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4[[quoteright:350:[[Series/QueerAsFolkUS https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/queer_as_folk_cast.png]]]]
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6->''"Ugh, these preconceived notions about gay people. It's time to dispel that stereotype--through a lavish musical number!"''
7-->-- '''Greg Corbin''', ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad''
8
9Characterization, narrative and sexuality tropes commonly applied to queer characters, e.g. homosexuals, bisexuals, transgender people, etc.
10
11While in the real world, [[UsefulNotes/{{LGBT}} LGBTQ+]] persons are just as varied in personality and traits as straight/cisgender ones, it has suited television writers to use common stereotypes for their gay characters in lieu of actually making them "real people". In general, gay TV characters have become more realistic since the 1990s. But the stereotypes still remain the favorite tool of [[WritingPitfallIndex the hack writer]] -- or the comedy auteur looking to parody or [[BlackComedy shock]]. Even some LGBTQ+ people perpetuate the stereotypes by criticizing those who fall outside of them as "[[NoTrueScotsman not really gay]]" or words to that effect.
12
13In contrast to gay characters and their stereotypes, ''bisexual'' characters are [[NoBisexuals virtually unknown]] on TV. Writers don't seem to know how to portray them, although when they do appear they tend to be TheCasanova or LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces, [[DepravedBisexual at best]]. It's also not uncommon for their same-sex attraction to only be mentioned, while their onscreen love interests are always the opposite sex. And even when bisexuality ''is'' depicted, it's almost never called by name.
14
15Within media intended for gay audiences, gay writers have their own subculture of stereotypes that occasionally leak into the mainstream.
16
17See GenderAndSexualityTropes for tropes dealing with sexuality in general.
18
19Trope Name is a pun on the English idiom "there's nowt [[HaveAGayOldTime so queer]] as folk", used for the trope-subversive [[Series/QueerAsFolkUK British]] and [[Series/QueerAsFolkUS American]] shows of the same name.
20
21!!Tropes
22[[index]]
23[floatboxright:
24Subcategories:
25+ BisexualityTropes
26+ GenderBlendingTropes
27+ HomophobiaIndex
28+ LGBTPlusCreators
29+ LGBTRepresentationInMedia
30++ QueerMedia
31+++ NewQueerCinema
32+++ QueerRomance
33++++ BaraGenre
34++++ YaoiGenre
35++++ YuriGenre
36+ TransgenderTropes
37]
38
39* AdaptationalGenderIdentity: When a character's gender alignment is changed in an adaptation, e.g. cisgender to transgender.
40* AdaptationalSexuality: When a character's sexuality is changed in a work's adaptation. Often happens to gay characters.
41* AdoptingTheGenderBinary: A member of a NonHumanNonBinary or OneGenderRace transitions gender to a binary gender.
42* AgentPeacock: A feminine male character of any sexuality whose feminine traits serves to make him more badass.
43* AllGaysLoveTheater: The idea that all gay men are theater fanboys, and everyone who works in theater is naturally gay.
44* AllGaysArePedophiles: The idea that all gays (especially men) want to molest children.
45* AllGaysArePromiscuous: The idea that gay men have no self-control when presented with the possibility of sex.
46* AllLesbiansWantKids: The idea that all lesbians want to get pregnant and have biological children.
47* AllTheGoodMenAreGay: Searching for love in all the gay places.
48* AlwaysCamp: Certain occupations attract [[CampGay certain]] [[CampStraight personalities]].
49* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: Are they [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} trans]], nonbinary, [[SexShifter genderfluid]], intersex or simply a [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdresser]]? Who knows.
50* AmbiguouslyBi: A character may seem bi, but no one knows for sure.
51* AmbiguouslyGay: A character may seem gay/lesbian, but no one knows for sure.
52* AwkwardlyGayDream: an inexplicable and uncomfortable EroticDream involving homosexual relations from a straight character.
53* ArmouredClosetGay: The self-loathing gay guy who hides behind a macho facade.
54* BaitAndSwitchLesbians: Two female friends appear to be lesbians, but aren't.
55* TheBear: Gay men who sport a glorious CarpetOfVirility.
56* TheBeard: When a gay person dates the opposite sex to appear straight.
57* BigBeautifulMan: A man whose full size is attractive. Usually a gay trope these days, and often also TheBear.
