History Main / FlyingUnderTheGaydar

* Also occurred in ''Series/{{Degrassi}}'' with transgender character Adam. When having a family dinner with his grandmother, his mother begged him to dress up in girl clothes and go by his birth name, Gracie, as not to shock or upset the grandmother.

[[folder:Film]]

* In the Creator/BruceCoville short story "Am I Blue?", this is {{discussed|Trope}} and {{defied|Trope}} by Melvin the CampGay [[FairyGodmother fairy godfather]]. He can easily drop the mannerisms and look more masculine just by adjusting his posture. However, he's proud of himself and refuses to hide, not least since he lost his first life to a HomophobicHateCrime.

* On ''Series/WillAndGrace'', Jack overhears Will saying he wish he (Jack) weren't so "gay" (because Jack was being incredibly loud and campy around Will at a ''completely'' inappropriate time). Jack comes to the gym acting like an equally obnoxious and stereotypically straight man, even remarking, "Nice rack," at a young woman working there.

* The Kevins ("We're both named Kevin. It was cute, for awhile.") in ''Theatre/ComeFromAway'' try to do this when they're stranded in a tiny Canadian town in 2001, since "you just don't know where the red states are in a foreign country." However, they're so bad at hiding it that Diane doesn't even realize that they're trying to hide it in the first place. Then they drunkenly out themselves to the locals... and their waitress' response is to say, "You're gay? Well, praise be to God, my daughter's gay!" and everyone starts sharing stories about all their queer friends and relatives. The Kevins relax after that.

* One part of the ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' story "Freelance Bums" involves Torg, Riff and friends working to help a client and his boyfriend undergo this due to his parents not knowing he's gay. The attempt fails miserably and the guy decides to come clean instead.

* Variation from ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': [[TheSpymaster Varys]], who is treated as {{asexual}} due to being castrated at a young age, typically acts in a manner that would be called CampGay if he had the equipment for it in order to come off as a non-threatening, [[TheDandy perfumed dandy]]. When he must move about unseen, he sometimes [[ClarkKenting drops the act]] and dresses as a common soldier. It is incredibly effective; even people who interact with him on a daily basis have trouble recognizing him.

* An odd example in ''Series/{{Community}}'': Dean Pelton is asked to [[FauxYay ''pretend to be gay'']] so that the college can earn some good PR for diversity. For the dean, this is actually being asked to tone down his flamboyance (according to him, "gay" only covers about a fourth of his orientation).

[[folder:Multiple Media]]
* In the book, film, and theater versions of ''Film/TheBirdcage'', a gay man has to pass for straight to win over his son's new (and deeply conservative) in-laws. It does not go well. However, his drag queen lover '''does''' pass for a straight ''woman''.
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Inverse of FauxYay, where a straight character pretends to be gay. Compare/contrast TransparentCloset, where the character's gayness is obvious to everyone but themself, and DisguisedInDrag and SweetPollyOliver, where a character must temporarily pretend to be a different gender. Not to be confused with GetBackInTheCloset, where MoralGuardians treat gay works more harshly, and HideYourLesbians, where canon queer content is reduced to subtext.

When a gay (or bisexual), character, who is normally very [[CampGay flamboyant]] acts in a far less [[StraightGay stereotypical]] manner. This usually in order to hide his or her sexual orientation from another person's {{Gaydar}}. It may or may not be a part of TheMasquerade.

This is different from the standard StraightGay character who isn't campy to begin with. This trope only occurs when the character is normally very, very flamboyant, but is putting on an act.

TruthInTelevision, of course.

* In the Creator/BruceCoville short story "Am I Blue?", this is {{discussed|Trope}} and {{defied|Trope}} by Melvin the CampGay [[FairyGodmother fairy godfather]]. He can easily drop the mannerisms and look more masculine just by adjusting his posture, which he calls "protective coloration". However, he's proud of himself and refuses to hide, not least since he lost his first life to a HomophobicHateCrime.