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Cpt. Peter Lassard: I need to get my hands on some healthy young men.
Cmd. Eric Lassard: (awkward) ...I guess there are places you could go ...certain bars and so on...
Cpt. Peter Lassard: Eric, what are you talking about?
Cmd. Eric Lassard: Does Margret know about this?
Cpt. Peter Lassard: Eric I'm in trouble here and I need some new recruits!
Cmd. Eric Lassard: Oooooh! That's easy!
A comedy plot line in which a character wrongly believes another character to be gay, either because of misinformation received or because of the supposedly gay character's own misinterpreted words and actions. Once the character is taken to be a homosexual, all his words and actions become laden with innuendo and further misunderstandings ensue.
This can often be caused with supernatural secrets, such as superpowers or lycanthropy, which aren't immediately obvious, or various other embarrassing secrets.
Almost inevitable for Heterosexual Life Partners. This plot may be the first time we've heard them explicitly say they're not gay (whether we believe them or not is another matter).
See also Mistaken For Index. When the character probably is gay but is in denial, they're in the Transparent Closet.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In Bleach, characters have been Mistaken For Gay, including the infamous episode where Renji and Ichigo end up in an awkward position on the floor with Ichigo yelling "Take it off already!".
- In Clannad, Tomoya starts telling people that Kyou knocked him over while riding her scooter ("bike") to school, but Kyou, knowing it's against the rules, keeps cutting him off at the first syllable of (the English word) "bike." When people start asking what he was about to say, his answer is...another English loanword that starts with "bi." Considering Kyou's later glomping of Kotomi, though...
- Another Clannad example, due to Tomoya and Sunahara's pranking, Ryou mistakes Nagisa's asking for help with the theatre club to be a confession of love. She even accepts before realizing it's not.
- Parodied (or maybe not) in The Prince Of Tennis. A big part of the Comedy Tennis developed by Yuuji Hitouji and Koharu Konjiki relays on them being very touchy-feely with each other and Koharu openly fanboying his rivals and teammates and even groping them at some point. All of this is done to disrupt the rivals' concentration and makers the duo's style of play harder to predict... though some wonder if Yuuji actually takes it a bit too seriously, what with him openly saying Koharu is cheating on him when he mock-flirts with others.
- In an episode of Sailor Moon, Makoto becomes very interested in Haruka (an extremely boyish girl) and the other characters speculate about her preferences. It turns out that she merely looks up to Haruka as a role model, although fans have debated about what this assertion actually means. This may be one of The Artifact s from the original manga, where Haruka isn't an exclusively 'butch'-looking crossdresser; Makoto outright explains she admires Haruka confidence in embracing her boyish tendencies, something Makoto hasn't been able to.
- Note Rei is technically Mistaken For Gay, if only because most later adaptations drop the more convoluted version of her Does Not Like Men status and will make at least one joke about it.
- In Marmalade Boy, when perpetual loner Yuu suddenly starts hanging out with exceedingly popular school president Satoshi Miwa, their female classmates and the school newscasters immediately conclude they're getting it on. Hilariously enough, Yuu himself thinks Satoshi is gay for him when he suddenly starts trying to hang around him for no discernible reason. The real reason is because Satoshi believed Yuu was his half-brother, as his father was something of a philanderer and he was interested in Yuu's mother, Chiyako. Yuu reached the same conclusion independently, and was shocked when he learned Satoshi's surname. Of course, we don't find that out before hilarity ensued, including Miki overhearing them having a conversation that sounded like Satoshi pressuring Yuu to have sex with him out of context.
- Episode nine of Kannagi revolves entirely around this. After an incident in episode eight involving Daitetsu staying at Jin's house and what happened to part of Nagi's sacred tree, everyone is thinking Daitetsu is gay for Jin and Nagi's furious about it. Zange and Tsugumi attempt to orchestrate a situation that would make Jin out to be a playboy to clear up the rumors, but it's to no avail. People start taking him as the Anything That Moves type, which is probably worse.
- Jerk With A Heart Of Gold Kasanoda from Ouran High School Host Club develops a crush on Bifauxnen Haruhi. When he visits her at the club, the Yaoi Fangirl clientèle is burning with flames of moe. Also, the news of the two raises a few eyebrows among Kasanoda's Yakuza underlings.
- In the first episode, when Haruhi first enters the music room hoping to find a place to study she encounters the host club who believe she's a guy thanks to her messy hair, unflattering outfit, and glasses. Tamaki also believes she's gay, until he finds out her real gender at the end of the episode.