58* BisexualLoveTriangle: A character is caught between a same-gender and opposite-gender option.
59* BuryYourGays: No happy endings for LGBT+ characters.
60* ButchLesbian: A masculine lesbian.
61* ButNotTooBi: Bisexuality that is tilted to suit the sexuality and gender of the target audience.
62* ButNotTooGay: Gay affection/love not being shown as if not to offend anyone.
63* CampGay: A feminine male homosexual.
64* CampStraight: A feminine male heterosexual.
65* CampyCombat: A feminine male straight, gay, or bisexual, tends to fight in a flamboyant way.
66* CastFullOfGay: When most of the characters in a work are gay or not straight.
67* CelibateHero: Heroes who understand but prefer not to engage in romance and/or sex.
68* ChasteHero: Good guys are clueless about love or lust.
69* ClosetGay: An LGBT+ character is hiding their orientation.
70* ClosetKey: An attractive character who helps another character of the same sex realize that they're gay or bisexual.
71* ClubKid: A personification of the worst stereotypes about male homosexuals.
72* CoaxThemOutOfTheCloset: Someone tries to convince a closeted LGBT+ person to come out.
73* ComingOfAgeQueerRomance: A younger character (late tweens to early teens) realizes they are queer and enters a relationship with another queer character.
74* ComingOutStory: A character reveals to other characters that they're gay (or otherwise queer).
75* ComingStraightStory: A straight character has an inverted ComingOutStory after pretending to be gay.
76* ComingOutToSpouse: A character comes to their spouse as LGBTQ+.
77* CreepyCrossdresser: A character crossdresses, and it is portrayed as creepy, shocking, or outright evil.
78* CriminalFoundFamily: Characters rejected by society find family with each other and in acts outlawed by society.
79* {{Crossdresser}}: Someone who regularly wears clothing normally associated with another gender.
80* CureYourGays: Gays must be made straight!
81* DepravedBisexual: A psychopathically violent bisexual character.
82* DepravedHomosexual: A psychopathically violent gay character.
83* DiscountLesbians: It's not gay if they aren't human.
84* DragQueen: A man who puts on flamboyant woman's clothing on special occasions.
85* DudeShesALesbian: A person is informed that the person he is hitting on is gay.
86* EveryoneIsBi: Gender does not factor into the characters' formation of relationships.
87* EverybodyWantsTheHermaphrodite: An intersex character has the most admirers.
88* ExperimentedInCollege: Trying homosexuality or bisexuality in college. Like GayRomanticPhase, it might be just a phase.
89* ExtremeOmnisexual: A character will have sex with anything.
90* FagHag: A straight woman who prefers the company of gay men to that of straight men or other women.
91* FamilyOfChoice: When a group of characters who've been disowned by their own families decide to be each others' family instead.
92* FauxYay: An extended ruse where characters pretend to be gay.
93* FlamingDevil: An implicitly or explicitly gay depiction of Satan.
94* FlyingUnderTheGaydar: A queer character goes out of their way to act straight or cisgender to allay suspicion.
95* ForcedOutOfTheCloset: When a character is outed by somebody else.
96* GayAesop: A work teaches its audience that gays are people, too.
97* GayBarReveal: The hero goes to a random bar for drinks, and HilarityEnsues when he finds out it's a gay bar.
98* GayBestFriend: A gay person whose main lot in life is to shout "You go, girl!" to the hetero hero.
99* GayBravado: Characters making homoerotic comments and suggestions to one another is PlayedForLaughs, because of ''course'' they're too macho to really be gay.
100* GayConservative: A conservative and usually affluent gay.
101* GayCowboy: A gay or bi man who is a {{Western}}-flavored character or just a fan of the genre.
102* GayCruising: Men seeking out anonymous casual sex with other men, oftentimes in public.
103* {{Gaydar}}: The ability to detect gay people who haven't outed themselves to you.
104* GayEuphemism: Avoiding direct usage of homosexuality-related terms.
105* GayGroomInAWhiteTux: Gay weddings as portrayed in the media.
106* GayGuySeeksPopularJock: The gay guy wants to hook up with a top athlete.
107* GayMoment: A man has a moment with another man with unintentional homoerotic undertones, then affirms in response that he is not gay.
