queer-coded

[kweer-koh-did]

adjective

1. (of a fictional character) implied to be LGBT+ through deliberate subtext or use of stereotypes, but never explicitly confirmed to be so.

   Even among female audiences, hunks get big bonus points for being gay, or at least queer-coded.

   One of the novel's most incongruous elements is its villain, the queer-coded evil baron.

Word History and Origins

Origin of queer-coded¹

First recorded in 1995–2000

Example Sentences

His first release as a solo artist, it sees the star embrace the sounds of 80s club culture, with influences ranging from the queer-coded pop of Erasure and Pet Shop Boys to the thunderous drum sounds of Janet Jackson and Art Of Noise.

Read more on BBC

And I didn’t know their winking humor was rooted in Hollywood’s pansy craze of the 1920s and ’30s, when actors like Franklin Pangborn played prissy hotel managers and other queer-coded characters at a time when being publicly gay carried the risk of arrest.

Read more on New York Times

While mutant experiences can speak to many different marginalized identities directly or metaphorically, the more queer-coded elements — questions around “coming out,” the fear of being rejected by family, strangers insisting mutants just needed to be “cured” — were often what I related to most then.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

From the returning writer-director Yugo Sakamoto, “Baby Assassins 2” is an expansive, world building sequel that’s as much about the friendships shared by these teams of hired guns — especially Chisato and Mahiro’s queer-coded connection — as much as the body count they amass.

Read more on New York Times

“They feel like really big, gay, expensive comic-book movies. Queer-coded villains are pretty much my favorite trope, and Joker has always been a really queer character to me.”

Read more on New York Times