about invoking this trope that he pre-emptively reached out to a gay-interest pop culture website to address it.

->''...and even though their relationship is super new and they are super attracted to one another, they do not make out at all.''
->''(Do not drink. That is not gay. That is TV gay.)''

* Curtis, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{Phantasmagoria 2}}'', has three love interests -- two women and one guy. The women both get multiple sex scenes. The guy? Well, they ''almost'' kiss. Apparently, showing men actually kissing is much edgier than showing fairly explicit straight BDSM.

* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' has LesYay '''overflowing''' in [[ShipTease teasing]] and subtext, up and including two women sharing a bed and [[HasTwoMommies raising a daughter together]], and plenty of mentioned groping in the [[AllThereInTheManual Sound Stages]]. But good luck seeing an actual kiss or explicit flirting in the actual show by anyone, [[NoHuggingNoKissing same sex or not]]. Also, the only couple confirmed on screen are a man and a woman (Chrono and Amy, who are mentioned to be married).

[[folder:Film]]

* Despite the revelation that the late Music/WhitneyHouston was a lesbian, the movie "''I Wanna Dance With Somebody''" never depicts a single moment of intimacy between her and her girlfriend. No sex scenes, not even a kiss. Although this might be justified whenever they're in public so as not to enrage the public, it makes no sense for when they're in the privacy of their home.

* ''ComicBook/TheNewGuardians'', an obscure team of {{Captain Ethnic}}s, had Extraño who was Creator/DCComics' first openly gay character. Despite him being very CampGay the word is never actually used, and his sexuality was basically comic relief. Then the PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Hemo-Goblin [[CrossesTheLineTwice gave him AIDS]].

* The 1995 film ''Film/HigherLearning'': Two college-age girls (one gay, the other bisexual) share a ''very'' chaste kiss where their lips barely touch and that lasts for only slightly more than a second. They are both in the privacy of the gay girl's bedroom and are not showing much skin. Then there's another love scene between a boy and a girl (both straight); they are making out more or less in public, and are in their skimpy track-and-field clothes, with the girl [[BareYourMidriff baring her midriff]]. The boy is ''right on top of the girl'', and the camera lingers on them a lot longer than on the two kissing girls. When this movie is shown on American television, it gets even worse: the girl-on-girl scene is cut ''entirely''! (We do see the girls briefly holding hands in both the theatrical and edited-for-TV versions, however.) At the very least, it's good to see that, unlike most other media depictions, [[GirlOnGirlIsHot the girls aren't treated more sympathetically for not being]] ''[[GirlOnGirlIsHot male]]'' [[GirlOnGirlIsHot homosexuals]].

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': Rick Sanchez is pansexual according to WordOfGod, but the only time he actually tries to sleep with a man (as in, not out of accident or humiliating someone else) is in the Vindicators comic, where he tries to pull the moves on Vance; and one episode where he explicitly states that he had (and still holds a torch for) Bird Person. Otherwise, he sleeps with women in the show, comics and everything else plenty of times.

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': Rick Sanchez is pansexual according to WordOfGod, but the only time he actually tries to sleep with a man (as in, not out of accident or humiliating someone else) is in the Vindicators comic, where he tries to pull the moves on Vance. Otherwise, he sleeps with women in the show, comics and everything else plenty of times.

->''"...and even though their relationship is super new and they are super attracted to one another, they do not make out at all.''

* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' has LesYay '''overflowing''' in [[ShipTease teasing]] and subtext, up and including two women sharing a bed and [[HasTwoMommies raising a daughter together]], and plenty of mentioned groping in the [[AllThereInTheManual Sound Stages]]. But good luck seeing an actual kiss or explicit flirting in the actual show by anyone, [[NoHuggingNoKissing same sex or not]].

* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'': Captain Holt and his husband Kevin have never kissed throughout the entire series. [[PlayedForLaughs However]], they're both such hilariously uptight stoic dorks that even a handshake would count as a hot-and-heavy makeout session. [[spoiler:At least until season 8, where they go through a rough patch in their relationship, briefly split, subsequently reaffirm their love for each other, and have TheBigDamnKiss.]]

* Turned UpToEleven in "Strangers", an episode of ''Series/{{Thirtysomething}}''. The episode featured two men post-coitus who were not allowed to touch because of ExecutiveMeddling. They barely even look at each other.

* FanPreferredCouple Lyra and Bon Bon got this in [[LowerDeckEpisode Slice Of Life]] on ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. While the couple insisted with ''heavy'' emphasis that they were "best friends", their body language was incredibly romantic and the context of their conversation was akin to a lover's quarrel. It was mostly done [[PlayedForLaughs tongue-in-cheek]] to parody [[{{Shipping}} Shippers]] (as the entire episode was a ShoutOut to the PeripheryDemographic), but there's little doubt it was also done this way so they could deny everything if the MoralGuardians took offense.

** In ''ComicBook/Runaways2015'', despite the miniseries being written by an openly gay woman and featuring a lesbian version of ComicBook/{{Jubilee|MarvelComics}} as the main character, the only actual lesbian kiss in the miniseries occurs in shadow.

** In ''ComicBook/Runaways2015'', despite the miniseries being written by an openly gay woman and featuring a lesbian version of ComicBook/JubileeMarvelComics as the main character, the only actual lesbian kiss in the miniseries occurs in shadow.

* Averted, on ''Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand'', by various gay characters, especially in ''War of the Damned'' with Agron and Nasir.

* Nicely averted in [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8514012/1/Keena-the-Defendants-of-Constan-Magic-Academy Keena & The Defendants Of Constan Academy]] with Lily and Michie. While it was a rather TakeOurWordForIt kind of moment, chapter 12 has them admitting that they indeed have had sexual intercourse.

* Skewered in ''Fanfic/HuntingTheUnicorn'' both humorously and seriously; the Warblers lampshade Kurt and Blaine's relationship by complaining about how chaste and [[TastesLikeDiabetes tooth-rotting]] it is, but then comes the eleventh chapter where we find out that Blaine has a ''really'' good reason for being [[ParalyzingFearOfSexuality terrified of sex]]. [[spoiler:He tried to invoke SexEqualsLove, ended up strung along for weeks, and Blaine's big brother effectively had to break things off ''for'' him. By [[BewareTheNiceOnes threatening to burn the guy alive]].]] His discomfort only gets ''worse'' after he and Kurt get together [[DramaticIrony because he doesn't want Kurt to end up like he did]], and he tends to [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom avoid any and all discussion]] of the inherent problems this will cause.

* One Website/TikTok video mocks the concept and how it's used in 2010s American banking commercials. The spoof shows various couples who have various onscreen moments of physical intimacy...and one gay couple, who is only allowed to stand next to each other and smile at the camera. By the end of the commercial, the couple is royally pissed at the narrator for downplaying their relationship and forces them to acknowledge the couple once, and the narrator reluctantly obliges in a backhanded way (by finally saying they also cater...to "[[SymbolSwearing f**gots]]").