Meanings
- humorousoffensiveA slogan suggesting that bisexual people tend to become exclusively homosexual later in life.
"And I did that usual sort of bi now gay later thing, so I was like I'm bisexual, I'm bisexual, I like women as well. Just to make it more acceptable."
2021, Estella Ferraro, Wilful Blindness: On the Relationship of Identity, Agency and Personal, Springer Nature, page 162, quoting a man named John1 more example
One of the most common misconceptions about bisexuality is that it's some kind of stepping-stone on the way to coming out "all the way," as gay and/or lesbian. This pernicious stereotype, sometimes referred to as “bi now, gay later,” is often used to warn straight people away from dating bi folks. […] If “bi now, gay later” is one side of an offensive, disrespectful coin, the LUG (or “lesbian until graduation”) stereotype is its counterpart.
2016, Lindsay King-Miller, Ask a Queer Chick: A Guide to Sex, Love, and Life for Girls Who Dig Girls, Penguin, →ISBN
Origin
A pun on the marketing phrase "buy now, pay later".
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
bi now, gay later. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bi%20now%2C%20gay%20later
“bi now, gay later.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bi%20now%2C%20gay%20later. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bi now, gay later,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bi%20now%2C%20gay%20later.
Source: bi now, gay later on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.