[[HarryPotter http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wordofgay.jpg]]
[[caption-width:450:The most infamous use of this trope.]]

When WordOfGod explains that a character's sexuality was actually gay or bisexual outside of the series, choosing to keep them AmbiguouslyGay ([[StraightGay or even less so]]) in the actual story.

This may be because of {{Media Watchdog}}s or fear of backlash. It can also be due to [[TheLawOfConservationOfDetail Conservation Of Detail]]. On the other hand, heteronormativity states you have to mention a character is gay to establish it if the story is vague. Most readers will assume a character is heterosexual when their orientation isn't developed in text. Thus, this may be a publicity appeal to a gay audience while allowing [[ViewersAreMorons straight people to experience the work without having to worry about getting homo cooties.]] Or it could just be one big publicity stunt.

For extra frustration on the part of fans, expect this to happen frequently to [[BuryYourGays characters who are dead by the series' end.]]

Also see RelationshipTextUpgrade for another way to out an ambiguously homosexual character.

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!!Examples:

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[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* For YuuWatase, creator of ''FushigiYuugi'', the problem isn't that any of the series' characters might have been attracted to a person of the same sex. It's narrowing it down to ''which ones''.
-->Arrow: The discussion suddenly turned yaoi.
-->Crowd: Yeah!! Yaaaay!
-->[[http://www.angelfire.com/geek/tetrisnomiko/mangaka/axfreetalk.html Watase:]] I heard there was a Tasuki x Nuriko one, but I want to read a Tasuki x Tamahome.
-->Arrow: What in the world was I saying...
-->But the truth was I really wanted to see a Nakago x Tamahome fic...but I couldn’t say that.
* Luke's relationship with Blake in ''{{Zoids}}'' ''Fuzors'' was pretty ... suspect throughout the series. It didn't help that they had a lot of amusing monents such as Luke telling Blake that he "wanted to show him something" while opening up his shirt. An interview with Luke's Japanese voice actor confirmed that Luke was indeed gay and attracted to Blake; however, whether the attraction was mutual is another matter.
* While some other members of the production crew [[ShrugOfGod are infamously dodgy about the subject]], according to an interview with director Masaki Tsuzuki (the creator of the Nanoha franchise) and the voice actresses of [[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Fate and Nanoha]], they are indeed gay.
** [[http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff230/BPHaru3/RND/Fate_chan_is_a_prince_en.jpg In this article]], the two VAs mention that in 10 years, Nanoha will be a housewife for Fate. The original writer, Tsuzuki, also says Vivio "frequently keeps in contact with Fate-''mama'', as often as contacting ''the father'' who works away from home, with a communication tool."

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* StanLee has said that he thought of Pink Pinkerton of Sergeant Fury and his Howling Commandos (based, he has said, on the screen persona of actor David Niven) as gay. He had created the character as long ago in the mid-1960s.
* The vain Sunstreaker from the Dreamwave ''{{Transformers}}'' comics was apparently written as being gay, although (this being a comic aimed at teen fanboys) it was never going to be used in the story itself. Oddly enough, the AmbiguouslyGay Tracks was ''not'' intended to be gay.
** What made this a {{Squick}} for many TF fans was that the writers pointed to the bio they wrote for Sunstreaker in ''More Than Meets The Eye.'' Read without this information, it makes Sunstreaker sound like a vicious assassin who can't switch off when he's around his allies. The WordOfGay turns it into a description of a creepy DepravedHomosexual.
* Invisible Kid, from the "Reboot" continuity of the ''LegionOfSuperheroes''.
** Element Lad in the Oneboot was the [[InvertedTrope inverse]] of this trope-- his switch-hitting was a SureWhyNot after years of rampant fan speculation based entirely (at first) on his pink costume.
***Fan speculation probably dates back to the 1975 APA article by Jim Shooter where he says that Element Lad might be gay.
* Creator Max Allan Collins had always said that one of the regular cast of ''MsTree'' was gay. It was several years before it was finally revealed in story that it was Mr Hand.
* Say what you will about the ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog story "Mobius: X Years Later", if anything, it gave us two things: Knuckles' kickass Guardian outfit, [[http://www.kenpenders.com/wwwboard/messages/80083.html and the revelation that Rotor is gay.]] How this got past the censors, no one knows, but Aurora be blessed for allowing it to happen. And, for those keeping score, his partner's supposedly Cobar, the Dark Legion scientist he's been working with in the series, making him the second good guy to have a lasting, intimate relationship with a member of the villain group. And before anyone says that it was an AssPull that had no hints about it, I direct you two these three bits of dialog from the comic itself:
--> '''1st, Rotor:''' Having confirmed my findings of the entropic effect upon Mobius with Cobar, an Echidna scientist possessing a formidable intellect with whom I ''enjoy a close personal relationship''--
--> '''2nd, Espio:''' Well, Rotor wasn't forthcoming, but I suspect he was also here to see Cobar.
--> '''Knuckles:''' That's not surprising -- ''given their history!''
--> '''Third, Cobar:''' My dear Rotor -- and I say this with ''affection'' and respect, but have you gone mad?
**The text might have been subtle (subtle enough to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar get it past the censors]]...this ''is'' ArchieComics, after all), but they were definitely there. Then again, considering this took place in an [[AlternateHistory alternate future]], it's doubtful that this reveal is true in the main series.