108* GayOption: When a player character in a video game can pursue romantic relations with a member of the same sex, if the player is so inclined.
109* {{Gayborhood}}: A neighborhood where everyone is gay.
110* {{Gayngst}}: Being miserable because you are gay.
111* GayngstInducedSuicide: Suicide for reasons relating to being gay.
112* {{Gayngster}}: A gay person involved with organized crime.
113* GayRomanticPhase: The idea that gayness is a phase that one goes through before growing up and getting into a heterosexual relationship.
114* GenderNonconformingEqualsGay: Gender non-conformance is a definite sign of gayness (or queerness).
115* GetBackInTheCloset: When a work jumps up the rough framework for what's "inappropriate" because it contains gay content.
116* GirlfriendInCanada: A character says he has a girlfriend, but she doesn't exist.
117* GirlOnGirlIsHot: When sexual relations between two females are used as {{fanservice}}.
118* GirlsBehindBars: A women's prison setting played for fanservice, typically with strong lesbian overtones.
119* GorgeousGeorge: A professional wrestler who takes on many homosexual mannerisms but stops short of admitting to being a homosexual.
120* GuyOnGuyIsHot: Same as its DistaffCounterpart, but for the other half of the audience.
121* GymBunny: A gay man who works out a lot, likely just to look good and/or meet guys.
122* HaveIMentionedIAmGay: A work repeatedly says a character is gay, but we never see them engage in homosexual activities.
123* HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster: "Have you tried being straight?" or "Have you tried dating a man/woman?"
124* HelloSailor: Men in the Navy go gay due to lack of female options.
125* HereditaryHomosexuality: Homo- or bisexuality runs in families.
126* HetIsEw: [[YaoiFan Yaoi Fans]] and [[YuriFan Yuri Fans]] view heterosexual ships as "gross".
127* HideYourLesbians: Homosexual relationships/people hidden under a veil of subtext.
128* HomoeroticSubtext: Gay subtext without either character being gay.
129* HomosexualReproduction: Two characters of the same sex somehow have a child that is biologically related to both of them.
130* HoYay: Fans see homoeroticism unintended in a work.
131* IfItsYouItsOkay: When a gay or straight character makes a single exception for sex or romance with someone outside their normal gender preference.
132* IncompatibleOrientation: Two characters would make a good couple, if it wasn't for their different sexuality.
133* LastHetRomance: The heterosexual partner/relationship that results in a gay or lesbian character realizing they're queer and coming out.
134* LateComingOut: A character comes out as queer later in life.
135* {{Leatherman}}: A (usually gay) man who wears leather.
136* LesbianJock: A lesbian who plays sports. Alternatively, the assumption that all women who play sports are lesbians.
137* LesbianVampire: A female vampire who preys on young women. Alternatively, the assumption that all female vampires are lesbians.
138* LGBTAwakening: A character realizes their sexuality or gender identity for reasons unrelated to falling in love with someone.
139* LGBTFanbase: When a work--with or without intentional homosexual undertones--attracts an LGBT fanbase.
140* LipstickLesbian: A feminine lesbian.
141* LoverAndBeloved: A (sometimes ambiguously) gay couple in which one partner is much older than and acts as a mentor to the other.
142* MachoCamp: A man is very large and muscular, but acts CampGay.
143* MagicalQueer: A (usually {{camp| gay}}) gay man who is CloserToEarth.
144* ManlyGay: A masculine male homosexual.
145* MasculineFeminineGayCouple: A same-gender couple where one partner is quite masculine and the other is quite feminine.
146* MentorInQueerness: A, usually older, out character who acts as support for a newly-out or questioning character.
147* MistakenForGay: A character or a duo are mistaken to be gay by other people.
148* MoreDiverseSequel: A sequel can be more gender and sexuality-inclusive than its predecessor.
149* NoBisexuals: There are no bisexuals, only straight people and gay/lesbian people.
150* NonHeteronormativeSociety: An entire society that is mostly composed or at least accepting of various different sexualities and gender identities.
151* NonHumanNonBinary: A non-binary character is also a non-human character.
152* NoLoveForTheWicked: A villain that has no interest in sex or romance.
153* {{Omegaverse}}: A setting where humans have a secondary sex (alpha, beta or omega).