- In the first episode of Gun Frontier, Harlock and Tochiro encounter a sheriff who notes their close camaraderie, gives them an odd look, and the line "It's a free country. Guess that applies to love too." Neither man is amused.
- A truly epic Mistaken for Gay happens in the manwha 1/2 Prince (pay attention, this gets complicated). The female main character is the only female who plays as a male in a hugely popular online game. The gay guy in her party, who's her university lecturer IRL, is infatuated with her Bishonen character, but doesn't know he's a she. Her male childhood friend does, and then angrily confesses his long-hidden love for her
 to the gay guy, saying that he's known her for 8 years. She overhears this, but because Chinese uses gender-neutral pronouns, both she and the uni lecturer think he's talking about a boy. Later on as she's racking her brains for the identity of the mystery crush, her twin brother walks in. Both he and the childhood friend are teammates in the game who both play bishonen. Cue the wrong penny dropping. The brother, however, knows that the childhood friend is in love with the sister, and wants to support their relationship. When his sister asks, "Do... you... like... him?" he replies [thinking she wanted his approval before she starts a relationship with the cousin] "Of course! Plus, Ma and Pa gave their thumbs up too!". The rest of the inadvertant Ho Yay just falls into place.
- In Ultimo, this apparently happens to Present!Yamato here when Sayama walks in while he's trying to fix Ultimo. Sayama doesn't say it outright, but clearly implies what she means.
- In an early chapter of Katekyo Hitman Reborn, poor Tsuna gets mistaken at school for "becoming Gokudera's bitch," after Gokudera
became his Stalker With A Crush came to worship and admire him as the Tenth boss. Now whether Gokudera was mistaken for gay is another debatable story...
- Happens a few times to Memori and Yuuki in Game X Rush, which makes sense because... Well, just flip through Volume 2 sometime.
- When Hayate no Gotoku's title character is questioned about 'why' he rejects Nishizawa's confession, the fact that he possibly likes guys is brought up before he mentions his childhood teaching from Athena. He's just that clueless girls.
Comic Books
- Greg Rucka mentioned a story that he'd like to do but knows DC would never let him: A group of Gotham socialites are discussing their relationships with Bruce Wayne, and one of them eventually confesses that she's never had sex with him. They compare notes, realise that none of them have actually had sex with Bruce Wayne, and come to the inevitable conclusion...
Film
Literature
- The Dresden Files: Harry has been mistaken for Thomas' lover, to Harry's dismay and Thomas' great amusement. Harry uses this to his advantage once when caught snooping in Thomas' apartment. It doesn't help when word gets to the SI division in .005 seconds.
- In a case similar to the one of the film examples above, Thomas, when he gets a 'real job' as a hair dresser, deliberately poses as a flamboyantly gay european because there is no such thing as a 'good, high class, straight american' hairdresser.
- Not to mention that the first time that medical examiner Waldo Butters meets Thomas, he immediately thinks Harry and Thomas are a couple—and this is before the events in the first example. Harry tries to convince Butters otherwise. It doesn't work.
- Happens to Aziraphale and Crowley several times in Good Omens, but mostly to Aziraphale who apparently looks "gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide."
- Also happens in fanfiction, when fics label Aziraphele/Crowley as slash. The book explicitly states that, being angelic, it takes quite a bit of effort for either of them to have a gender.
Live Action TV
- Constable Goody of The Thin Blue Line suffers badly from this trope. His speech, his mannerisms, his hobbies (gladiators) and many of the things he says give off the distinct impression that he's as gay as Christmas wrapper paper. In fact, he only has one non-stereotypically-gay characteristic: He lusts after women.
- Seinfeld — Jerry and Elaine and George are messing around at the diner. Jerry and George pretend to act gay when Jerry brings up that people always think that "he's" gay because he's thin and neat. And this reporter who is supposed to interview Jerry for a newspaper story later overhears them fooling around and thinks that they're actually gay. So when she comes to Jerry's apartment, they're still kidding around until they find out that she thinks they're gay from her overhearing them. She leaves in midst of them trying to say otherwise. After a few days, they convince her enough so that she says she won't print the article and Jerry asks her out. But then, she tries to call Jerry for something and he's on 3-way with George and he didn't know she was on the line. Jerry and George have resumed messing around that they are gay, saying things like 'we really fooled her' etc. She hears them "again" and then prints the story. Now it's out of their hands and people think that Jerry's gay and George's parents can't believe it.
- Strange. This troper saw the episode, but had the impression George wasn't messing with the reporter's head. At least, not at the beginning.
