closet queen

[kloz-it kween]

noun

Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.

1. a contemptuous term used to refer to a gay man who denies his sexual orientation to himself or keeps it hidden from others.

closet queen

noun

1. informal,  a man who is homosexual but does not admit the fact

Word History and Origins

Origin of closet queen¹

First recorded in 1965–70; closet (in the sense “secret”) + queen (in the sense of “gay man”)

Example Sentences

“I called it a closet queen bar.”

Read more on New York Times

Though Vidal accused Buckley of being a “closet queen”, this was not the retort of a militant homosexual: Vidal, a “pansexual”, always saw “homosexual” and “heterosexual” as adjectives, not nouns.

Read more on Economist

Allusions to homosexuality were abundant, with Buckley implying that Vidal was distinctly “other”; Vidal insinuated that Buckley was a closet queen.

Read more on The Guardian

For, you see, the old gentleman himself got around a bit in his day�notably into the marital bed of his son, the closet queen.

Read more on Time Magazine Archive

Related Words

• bio queen 
• drag artist