Hide Your Lesbians: Difference between revisions

The main character and her boyfriend share their [[First Kiss]] onscreen and, from then on, we are treated to a pile of onscreen mushy goodness ([[Shipping Bed Death|if we're lucky]]). The main character's best friend and [[Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends|the boy that was after her]] get together amidst cheers and blushing. But wait, weren't they hinting at another couple? Oh, the [[Schoolgirl Lesbians]]? Forget ever giving ''them'' a resolution -- at least onscreen. Heck, the plot won't even say that there is a relationship; so that technically, anyone arguing that there isn't one is not wrong. They may live together, they may never get with someone else, they may sleep in the same bed; but they ''will not'' say that they are a couple "that way."

Canon homosexuality, except in [[Boys Love|the genres that]] [[Girls Love|call for it]], is rare and sometimes restricted to subtext -- no outward shows of affection onscreen except for that which could be interpreted as [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship|just friends]] if you squint hard enough.

Do not confuse with [[But Not Too Gay]]; that trope is for when there is a confirmed homosexual relationship in the work, but the physical contact between the partners is much more G-rated than the heterosexual couples. This trope is for when there is a homosexual couple in the work that is never explicitly confirmed as either gay or a couple.

{{examples}}

** The anime itself on two separate occasions. In their first formal appearance, Michuru denies being lovers (surprisingly, the line was changed in the dub to being Michelle's "prince"). In the following episode, they drop out of a love contest so that Umino/Melvin and Naru/Molly could win, saying that someone in love deserved to win, implying that they're not in love. It is also stated that Haruka is shy about talking about romance in public, indicating all of her flirts are insincere. On the other hand, given their backstory, it is possible that the two are interpreting their relationship as something ''more'' than mere immature "love" (even the dubbed version used the term "bonds of destiny" for one title).

*** There's also lines going in the OTHER direction and imply it very strongly such as Haruka saying "I don't listen to talk like that outside of bed" or helping Michiru with her zipper. Also Haruka blatantly flirts with a Maid during the ''SuperS'' special until Michiru returns and interrupts, acting jealous. So sometimes they hide it, sometimes they don't...

**** There's no contradiction. They won't pursue a relationship in the third season because they're [[Anchored Ship|afraid it will distract them from their mission]]. At the end of that season they announce that [[Relationship Upgrade|their mission has concluded and...]]

*** The second case was Usagi/Serena and Seiya. The anime changed Seiya from a crossdressing lesbian to an actual boy, in civilian form, to make their relationship heterosexual. This was done to avoid controversy caused by Uranus and Neptune.

* Tavore Parran and T'amber in the ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'' series. Even [[Lampshaded]] by one character who wonders why they bother hiding it, as the Malazan culture has no taboo against same-sex love. Turns out that they weren't hiding their relationship, but the fact that T'amber was giving Tavore (the commander of the Malazan army) swordsmanship lessons.

* Averted pretty hard in ''[[The Sirantha Jax Series]]'': Dina, local [[Wrench Wench|ship mechanic]] is openly practicing lesbian, makes no bones about it, and other characters take it as normative. Even the main character, Sirantha herself, playfully flirts with Dina, but without any intent behind it ([[Les Yay|maaaybe]]).

* [[Tamora Pierce]] plays this trope straight and subverts it in two of her linked series, as well as nodding to it in some of her Tortall universe books. In The Circle of Magic series, the relationship between Rosethorn and Lark is apparently present the entire time, though completely invisible apart from a hint in the fourth book unless you know what you're looking for. (They even sleep in separate rooms.) However, in The Will of the Empress, it is stated as fact, after {{spoiler|Daja realises that she is in fact a lesbian herself}}. For the Tortall Universe, it is mentioned in the Kel books that homosexuality is frowned on in Tortall, though it is mentioned as being tolerated perfectly well elsewhere.