- Frasier, on several occasions. In one episode a series of misunderstandings based on the initial assumption that Frasier is gay leads to a character concluding the entire family is. Another has Marty acting gay for Frasier's sake (he's interested in a woman who's trying to matchmake for her gay uncle).
- Frasier has a lot of characters being mistaken for gay, and the Meta joke is that the actors playing them are gay.
- Bulldog Briscoe (Dan Butler, who is gay) in Fortysomething:
Carrie: (thinking Bulldog is overcompensating) Is he gay?
- Niles Crane (David Hyde Pierce, who is gay) in a few episodes, including The Matchmaker:
Tom: (after learning Frasier isn't gay) But Niles - come on!
Frasier: No, I'm afraid not.
Tom: Huh... so wait a minute, this Maris guy he kept mentioning is a woman?
Frasier: Well, the jury's still out on that one.
- Martin Crane (John Mahoney, who is gay) in a few episodes, including the aforementioned The Matchmaker and the plot to Out with Dad:
Martin: (after realizing Edward is attracted to him) But what if he asks me for a date?
Frasier: I have news for you: You're on a date!
- It leads to a situation in which Niles has to pretend he's his father's lover to reinforce the illusion that Martin is gay, leading to this classic exchange:
Frasier: Niles, Emily just kissed me in the bedroom and now she's leaving. I have never been so embarrassed in my life.
Niles: You're embarrassed?! They think the best I can do is an old man with a cane!
- Finally, Niles "breaks up" with Martin:
Niles: You're always asking, badgering, spying on me! Well, I won't be suffocated anymore. I'm tired of being your trophy boy! It's over, you hear me? Over! (haughty sniff) And I'm keeping the jewelry!
- The lone exception is the effeminate radio food critic Gil Chesterton (Edward Hibbert, who is gay), who for the first ten seasons of Frasier viciously denies he's gay and claims to be a Chick Magnet. In the fifth season episode The Perfect Guy, Gil reacts hotly to Frasier and Roz thinking he was gay and living alone with his cat, claiming to be married to a woman named "Deb" (who has a lot of masculine, lesbian-like traits like being an auto mechanic).
Frasier: Well, that's the first time I've ever seen a man "in" himself.
- In the eleventh season, however, Gil finally came out of the closet, starting with The Doctor is Out, in which he serruptiously visits a gay bar named Bad Billy's, after earlier giving Frasier advice on coming out:
Gil: I just want to say that your KACL family will be here for you as you take your first brave steps on that yellow brick road to pride and self-acceptance and...
Frasier: Oh, shut up, you big queen! (storms off)
Gil: I see Kitty has claws.
- This ploy was actually a plot device and a Running Gag on Threes Company
- It was actually intentional on the roommates' parts, in that that is the only way (supposedly) that a single man and two single women would be able to share residence.
- It was abandoned late in the series life when Jack "came out" as straight.
- WKRP In Cincinnati: Meek weirdo Les Nessman is Mistaken For Gay by a pro athlete. This being the 70's, he threatens suicide until the accusation is retracted.
- Even it being the 70s doesn't excuse Les's overreaction, which was the point; the character was the archetype of an old-time Red-baiting conservative who would jump out the window if somebody questioned his sexuality. Johnny or Venus would have just laughed it off. What was shocking about it for the 70s was Herb Tarlek telling Les that he didn't care if Les was gay.
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, episode "Phases" (Season 2, Ep. 15) where some ambiguous suggestions about lycanthropy lead to the idea that Xander is gay. The mistaken sexuality continues in the episode "Earshot" (Season 3, Ep. 18).
- Also episode "Gone" (Season 6, Ep. 11) where Buffy receives a visit from a social worker about Dawn. Buffy's forgetfulness of a certain redhead leads to the following exchange. Worth noting is that it's hard to say if Ms. Kroger really believed Buffy.
Willow: Buffy, I'm not feeling hot, so uh, I'm gonna take a quick nap, okay?
Buffy: Okay, Will! That's Willow. She, uh, she kind of lives here too, actually.
Ms. Kroger: Oh, so you live with another woman.
Buffy: Oh! Oh, it's not a, a gay thing, you know, I mean, well... she's gay, but, but we don't ... gay.
- In the Angel episode, "Disharmony", Cordelia mistakes Harmony as being gay, when Harmony is actually trying to tell her she is a vampire.
