# "Bruce" and homosexuality, as perceived by some **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 13, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-and-homosexuality-as-perceived-by-some/201451 "2003-09-13T22:32:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-and-homosexuality-as-perceived-by-some/201451/21 "2003-09-15T23:34:58Z")
I’ve heard it said that it’s actually because of Bruce Wayne (all that flitting around in tights and a cape, I suppose) and goes back to at least the early 60s, but I have no cite and am not sure I buy it. It’s been my experience that these things go back _waaaaay_ farther than you think. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-and-homosexuality-as-perceived-by-some/201451/22 "2003-09-15T23:40:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MixieArmadillo \* > \*\*The name Bruce makes me think of a burly gay man in a plaid shirt, partway unbuttoned with a chest pelt hanging out the top, and a Tom Selleck mustache 😉 > > ~Mixie \*\* He cuts down trees. He eats his lunch. He goes to the lavatory. On Wednesdays he goes shopping And has buttered scones for tea. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Stage\_Manager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stage_manager/32/7267_2.png) [@Stage\_Manager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stage_Manager)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-and-homosexuality-as-perceived-by-some/201451/23 "2003-09-15T23:46:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crunchy Frog \* > \*\*manly-man type thingies \*\* Band name! ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-and-homosexuality-as-perceived-by-some/201451/24 "2003-09-15T23:57:31Z")
I have encountered the same suggestion that **Exapno Mapcase** mentioned in the thread **Tucker** linked–that the usage was based on _Batman_, of all things. The usage appears to have been established in the 1960s. In 1954, Fredric Wertham published _The Seduction of the Innocent_, a rather vicious attack on comic books that made much of the supposed gay relationship between Bruce Wayne and Dick Ward. The idea might have fallen off the radar if it weren’t for the wave of extreme camp that washed over the franchise; certainly the introduction of the TV in early 1966 didn’t help, but the comics were downright bizarre as well. So, you have one extremely well-known figure named “Bruce”–on one of the top ten shows on TV–who is thought of (with varying degrees of seriousness) as gay. It’s not too much of a stretch to imagine the name being adopted to refer to the gay stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-and-homosexuality-as-perceived-by-some/201451/25 "2003-09-15T23:59:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by International Playboy \* > \*\*I don’t know the origin, but I remember reading a reference to “Bruce” being a gay man’s name in **Mad magazine** back in the late 60s or early 70s. Didn’t they change Bruce Banner’s first name in the Bill Bixby **Incredible Hulk** series because the powers that be didn’t feel that Bruce was macho enough? > \*\* Mid 70’s. I know because I saw it in the very same place. The payoff line was that while the characters were explaining this, there was a TV in the background. The voiceover from the TV said, “Genner has won the declathon. Bruce is the manliest man in the world!” or somesuch. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-and-homosexuality-as-perceived-by-some/201451/26 "2003-09-16T00:12:05Z")
The first I noticed it was in the late 60’s on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. You couldn’t openly mention homosexuality on TV back then, but it was understood that if you called somebody “Bruce”, that meant he was gay. So there were lots of “gay” jokes about this guy Bruce. I think the name Bruce was chosen ironically, because it’s actually kind of a tough, masculine-sounding name. The bruce phenomenon has been over for a long time, though. I don’t think I’ve heard a bruce joke since the mid-seventies (except that I think Johnny Carson may have stayed with it a bit longer). ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-and-homosexuality-as-perceived-by-some/201451/27 "2003-09-16T10:20:52Z")
Robin’s secret identity was Dick _Grayson,_ Balance. I stand by the “Adam and Steve” reference, Matt. It was supposed to have partial identification with “Adam and Eve.” The first time I heard of a character named Julius was when a ventriloquist named Skipper Frank hosted a cartoon show in the fifties, on Los Angeles TV. Shakespeare’s play _Julius Caesar_ made much more of an impression on me than the TV character did, when we read the play in the sophomore year of high school; we started calling the play “Julie babe” when it was time to take the play up in class again. 😛 And the courage of Robert the Bruce to which I alluded in the OP should suffice to dispel any hint of an unfortunate stereotype. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-and-homosexuality-as-perceived-by-some/201451/28 "2003-09-18T03:14:25Z")
> [@](#): > > I stand by the “Adam and Steve” reference, Matt. It was supposed to have partial identification with “Adam and Eve.” I know, and my point is that I hear “Adam and Steve” references all the time, and I remember “Adam and Bruce” because it _wasn’t_ “Adam and Steve”. [Cite](http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/817_8/817_8_anita_laura.asp) ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-and-homosexuality-as-perceived-by-some/201451/29 "2003-09-18T03:23:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by International Playboy \* > \*\*I don’t know the origin, but I remember reading a reference to “Bruce” being a gay man’s name in **Mad magazine** back in the late 60s or early 70s. Didn’t they change Bruce Banner’s first name in the Bill Bixby **Incredible Hulk** series because the powers that be didn’t feel that Bruce was macho enough? > \*\* Yeah, to David Banner. This was right around the time Bruce Jenner and Bruce Lee were considered the greatest athlete and martial artist in the world, mind you. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-and-homosexuality-as-perceived-by-some/201451/30 "2003-09-18T13:53:44Z")
This is very interesting to me. I never thought about _why_ Bruce is a stereotypical gay name. I have a cousin named Bruce who is a gay hairdresser. He’s a wondeful person! ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-and-homosexuality-as-perceived-by-some/201451/31 "2003-09-18T13:59:03Z")
:eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bruce-and-homosexuality-as-perceived-by-some/201451.md?page=1)