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| - Okay, let say you're done hiding your lesbians and you don't want to bury any gays. You want to feature a gay character on your show or, hell, make him or her the starring character! But what if they get a Love Interest? Will they flirt? Hold hands? Or even get it on? Gay characters enjoy increased visibility in media and numerous positive portrayals. However, there is a bit of a Double Standard regarding gay love portrayals and love scenes and the like. Rather, the lack thereof. Homosexuality is still a taboo in much of the world, and while some audiences may tolerate a gay character, they may be completely squicked out by shows of affection and sex scenes with gay and lesbian characters, no matter how tame they may be. So television shows and other media don't push the envelope too much on gay affection. There may be a hug, or a meaningful handhold, but never a kiss unless it's heavily promoted and advertised. So basically, you can have gay people and gay couples but they can't be shown actually behaving like a couple. While this trope can apply to both male and female same-sex couples, you are more likely to see two females being romantic or intimate than two males. This is due to a combination of Male Gaze and Girl-On-Girl Is Hot, which has led to lesbianism being turned into a promotional strategy that is expected to attract viewers rather than repel them. Of course, this is a common source of Unfortunate Implications. Values Dissonance plays heavily into this trope regarding acceptance of homosexuality, though, and it varies from country to country, from decade to decade, even within countries and communities. As the tolerance toward homosexuality grows (at least in the West), this trope is fading little by little, though old habits can die hard. This Trope may also occur due to heterosexual actors feeling uncomfortable going too far with someone of their own gender. Before you add an example, please think about if it even fits the trope. If you aren't able to really describe an example, it's best not to put it here. Try comparing examples to whether or not the straight characters show their love more, or describing particularly jarring occurrences. See also Get Back in the Closet for media with gay love content, but it is just rated higher than media with heterosexual love scenes and the like. There is some overlap with Hide Your Lesbians. Related to Girl-On-Girl Is Hot in regard to Double Standards regarding love/affection scenes between lesbians being more "acceptable" rather than gay men (by way of providing straight male Fan Service). For bisexual characters, see But Not Too Bi. See Have I Mentioned I Am Gay? when a show with supposedly gay characters doesn't ever reach even this level of physical affection between gay characters. Examples of But Not Too Gay include:
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