- An old man possesses Angel's body in the episode "Carpe Noctem" hears about a romantic entanglement with someone named "Fred," looks down at what Angel is wearing, and mutters, "Figures." This also causes him to mistakenly try to break up with Wesley before he figures out that Fred is a girl.
- Also in Angel, in the episode "Expecting", which was early season 1, Cordelia has a couple of friends come by the office. Angel and Wesley start talking to each other to distract from Cordelia having a vision and Wes flings his arm around Angel's shoulders in what he intends to be a display of brotherly affection, only to have one of the girls mutter "The good ones are always gay." Lampshaded very funnily later in the episode, when Angel and Wesley are talking and Wesley asks if Angel thinks he has a shot with the (gorgeous) girls. Angel tells him he does, then Wesley asks, "What about them thinking we're gay?" Angel replies "It adds mystery."
- Subversion: In an episode of Cheers, Norm — whom it is revealed has a native talent for interior decor — decides to pursue that field instead of his previous career. However, he discovers that he has to pretend to be "stylish" in order to be taken seriously as a decorator.
- A character from Ugly Betty (a straight fashion designer) has this same dilemma.
- Ditto for Matt Damon's character in Will And Grace (a straight man in a gay glee club).
- A mischievous girl convinces both Reese and Malcolm that the other is gay in Malcolm in the Middle, which leads to some amusing conversations.
- A running joke in Friends, with Chandler the target. Originally from a first season episode "The One Where Nana Dies Twice", where we discover most of the Friends thought he was gay when they first met him. Apparently he has "a quality". His gay co-workers disagree.
- The one where Chandler uses a subliminal motivational tape so he can quit smoking, but it's for women. Also the one where he and Joey are mistaken for a couple when they see them with baby Ben.
- Black Books: Bernard accuses Manny of being gay due to his interest in interior design, specifically nice lamps. Manny protests he likes women (as well as lamps) but admits that he had thought Bernard was gay. Bernard says that he thought so himself, but was put off by the expected high standards of personal hygiene "and all that...dancing!"
- Supernatural: Happens to Sam and Dean more than once. In one episode they pretend to be interested in buying a house, and two realtors, on separate occasions, mention that "we accept homeowners of any race, religion, color, or sexual orientation."
- Also happens in the one with the little girl at the old hotel: when they go to check into the hotel, the owner mentions that "We get a lot of gay couples down here because of the great antiques shop."
- Leading to this exchange later on:
Dean: Of course, the most troubling question is why do these people assume we're gay?
Sam: Well, you are kind of butch. They probably think you're overcompensating.
- Happens again in the fourth season premier: when Dean comes back from the dead and proves to Sam it's really him they embrace tearfully and the girl Sam was with earlier says "So you guys are..." before Dean interrupts her with "Brothers."
- And of course the lovely episode when Dean asks for "two queens" at the motel and the lippy kid behind the counter mutters "I bet."
- In a recent fifth-season episode, Sam and Dean do some ghost-busting at a Supernatural convention with two guys who dressed up like them... At the end of the episode, it's revealed that the duo was gay. It's no wonder, since much of the in-show fanbase are constantly exploring homoerotic subtexts between the brothers.
- British sitcom Extras has Andy Millman meet an old school-friend of his who, despite being successful, is still a bigoted Jerk Jock who constantly makes jokes about Andy being gay because he has never seen him chatting up a girl. At the same time Andy is trying to gain recognition in the theatre and gets a starring role in a play by Ian Mckellen. He has to play a gay role, something that he appears to get to grips with after his initial annoyance at finding it out, but unfortunately for him his school-friend gets tickets for himself and several of his other homophobic old friends. They also happen to catch him in the dressing room with Mckellen with his trousers down, as Mckellen calls for some vaseline to cure Andy's nonexistent ulcer that he tried to get out of kissing on-stage with.
- An episode of the Glaswegian sitcom Still Game was built around this; the Nosy Neighbor Isa happens to catch Victor in Jack's flat very early in the morning, not to mention with his trousers down and talking about finding "arse cream" (the reason being they had opened a door between one another's flats so that they could share their cable television and could avoid Isa in the first place). After she gets over the "gossip-overload", word spreads around. Everyone is more or less tolerant over it, but eventually the entire community is up on the misinformation. Bobby the barman takes things too far by playing ABBA and having everyone in the bar dance to make Jack and Victor feel at home... This only leads the two of them to suspect that Bobby is gay.
- Dennis Finch from Just Shoot Me wishes he were Mistaken For Gay, as usually he is mistaken for a woman, much to his chagrin. There was one episode where Dennis was mistaken for gay by his own father, but this is not who he wanted to make the mistake. The closest he got was to be mistaken for a lesbian, which actually worked to his advantage... until his true gender was exposed.
