gaydar

plural gaydars · alternative gay-dar

1. countableuncountableLGBTQ slangThe supposed ability to detect whether or not a person is gay by observing that person's appearance, mannerisms, etc.First known use early 1980s

   This is not your Hallmark in Ames, Iowa. And there is “family” working there … no radar like gaydar, I always say.

   1982 July 15, Gloria Goodqueen, “What’s in a card”, in Bay Area Reporter, volume XII, number 28, San Francisco, Calif.: Benro Enterprises, →OCLC, page 7, column 1

   4 more examples

   When you first come out, you might have an overactive gaydar. When I realized I was gay, I wanted everyone to be gay too, which led to a lot of wishful thinking. "Helen Hunt is gay!" Dream on, girl!

   1996, Judy Carter, “Step 3: Find Another Homo”, in The Homo Handbook: Getting in Touch with Your Inner Homo, New York, N.Y.: Fireside Books, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 51

   "I dunno. He's carried this one on since Halloween. I'm starting to think the lie was actually the 'straight guy role'. I may have a crappy gaydar, but having faked heterosexuality before, I feel like I should be able to recognize it."

   2013 May 12, Jocelyn Samara DiDomenick, “Comic 368 – January Girls”, in Rain (webcomic), archived from the original on 08 Dec 2022

   The research, which went viral this week, used a sample of online dating photos, limited only to white users, to demonstrate that an algorithm could correctly distinguish between gay and straight men 81% of the time and 74% for women, suggesting machines can potentially have much better "gaydar" than humans.

   2017 September 9, Sam Levin, “LGBT groups denounce ‘dangerous’ AI that uses your face to guess sexuality”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 Apr 2023

   Dr. Lillihammer started to walk past her, but stopped directly in front of her. Inches apart, they stared at each other. Sizing the other woman up, doing a little consulting of their gaydars. Heather felt Lillian's breath on her cheek and tried not to visibly let the shiver go down her spine.

   2024 February 25, Queerious, “The Deadname Meme”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 02 Sep 2024