154* OneTrueThreesome: Because it requires that people be attracted to the same gender, more than one gender, or both.
155* OpenMindedParent: Parents who are cool with their kids being queer/different.
156* OutOfTheClosetIntoTheFire: Coming out can cause dangerous bodily harm.
157* PairTheSuitors: May occur if at least one member of a LoveTriangle is gay or bisexual.
158* ThePastorsQueerKid: A religious official has a child who isn't heterosexual.
159* PerformanceArtist: A CampGay who loves acting, singing, and/or performing in general.
160* PinkIsErotic: The color pink represents arousal, attraction, eroticism, and scenes of a sexual nature.
161* PragmaticPansexuality: Regardless of your sexuality, you're willing to sleep with anyone to achieve your goals.
162* PreserveYourGays: An inordinate survival rate of LGBT characters who regularly face death.
163* PrideParade: An annual parade (and subsequent festival) celebrating gay life and culture.
164* PromIsForStraightKids: Gay teenagers are discouraged or prevented from going to their high school prom.
165* PsychoLesbian: A psychotic lesbian, dangerous to others.
166* PsychosexualHorror: A subgenre that explores psychosexual development as a subject matter, including themes of sexual development and sexual activities.
167* QueerCharacterQueerActor: The characters are played by someone of equivalent (queer) orientation.
168* QueerColors: The use of specific color palettes to symbolize non-heterosexuality or non-cisgenderism.
169* QueerEstablishingMoment: A scene that first shows that a character is LGBT, in a work where their orientation isn't the main focus.
170* QueerFlowers: When literal or metaphorical flowers imply homosexuality in subtext.
171* QueerPeopleAreFunny: Where every reference to same-sex attraction is a joke.
172* QueerShowGhetto: When works featuring LGBT themes end up with a small single-community audience.
173* RainbowLens: A character has a queerness-unrelated trait that can be interpreted as a metaphor for queerness.
174* RapeAndSwitch: A character is raped and becomes gay as a result.
175* SecretlyGayActivity: A character with a same-sex attraction uses an "innocent" activity to pretend that the attraction is platonic.
176* {{Seme}}: Active person in a homosexual relationship. Counterpart to the {{Uke}}.
177* SettledForGay: A girl settles down with a gay man because she can't connect emotionally with a straight man.
178* SissyVillain: A male villain is shown to be villainous because he displays feminine traits.
179* SituationalSexuality: Characters engage in same-sex relationships for a lack of opposite sex characters to do so with.
180* SorryImGay: A character says they are gay to counter a seduction-in-process, regardless of whether or not it's true.
181* SpeculativeFictionLGBT: There is a greater presence of queerness in SF than other genres.
182* StraightGay: A gay character with no stereotypical gay mannerisms.
183* SupernaturallyValidatedTransPerson: Supernatural happenings confirm that a trans person is the gender they identify with, beyond all reasonable doubt.
184* SweepsWeekLesbianKiss: Promoting a same-sex kiss as a Ratings Stunt, regardless of context.
185* TokenLesbian: A TokenMinority lesbian in a CastFullOfGay men.
186* TransCharacterCisActor: A transgender or non-binary character being played by a cisgender performer.
187* TransChaser: A cis character has a fetish for transgender or gender-nonconforming people.
188* TransEqualsHypersexual: Transgender or gender-nonconforming characters are depicted as having an ExtremeLibido, no sexual boundaries, [[FetishesAreWeird bizarre kinks]], or otherwise over-the-top sexual proclivities.
189* TransparentCloset: Everyone knows a character is gay except the character himself.
190* TransAudienceInterpretation: A character shows signs of possibly being trans, but it’s never specified.
191* TransEqualsGay: The mistaken notion that homosexuality and transgender identity are one and the same.
192* TransRelationshipTroubles: A transgender character has difficulties with their romantic life due to being trans.
193* TransTribulations: Being miserable because you're transgender.
194* TheTwink: A young, thin gay PrettyBoy. May or may not be camp.
195* {{Uke}}: Receptive person in a homosexual relationship. Counterpart to the {{Seme}}.
196* WhereEverybodyKnowsYourFlame: A gay bar/club will always be ''very'' gay.
197* WordOfGay: WordOfGod claims that a character is gay, but it's never explicitly shown in the work itself.
198[[/index]]
199

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