- Maya was mistaken for lesbian by a model, a situation which Dennis tried to take advantage of.
- In yet another episode, Nina is dating a flamboyant magician. When confronted by Jack and Elliott, she reveals that she obviously knows he's gay. However, when she confronts him, he responds with "I'm not gay, I'm British!"
- That statement was also used by one of the main characters on the short-lived WB sitcom Left of Center.
- And also as a punchline by Bakura in Yugioh The Abridged Series. Of course, given that this version of Bakura apparently is repulsed by girls and has magical Gaydar powers, one wonders if he doth protest too much...
- Bakura frequently explains "I'm not gay, I'm just British", while the demon possessing him points out "I'm not British, I'm gay".
- A bizarre variant in 3rd Rock From The Sun: Sally ends up with a guy who's the "most sensitive man she's ever met" and would be very obviously gay to anyone who was actually from the planet Earth. He seems to believe that she's simply a male-to-female transvestite/transsexual, and, despite the fact that he normally has little interest in "people like you", interprets her confused stories about her military background and current desire to "just blend in" as stories about a struggle against homophobic oppression. A series of comical mishaps lead him to think that the whole family is gay. The man only realizes that Sally is a woman when he helps her out of her dress and then promptly breaks up with her.
- In another episode, a gay man comes out to Dick, unfortunately describing himself as being "from another world". Dick, of course, thinks he's another alien and immediately says "so am I!" Pretty soon, Dick is hanging out at what he thinks are "alien bars" and enjoying the camaraderie there. He only discovers the truth when Mary finds out and he thus tries to convince her that he's straight. After she leaves the room, he says to himself "I'm an alien. Oh, God, I wish I was gay!"
- And then there's the episode in which Sally almost got married. While preparing for the wedding, Tommy discovers his never-again-seen love of doing artsy-crafty things, causing his girlfriend August to spend the whole episode worrying that he's gay.
- In a first-season episode, Harry encountered a Camp Gay man played by Phil Hartman who mistook Harry for a fellow homosexual. When Harry talks about how Dick is his "High Commander" and wants him to fit in more, the man replies "Oh, I was in a relationship like that once."
- Oh, and did we mention The Documentary episode in which Dick covers a slip-up by inventing that Sally is a lesbian and she's forced to play along?
- In the episode where Dick and Don become friends, Dick is outraged to discover Don going out with another friend and promptly delivers what sounds very much like a break-up speech. After Dick leaves, Don's friend says "It's okay, Don, I understand. I'm gay, too!"
- In the second episode of the British mystery series Rosemary & Thyme, the two main characters decide not to tell the local police what they know, because he thinks the two ladies are a couple.
- In the 30 Rock episode "Blind Date", Jack sets Liz up with the "brilliant plastics engineer/lesbian" Gretchen Thomas, leading to the top page quote. Matters aren't helped when Liz, being the neurotic wreck that she is, decides to call Gretchen and have a nice chat with her anyway. The others encourage Liz to hook up with her, but Liz insists that they're "just friends, like Oprah and Gale". Given the existence of Liz/Gretchen fanfiction, it seems a sizable number number of shippers didn't buy that.
- The title characters on Kate & Allie, two single moms sharing an apartment, were mistaken for lesbians by their lesbian landlords, then have to play along to avoid getting thrown out because the landlords don't think they'd qualify as one "family". After a Patrick Stewart Speech about Tolerance, they're allowed to stay.
- We can't forget Dana Carvey's Saturday Night Live skit "Lyle the Effeminate Heterosexual".
- Or Chris Kattan as "Mango".
- Alec Baldwin did a skit where he recorded his voice on an answering machine and realised his voice is seriously effeminate.
- Scrubs: JD and Turk. People just don't understand their Guy Love.
- "He's mine; I'm his / There's nothing gay about it in our eyes."
- Also that episode with the gay patient with a black boyfriend.
- Psych: Shawn and Gus. Sometimes Shawn annoys Gus by going along with it as a joke.
- Doctor Who: in "Daleks in Manhattan", Martha laments The Doctor's disinterest, prompting the comment, "Oh! I should have realized. He's into musical theatre, huh? What a waste."
- An episode of Sex And The City had Charlotte dating a pastry chef with a great many "feminine" qualities, including jumping up on a chair when he saw a mouse. Charlotte and the girls think he's closeted gay. Charlotte asks him if he is and he says, "I'm a 35 year old pastry chef who lives in Soho. If I was gay, I'd be gay."
