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Homophobia Index - TV Tropes

️Tue Feb 09 2016

These tropes can involve negative attitudes towards or stereotypes about queer characters. They run the gamut from relatively minor limitations (on clothing choices, mannerisms, jobs or careers and the like) to hostility and violence. The prevalence of queer stereotypes in media at times paints a whole category of people with a very broad lavender brush. While some of them can be seen in other contexts, they have particular implications for LGBTQIA+ people. Some of them are discredited, or are becoming so, but they're present in works made and/or set in earlier periods.

There are a few broad categories these tropes fall into:

In-Universe Homophobia: These tropes deal with prejudice that queer characters face within a setting, whether from other characters or societal norms, and the ways they confront it.
Homophobic Depictions: These are tropes about negative or stereotypical depictions of queer characters, which may be due to biases and prejudices held by the work's creators.
Sidelining Queer Characters: These are tropes about queer works, or queer characters' roles in works, being minimized or erased, usually due to Executive Meddling or public backlash from Moral Guardians.

For a more thorough explanation and examination of homophobia, see the Homophobia page.

Tropes

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In-Universe Homophobia

Armored Closet Gay: A queer character who is in the closet and publicly acts homophobic, whether due to Internalized Categorism or to reduce suspicion toward them.
The Beard: The other half of a queer person's Fake Relationship to keep people from questioning why they aren't in a relationship.
Closet Gay: A queer person conceals their sexuality/identity in order to avoid discrimination or ridicule that they would face if they're "out."
Cure Your Gays: The notion that homosexuality can be "cured" with science to make someone straight.
Gay Aesop: An Aesop where characters learn to accept a queer character's sexuality.
Gayngst: A queer character is miserable, usually due to homophobic discrimination.
Gayngst-Induced Suicide: A queer character is Driven to Suicide by their circumstances.
"Gender-Normative Parent" Plot: A stock plot where a parent disapproves of their child wanting to pursue gender-nonconforming activities.
Have You Tried Not Being a Monster?: Asking someone from a marginalized group if they can just stop being one—which is usually impossible because it's an innate trait. (This is usually used as an allegory for people's misunderstanding and prejudices towards queer characters.)
Heteronormative Crusader: A character who is a homophobic ideologue.
Homophobic Hate Crime: Targeting or attacking someone because they're queer.
Intersex Tribulations: Troubles faced by intersex characters, including social discrimination and prejudice.
Out of the Closet, Into the Fire: A Closet Gay faces backlash and negative repercussions for coming out.
Prom Is for Straight Kids: Queer teenagers face backlash for trying to attend prom as a couple.
Some of My Best Friends Are X: Denying accusations of bigotry by saying you're friends with members of the group you're accused of hating.
Transparent Closet: A queer character tries (very poorly) to conceal their sexuality/identity from others.
Trans Relationship Troubles: Romantic troubles faced by trans and gender-nonconforming characters.
Trans Tribulations: Troubles faced by trans characters, including social discrimination and prejudice.
Unsettling Gender-Reveal: A character learns someone else (usually someone they're attracted to) is not the gender they expected; they don't take it well.
Wanted a Gender-Conforming Child: A parent wants their child to fulfill traditional gender roles, and may react poorly if their child wishes otherwise.

Homophobic Depictions

All Gays are Promiscuous: Queer people (and gay men in particular) are stereotyped as being lustful, hypersexual, and incapable of monogamy.
Always Camp: Professions that stereotypically attract Camp Gay people.
All Gays Are Pedophiles: Queer people (and gay men in particular) are conflated with pedophilia and preying on children.
Creepy Crossdresser: An evil, perverted, or disturbing character who crossdresses.
Depraved Bisexual: An insane or unhinged character's sexuality has no bounds.
Depraved Homosexual: A male villain who is openly homoerotic and flirtatious.
Flaming Devil: Devils and demons are depicted as queer.
Lesbian Vampire: Evil, corrupting vampires who are also lesbian temptresses.
Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Queer relationships automatically mirror heterosexual relationships, where one has the "male" role/temperament and one has the "female" role/temperament.
Psycho Lesbian: An evil or insane female character defined by her homosexuality.
Rape and Switch: A character became queer as a psychological reaction to being raped or sexually violated.
Sexual Deviance Is Evil: Villainy is associated with characters having non-normative sexual values.
Sissy Villain: The G-rated version of a Depraved Homosexual.
Trans Equals Gay: Transgenderism is assumed to be the most extreme form of homosexuality (e.g., that a trans woman is a gay man who's so feminine he wants to live as a woman 24/7).
Trans Equals Hypersexual: Transgender characters are stereotyped as more promiscuous, kinky, or more sexually "out there" than everyone else.

Sidelining Queer Characters

Adaptational Sexuality: A character's sexuality is changed or retconned in an adaptation of a work.
Bury Your Gays: Queer characters are more likely to be killed off in works compared to straight characters.
But Not Too Bi: A character's bisexuality is an Informed Attribute without them ever being shown in a same-sex relationship.
But Not Too Gay: Queer characters' relationships are never depicted as intimately compared to straight characters' in the same work.
Discount Lesbians: The only queer relationships shown in a work are those involving non-human characters.
Gay Best Friend: A token queer character who is a sidekick to a (usually straight female) protagonist.
Gay Guy Dies First: A queer character is the first in the cast to die in a work.
Gay Panic: A queer role or storyline is diminished or cut from a work, usually due to Executive Meddling or backlash from Moral Guardians
Get Back in the Closet: Queer works are criticized more closely or harshly than other works.
Have I Mentioned I Am Gay?: A character's homosexuality is an Informed Attribute without them ever being shown in a same-sex relationship.
Hide Your Lesbians: Characters are clearly depicted as being in a queer relationship, but it is never explicitly mentioned or acknowledged by the work.
Homoerotic Subtext: Characters are implied to be queer or in a queer relationship, though it is never explicitly stated.
Magical Queer: A token queer character similar to the Gay Best Friend, except their role is to give insightful advice to the protagonist.
No Bisexuals: Even in works depicting gay people, bisexual characters are sidelined or never acknowledged.
Queer People Are Funny: Queer characters' sexuality is Played for Laughs in a work.
Queer Show Ghetto: Works about queer characters are only marketed to the queer community and never toward general audiences.
She's a Man in Japan: A character's gender is changed in a translation or dub; this may be done to change a gender-nonconforming character into something that aligns with more normative gender roles.