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[[folder: Film ]]

* Plato from ''[[RebelWithoutACause Rebel Without a Cause]]''.
* Gore Vidal intended Messala in ''BenHur'' to be Ben Hur's former lover, and explained this to the actor playing Messala, but explicitly did not tell Charlton Heston (who played Ben Hur), since Heston would not have been receptive to the idea.
* Machine Gun Joe from the ''DeathRace'' remake. He does refer to his "unique hobbies", though.
* Director Louis Leterrier has openly admitted that he intended the protagonist of ''The Transporter'' to be gay. Of course, when the franchise was handed over to another director, [[GayPanic Jason Statham instantly started making out with girls.]]
* ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'': Jack Sparrow is bisexual, at least according to Johnny Depp himself. Not that Sparrow is likely to admit that in the 18th century.
**It's Jack Fucking Sparrow! The man admitted to plans of theft of a ship, I would not at all be surprised to see him parading around Port Royale in pink and rainbow! (not that it'd likely mean much, but, you know what I mean...)

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Dumbledore from ''HarryPotter''. Rowling outed him only after the end of the series, and as a result of a fan asking her if he'd ever found love himself. This created widely varying interpretations of her reasons for doing so, but there was arguably heavy [[HoYay subtext]] about it in the last novel. There were also some more... [[http://wiki.fandomwank.com/index.php/Dumbledore_is_Gay "interesting" reactions.]]
** Another, more private outing occurred before this- during a scriptwriting meeting for one of the HarryPotter films, she handed back a script page in which Dumbledore spoke about a girl he "knew" once with a note saying "He's gay!"
** Author JohnScalzi wrote [[http://whatever.scalzi.com/2007/10/29/what-authors-know-about-their-characters/ a defense of Rowling's decision to reveal Dumbledore's sexuality]] in response to a critic.
* Gene and Finny from ''ASeparatePeace''. The author was widely regarded to be closeted, and did not acknowledge the homosexual romance in the story till he was in old age.
* Lalasa in TamoraPierce's ''[[TortallUniverse Protector of the Small]]'' was a lesbian, but Pierce didn't think it was important enough to put into the books. There is quite a bit of {{subtext}} around her and her "friend" Tian, though.
** Similarly, in Pierce's [[CircleOfMagic Circle]] books, Lark and Rosethorn were revealed late in the series to be lovers. Daja came out in "The Will Of The Empress"; this makes sense, since in the early books, she was twelve or so.
* Feral from ''SoonIWillBeInvincible'', made even more complicated by the fact that he's a hybridized Bengal tiger person, so who knows if he can even ''have'' sex with humans? Too {{squick}}y for canon? Perhaps.
* In ''HisDarkMaterials'', it's briefly mentioned that there is a small minority of people whose daemons are the same gender as themselves, but no explanation is given for it. When a fan asked PhilipPullman if it meant those people were gay, Pullman replied that he hadn't thought about it, but he [[SureWhyNot liked that reasoning and now considers it canon]].
** Does that include all those ReallySevenHundredYearsOld [[CuteWitch hot witches]]? [[LesYay Yay!]]
** While that question isn't answered, there are no male witches (except for a spoilerific exception at the end). Witches have had romance and children with mortal men but [[MayflyDecemberRomance the lifespan disparity makes it hard]]. So maybe.
* Tom and Carl, the two local Advisory Senior wizards from ''YoungWizards''. They share a house but other than that could be mistaken for HeterosexualLifePartners.
* The Narrator in ''FightClub'', and, by extension, Tyler Durden.
**Only in the book, right?
** PROBABLY bisexual, but gay? No. If Jack was gay, there'd be no reason for Tyler Durden to have gone after Marla (seeing as how [[spoiler: Jack and Tyler Durden are one and the same]]).
***Hey, maybe that's just one more thing to add to the [[spoiler: SplitPersonality]]!
**ThisTroper hasn't seen a source on this one, but it's very likely it was Chuck Palahniuk pulling someone's chain. In the forward to one printed version of FightClub he mentions "admitting" the book was about gay sex as a SureWhyNot.
* The author of ''{{Wicked}}'' has said that he purposely hinted on "something" involving [[AmbiguouslyGay Galinda]] and Elphaba. What this "something" is, he said he doesn't know.