- Roommates Leonard and Sheldon of The Big Bang Theory continue to introduce themselves as "living together" even though everyone initially misinterprets this, including their new next-door neighbor Penny and their friend Raj's parents, who think they're "like Haroon and Tanvir." Leonard protests and explains the situation, although later as Sheldon runs to get their special-edition DVD of Fiddler on the Roof he remarks to himself, "Maybe we are like Haroon and Tanvir."
- Sheldon was also able to able to get a date with far more ease then his friends, although at the he was trying to find a man to set Penny up with, he didn't realize the miscommunication. Hilarity ensued.
- Frank Fontana of Murphy Brown is almost always a victim of this. It's delightfully ironic, considering that he's always trying to be the Chick Magnet.
- In Pushing Daisies:
Vivian: Charlotte was such a nice girl... do you like girls?
Ned: ...Yes.
Vivian: Didn't want to assume.
- In The Basil Brush Show, Mr. Steve works up the courage to ask a long-haired women for a snogging. He fails to notice the long-haired women being replaced by a long-haired man. The man, when asked by Mr. Steve for a snog, turns and punches Steve. Hilarious. It did anger same gay-rights activists, though.
- It wouldn't have attracted so much anger if it had been hilarious. It wasn't even that funny when it was tried the first time, back in about 1972.
- Remington Steele: Steele is searching a missing man's hotel room when the man's ex-girlfriend happens to come in. Since the boyfriend had mentioned he was dating someone new, she assumes he meant Steele, and laments, "Why is it always the good-looking ones?"
- Caroline In The City had Richard finally managing to get his work in a gallery. Unfortunately, he then discovers that said gallery only sponsors gay artists. He initially tries going on with the charade, but eventually confesses.
- In an episode of St. Elsewhere, a hotel receptionist assumes that Drs. Craig and Westphall are a couple.
- This is a running joke on Law And Order: two detectives walk into a store or hotel to question someone and are promptly identified as "together."
- Occasionally, the detectives masquerade as gay in order to pin down a gay suspect or witness.
- In a variation on the theme, a witness once tried to pick up very straight and very conservative Det. Curtiss, much to the amusement of Lenny Briscoe.
- One episode of Special Victim's Unit had a witness give Olivia his home phone number and suggest that she give his bisexual wife a call.
- Also happened to the title character and his sidekick in an episode of Inspector Lewis.
- Korean Boy Band, "Dong Bang Shin Ki". In one of their mini-dramas, a member mistook another member's accidental double entendre for the real deal. Turns out the "homosexual" in question just wanted to kiss-up to him for breaking his possession To this troper's memory... Needless to say, many girls loved it.
- From an episode of The Drew Carey Show:
Steve Carey: I play for the other team.
Lewis Kiniski: I knew it, he's gay.
Steve Carey: No, I mean the other softball team.
- This troper remembers once watching a stand-up comedian on TV who had a bit about her and her mother being mistaken for a couple by the dude behind the counter at an ice cream place.
- In All The Small Things, Olive's friends suspect that she's a lesbian because of her unfeminine appearance. In actual fact, she avoids wearing skirts in order to conceal her prosthetic leg.
- On Parks And Recreation, Leslie gets a butch haircut at a men's barber, then goes to a political banquet holding Ann's hand. Ann knows what everyone is thinking, but Leslie remains hilariously oblivious.
Ann: This is my evening... I'm Leslie's trophy wife.
- There's a lot of Ho Yay in the prison drama Oz, so when Ryan O'Reilly runs into his recently-convicted brother in the prison cafeteria and embraces him, the guard immediately shouts at them to knock it off.
O'Reily::"He's my brother!"
Guard: "Oh yeah? With hair like that he's more like your sister!"
- In Wings, Joe and Brian were celebrating and kissed each other on the lips. Everyone else looked at them weird.
- In 10 Things I Hate About You, based on the 1999 film, Bianca mistakes her friend Cameron for being gay, despite him being madly in love with her, due to the fact that he's 'so nice' and watching Project Runway though Cameron admits it's only to see Heidi Klum., and, in the episode, he dressed rather gay-like to get Bianca's attention. And it did. Just not the way he planed.
- In the Corner Gas episode "Doc Small", Brent is mistaken for gay (and thought to be involved with a man into bestiality) as a result of Hank, a logic puzzle and a $100 bill (It Makes Sense In Context). He doesn't notice.