* Definitively and deliberately averted in much of [[Ursula K Le Guin]]'s sci-fi, with such lesbian couples as Sutty and Pao from ''The Telling'', Shahes and Enno from ''Mountain Ways'' and Azak and Zer from ''The Matter of Seggri''.

* Played straight in [[Older Than Feudalism|Ovid's]] ''[[The Metamorphoses (Literature)|The Metamorphoses]]'' with [[Wholesome Crossdresser|Ifis]] and Ianthe: despite loving each other deeply, Ifis has to be turned into a boy via [[Deus Ex Machina]] in order to happily marry her.

** Also note that the "Hide Your Lesbians" attitude was very common back then.

* Played with in a [[Judge Knott]] book (murder mystery series). One lesbian couple in the [[Deep South|small southern town]] the series takes place in remain very deeply closeted and it's a significant plot point in the book.

* The [[Agatha Christie (Creator)|Agatha Christie]] novel ''[[A Murder Is Announced]]'', features two unmarried, middle-aged women, Miss Hinchliffe and Miss Murgatroyd. They live together, Miss Hinchliffe looks and acts like a man and dislikes men, and {{spoiler|she's devastated when Murgatroyd is killed.}} The exact nature of their relationship, however, is not specified, and since Christie held rather old-fashioned views, it's possible that the subtext isn't even intentional. Since there were certainly [[Real Life]] arrangements like this in a [[Genteel Interbellum Setting]], it's even possible she based them on a genuine lesbian couple without realising that was the relationship.

* ''[[Heroes (TV)|Heroes]]'' season 4 provided the merest teasing of a lesbian relationship between Claire and her room mate, when she reveals that she isn't stalking her but actually has a crush on her. Beyond a brief kiss and some gooey eyes, there's no follow up and promptly she's [[Put On a Bus]] scant episodes later. She's now been brought back, with, er, some holding hands.

** Claire and Gretchen are pretty much a couple as of the end of the season.

** Of course, there's more sexual tension between Benson and Stabler (and her teammates have little problem acknowledging it). Still, by Season 12, Olivia Benson is either being called gay slurs, hit on by lesbians, or asking people if they think she's gay once an episode. She's most likely [[Take a Third Option|bisexual]].

* On [[The West Wing]], none of the main characters is gay, but it's hinted in a sixth season episode that Margaret, Leo's assistant, might be into ladies. In the episode a string of men find laughable excuses to stop by an office to stare at a beauty pageant winner, and so does Margaret.

== Western Animation ==

* There is a retroactive hiding to be found in ''[[Batman the Animated Series]]'', parent-series to the above ''Superman'' series and starting point of the [[DCAU]]. Officer (Later Detective) Renee Montoya was a character created for the show [[Canon Immigrant|and then added to the comic continuity]]; since her role in the series was a police officer who occasionally assists the Bat-characters in their crime-fighting, without delving into her history or personal life, there was nothing that dealt with her sexuality in any way. However, after ''B:TAS'' had ended she became a starring character in ''[[Gotham Central]]'', where an award-winning story-arc involved her being outed to her friends, family and coworkers, with the revelation that she had been in the closet since she was fifteen; [[Word of God|according to the writers]] this was not a [[Retcon]], they were not "making her gay," but rather she had been gay the entire time and was just only now revealing it to the other characters (and the readers). This revelation means that she had been a self-aware gay woman for the entirety of her appearances in both the animated series and the comics, but had been keeping the secret from even her close friends and family for fear of their reaction.

** In the show's bible, [http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/batman/btas/backstage/wbible/14.gif Montoya] is described as becoming a cop after the death of her '''husband'''. Of course, this clearly didn't affect the show, as it was never mentioned. In that the bible was an early draft of the show's style and several other small aspects didn't make it to air, it may've been put in for the sake of characterization; giving her motivations and what kind of cop she would be.

[[Category:Gender and Sexuality Tropes]]

[[Category:Hide Your Lesbians]]