** That may have just been simple college-age experimentation.
*** However, Idina Menzel, the first and most popular actress to play Elphaba on Broadway, has said that she believes if the events of the story hadn't unfolded as they did, and the main characters had been allowed normal lives, then Elphie & Glinda would have eventually fallen in love.
**** On that note, Idina, Kristin and whoever played Fiyero said the love story was about Glinda and Elphaba on various seperate occasions.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* Zack on ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. He was actually supposed to [[GayPanic come out to Claire]], but the actor's agent thought that [[ViewersAreMorons if he played a gay character on Heroes, viewers wouldn't be able to relate]] to him for his role in the ''TheSarahConnorChronicles''.
**Unlikely as the actor has played gay several times before. Speculation exists that it was something that originated with the writers and not the actor.
**Actually, it was exactly because he played several gay roles before, there was fear that he would be "marked" or suspected to be in the closet.
* Alicia Vega, minor ([[BringOutYourGayDead dead]]) ''StargateAtlantis'' character, and a male supporting character (they won't say who).
**Though to be fair, they had to cut the scene where she was revealed as a lesbian for time, and then decided they just didn't like the character all that much and axed her.
* ''{{Popular}}'' creator Ryan Murphy said that his plans for the third season would have included Sam realizing she was gay.
* Gaeta and Hoshi from ''BattlestarGalactica''. They were only outed in second-hand webisodes shot after the series.
* Hugh Laurie famously said he can easily see ''{{House}}'' getting it on with Cuddy, Cameron or Wilson.
**Katie Jacobs, executive producer of ''{{House}}'', once implied this too.
**A poll on the official FOX site, asking who House should romantically end up with, included Wilson as an option.
*According to Andrew Robinson, he played his ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' character Garak as bisexual. He certainly seemed interested in Bashir, though there doesn't seem to have been reciprocation.
** Earlier, some of the show creators had said they originally intended to make Geordi gay on Next Generation, but backed down from it. This may explain why he consistently had little luck with women; some of the earlier ExpandedUniverse novels are also dripping with HoYay. (In ''A Call to Darkness'', when Geordi is ordered off duty to relax, he heads to the holodeck and activates his program of Ancient Greece, and spends a lot of time walking around holding Homer's hand and talking in rather intimate fashion.)
* In discussing the Dumbledore issue on his [[http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2007/10/flowers-of-romance.html online journal]], author NeilGaiman once mentioned in passing that "''{{Neverwhere}}'' has two gay characters who are Out, as far as the book is concerned, and one major character who is gay but it isn't mentioned, simply because that character was one of many people in that book who don't have any sexual or romantic entanglements during the story." He hasn't actually named the characters, but an educated guess would suggest Hunter and Lady Serpentine as the two outed charcters. (the hinted LesYay between them is something that both of them look back on fondly). The one whose sexuality doesn't affect the story is any fanfic writer's guess but is likely Marquis De Carabas, largely because he bears a striking character resemblence to the Cluracan from Gaiman's ''{{Sandman}}'', who is also gay. And because he's [[LargeHam flamboyantly fabulous]].
* The writer of [[DoctorWho Survival]] intended lesbian subtext between Ace and Karra. Meanwhile, the writer of Dragonfire intended that Ace lost her virginity to Sabalom Glitz, making this more "word of bi".
** Considering that Ace slept with a guy in almost every EU novel she appeared in, "word of bi" is probably more accurate.