- An early Two And A Half Men episode where the brothers are mistaken for life partners while buying cereal.
- A Spin City episode where Mike interrupts one of the Mayor's interviews, referring to himself as "The Man Behind The Man". The interview was for a gay newspaper.
- Grounded For Life when Shawn took his kids to the amusement park. It was "Gay Day" there and everyone was wearing tanktop and jeans. Guess what he was wearing...
- In one episode of The Nanny, Maxwell hires a publicist to improve his image. The publicist is an attractive young blonde woman, and this makes Fran and C.C. jealous. Fran thinks she wants to be with him, and decides to try and wish them the best of luck as a couple, but the publicist tells her she's not interested in Maxwell: "It's his gender!". Fran misinterprets this before she tells her "Fran, I'm gay!". Fran then shouts "Oh, thank God!" and hugs her, but becomes perturbed when she stops hugging and the publicist doesn't:
Fran: "I'm letting go and you're not. Why?"
Publicist: "Well, I figured since you're over thirty, single, no man in your life..."
Fran:: "Oh, I'm not gay. I'm just pathetic!"
- In another episode, Fran is convinced the male nanny for Gracie's friend is gay. The fact he's also a struggling Broadway actor backs up her assertion, until he kisses Fran. Fran gets upset. She asks "You mean you're not gay?!"
- From True Blood: While Bill is trying to buy some women's clothes (for Jessica), a shop assistant tries to pick him up and doesn't listen when he says he's not interested... not until Eric appears and wants Bill to admire his new haircut.
- Flight Of The Conchords. Seriously.
- This happened several times on Reba.
- The subplot of the House episode "The Down Low", when a new neighbor refuses to believe House and Wilson aren't a couple. It doesn't help that House decides to run with it. In order to get close to the (pretty, female, unsuspecting) neighbor.
Theater
- Subverted in Angels In America: Joe walks in on Louis crying in the bathroom and in the ensuing conversation Louis assumes Joe is gay. He's completely right, but Joe just hasn't wrapped his mind around that yet.
- The musical Rock Of Ages includes a character (I've forgotten his name) who is mistaken for gay through most of the show, which leads to this troper's favorite line in the play: "I'm not gay! I'm just German!"
- The character's named Franz, and he's currently (as of November '09) played by Tom Lenk, who is gay.
Video Games
- Happens in Super Robot Wars. For a while, everyone thinks Lieutenant Raidese F. Branstein is gay, because his partner in combat has been spreading the word. He finds out, and punches Ryusei in the face so hard that everyone believes him when he says that he's straight. WITH A PROSTHETIC HAND!
- Mick in The World Ends With You apparently has so little confidence that he assumes Neku gives Mick his patronage because he's gay for him.
- Not to mention Joshua and Neku in "Another Day". Shut up and walk, dear.
- How is Joshua "mistaken" for gay? In the manga, he takes cell phone pics of Neku's ass. The plot is frequently interpreted as resolving peacefully because Joshua was gay for Neku! He's about as gay as you can get without saying it outright!
- Makai Kingdom delivers us this particular little gem in a dialogue between Zetta and King Drake the Third:
Zetta: Aren't you the one who attacked me in my sleep?
Drake: ...Only because I wanted your junk.
PREGNANT PAUSE
Zetta: ...You sick bastard... I didn't know you swung that way.
Drake: What the hell?!! No, no, no, no! I wanted your money, you-your valuables!
- Speaking of Nippon Ichi games, there's this little exchange in Disgaea
Laharl: ...What? What's the problem now?
Aramis: ...Thank you, Your Highness.
Laharl: H, Hmph...! Well, it is part of my job as the Overlord...And don't bother to thank me. If you want to show your gratitude, you can repay me with your body.
Etna: Hmmm... I never knew you were like that...
- This is one of Kanji's issues in Persona4. In fact, his shadow takes the form of a Camp Gay.
- Valygar in Baldurs Gate II is mistaken for gay by quite a number of characters. When he denies it, they delight in mocking him, which includes him being called a "fruit" by Cernd.
Web Comics
- This was an ongoing subplot in Avalon, especially the first year. Early on, Joe tells Ceilidh that her new friend Phoebe is gay (a rumor started by a bitter ex-boyfriend); the amount of time the two spend together leads to a rumor that Ceilidh is also a lesbian, which is compounded when her probing for a definite answer, without being too direct, makes Phoebe think so as well. The "lesbian" subplot is essentially forgotten after the story's halfway mark, until the undrawn ending, in the synopsis of which Phoebe confesses her love for Ceilidh, who, in the next "scene," ambiguously mentions "new relationships".
- Subverted in Shortpacked!. Robin believes that the reason that Ethan doesn't show any interest in her is because he's secretly gay. However, when she confronts him about this, it turns out that Ethan actually is gay, but just didn't realize it; unfortunately for Robin, she just helped him work it out.
- A Running Gag in Something Positive is Davan (and occasionally Peejee) being Mistaken For Gay.
- Two Kinds has Keith and Natani. It gets confusing because Natani considers herself male but is in fact not.
- Last Res0rt cranks it up a notch; sure, Addy and Jigsaw end up caught on camera, but Jigsaw is a vampire and thus was feeding on Addy, not sleeping with her, so Jigsaw ends up having to play along...
- Building 12— Joe and Alex are mistaken for this. Note that this is a variation as they are lovers, but Alex is actually a girl.
- A running gag in Penny And Aggie with Aggie has several people (and, at one point, her best friend) believe or play with the idea she is gay. Also done with Penny, but at this point in the comic, its kinda hard to tell...
- Jen in The Devils Panties
Western Animation
- The Simpsons had an episode where Homer ended up overreacting to many small silly things Bart was doing (such as wearing a Hawaiian shirt, or putting on a ladies' wig and singing the Shoop Shoop song) and taking it to mean that contact with an openly gay shopkeeper (played by John Waters) was making Bart "turn gay". After several attempts to make Bart "man up", Homer gives up and says that he's okay with whatever Bart wants to be. When Lisa finally explains it to him, Bart's reaction is "He thinks I'm gay?!"
- Played for laughs in another episode, where in an attempt at copying Bart's 'El Barto', Homer (helping build homes for the homeless) paints 'El Homo' on a wall in big letters. Cue a man coming up to him and saying something along the lines of "I wish I had your courage!". Homer then realises what he's painted, and panicking, hastily begins to paint over it.
- The Critic: Jay Sherman's boss thinks he's gay, and that Jay has a huge man-crush on him, despite Jay's repeated insistence that he's not gay. Then again, considering Jay's ex-wife compared his sex appeal to that of a dead mackerel, it probably wouldn't be that good anyway.
- Bill Dauterive of King Of The Hill spends an episode purposely being Mistaken For Gay much like one of the examples above, as the trendy salon he is hired by only employs women and gay men. Also played...*ahem*...straight in another episode where Peggy thinks her hairdresser is gay, but actually has a wife and kids.
- Also used to explain Dale's naivete about Nancy and John Redcorn's affair (Dale is convinced that John is gay).
- This exchange in Justice League Unlimited:
Shayera: Why don't you just go talk to her?
Flash: What, me? Talk to her? No way!
Shayera: Yeah, you'd probably be wasting your time anyway. I hear she's...you know...
Flash: ...
Shayera: Brazilian.
Flash: Ha, ha.
- Happens quite a few times in The Venture Brothers. There's the doctor mistaking Brock for Rusty's partner, the hicks calling Dr. Orpheus gay in the diner, Rusty accusing Dr. Orpheus of trying to seduce him...
- In Clone High JFK mistakes Himself for gay when he felt attarcted to a disguised Joan of Arc who was feinging being a guy to enter the Basketball team (said disguise being a fake mustache and a shirt over her curvaceous body), Hilarity ensues.
Music
- A line in Weird Al's song "Couch Potato" (a spoof of Eminem's "Lose Yourself") has the line, "But I only watched Will & Grace one time, one day. Wish I hadn't, cause TiVo now thinks I'm gay!"
Fan Fiction
Real Life
- Often times people assume that lack of interest in the opposite sex automatically means you're gay, so many asexual people are mistaken for gay. Also, many people mistake bisexuals for gay, to the point where some people, even when someone says they're bi, think they're gay and trying to deny it.
- Truth In Television: Some people may be mistaken for gay by their looks. Others might be straight but exhibit gender-nonconformity, eg tomboys.
- Or unknowingly walk right into a yaoi movie together, as was the case for voice actors Jeff Nimoy and Quinton Flynn. However, they turned the accusations to their advantage and made a hilarious song out of it.
- In the seventies, a rumor started as a joke caught hold: namely, that Jim Nabors and Rock Hudson were going to get married. Hudson, as is pretty well known now, really was gay. Nabors was not, and was irritated by the gossip.
- Arguably, a good portion of 'slash' Shipping pairings are the result of people applying this trope to fictional characters.
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