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[[folder: Radio ]]

* Hercules Grytpype-Thynne of ''TheGoonShow''.

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[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Jeff's roommate Tony in ''{{Earthbound}}''.
* Kojima confirmed that [[{{MetalGear}} Revolver Ocelot]] had feelings for Big Boss. Note that we say "confirmed" because the subtext was so blatant that most people had already made the not at all difficult leap. The part where Ocelot [[spoiler:spends pretty much the rest of his life after meeting Big Boss working to fulfill his ultimate plan of destroying the Patriots, going so far as to brainwash himself and eventually die to achieve that goal]] was a bit of a tip-off, really. This wasn't unexpected as [[MemeticMutation Everyone is gay for Big Boss]].
* Kevin Smith from ''{{killer7}}'' had a male lover according to the [[AllThereInTheManual companion book]] ''Hand in [=killer7=]''.
** That is a continuation of the whole ShoutOut to ''{{Clerks}}'' (which allegedly isn't intentional.) The whole gay lover thing is a reference to Jay (who in View Askewniverse canon, has demonstrated lust for men.)
*** Not all the time!

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[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* The author of ''{{Megatokyo}}'' infamously said one of the regular characters (without saying which) was gay. Just who has sparked enough debate to become a RunningGag on the forums.
** Ditto for ''GeneralProtectionFault'', although not going ''quite'' as far.
** In contrast, there's been hardly any debate at all since T Campbell said two of the new AEGIS recruits in ''{{Fans}}!'' were bisexual. This is probably because there's no shortage of gay and bisexual characters in the rest of the cast. It's also his word that outed Guth.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* Although [[DeadpanSnarker Raimi]] makes snarky allusions to it, the only confirmation of [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Benjamin Palmer]] of ''BrokenSaints'' being a [[DepravedHomosexual gay pedophile]] is in the DVDCommentary, by writer Brooke Burgess.
** Also, Raimi himself is implied to be [[BiTheWay bisexual]] (or of "ambiguous sexuality") in another commentary track by Burgess.
* When Geoff Ramsey, one of the makers of [[RedVsBlue Red Vs. Blue]] and voice actor of Grif, was listing some of the things the casual fan would not know about Grif in a podcast, he finished with 'And he's secretly in love with Simmons.' He then added that it was probably obvious anyway.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Lexington from ''{{Gargoyles}}''. This may be corrected in the comics if he hits it off with Staghart.
* Richie from the animated version of ''StaticShock''. (The character he was partly based on was gay in the comic.)
* PaulDini has gone on record that Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, within the {{DCAU}}, have a same-sex relationship going on (presumably when the Joker isn't around). This was never part of the animated series itself (as it aired in a kids' time slot), but it was hinted at when they did the SexyShirtSwitch thing when not out committing crimes. There was [[http://i535.photobucket.com/albums/ee357/Pichu_Chu/lesbiansbl1.png more hinting in a comic book]] set in the same [[TheVerse Verse]].
** The sheer amount of subtext hinting to this crossed the line in the comic and became just plain text.
* Mr. Simmons in ''HeyArnold''.
* SethMacFarlane finally said this regarding Stewie in ''FamilyGuy''. Not that there wasn't a lot of [[AmbiguouslyGay blatant hinting before hand.]] They were going to do an episode where an [[ComingOutStory out teenage Stewie uses a time-machine to team up with baby Stewie in order to keep Leviticus being written]], but decided it'd be funnier to keep him confused.

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