# Did Starsky and Hutch seem this gay back in the '70s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 10, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209 "2010-11-10T19:48:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/21 "2010-11-11T02:09:36Z")
[You can’t watch the opening credits and not think they didn’t want to kiss.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KmXLlcVgjg) At least that was what I always thought as a little girl. I thought they really loved each other and wanted to kiss each other but couldn’t because they were both boys. Hey, I was 9. I thought Don’t Give Up On Us was a secret love song to Starsky. It was all very romatic, really. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/22 "2010-11-11T02:18:28Z")
Well, but the opening credits have Hutch being mesmerized by the stripper (who seems to be genuinely enjoying herself, BTW). I actually remembered that part of the credits from all those years ago. The opening credits also have them acting all goofy (what’s with the costumes??), like the producers are telling you that these are two tough cops working the mean streets, but they’re funny, too! Wasn’t Huggy Bear the kind of role that self-respecting black actors were supposed to avoid? But I digress. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/23 "2010-11-11T02:34:10Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > Well, but the opening credits have Hutch being mesmerized by the stripper (who seems to be genuinely enjoying herself, BTW). I actually remembered that part of the credits from all those years ago. And Starsky gently blowing in his ear to remind him who he really should be paying attention to. > [@](#): > > Wasn’t Huggy Bear the kind of role that self-respecting black actors were supposed to avoid? But I digress. [Have you seen Hollywood Shuffle?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKX4LktBI5o) ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/24 "2010-11-11T02:44:51Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > And Starsky gently blowing in his ear to remind him who he really should be paying attention to. Okay, made me laugh! 😃 Yes, I remember _Hollywood Shuffle_. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/25 "2010-11-11T22:53:43Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Don’t forget, it was the 1970s when the iconic image of masculinity was this (possibly NSFW) … and when Joe Namath was wearing panty hose. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/26 "2010-11-11T22:59:17Z")
yes ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/27 "2010-11-11T23:11:24Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > It was the 1970’s - the whole _decade_ was pretty gay. And brown. The 'Seventies were very brown. _Starsky and Hutch_ bravely paved the way for other on-screen detective couples to further and more openly explore their feelings for each other, like Ponch and Jon, Dan Tanna and Philip Roth, and of course the spiritual successors to Starsky and Hutch, Crockett and Tubbs. I don’t think anyone realize just how blatantly homosexual all of this was until it started rerunning on the USA network in the mid-Nineties to a generation that wasn’t permanently addled by the lethal combination of LSD, Liberace, and the Nixon Administration. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/28 "2010-11-11T23:37:55Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > Yes, I remember _Hollywood Shuffle_. Hoes gots to eat too. * * * And I \ doing the nasty. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/29 "2010-11-12T11:41:45Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > … to a generation that wasn’t permanently addled by the lethal combination of LSD, Liberace, and the Nixon Administration. > > … Took me years to recover. ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/30 "2010-11-12T13:18:50Z")
We then segued into the 80s with Don Johnson _Miami Vice_ characters wearing PINK of all things. Starsky and Hutch were just setting the trend for the gayboys to start coming out more and express their sensitive side! ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/31 "2010-11-12T13:43:05Z")
As a straight teen girl in the 70’s I never once thought Starsky and Hutch were gay. Just cute, goofy, overgrown teenage boys. Who happen to be cops. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/32 "2010-11-12T16:01:51Z")
Any time you get guys together there’s a bunch of goofing around, maybe it’s a dominance thing. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/33 "2010-11-12T18:13:13Z")
Guys, this was the seventies. We didn’t think Elton John seemed gay. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/34 "2010-11-12T18:22:46Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > _Starsky and Hutch_ bravely paved the way for other on-screen detective couples to further and more openly explore their feelings for each other, like Ponch and Jon, Dan Tanna and Philip Roth… Nah, Roth was more of a slightly creepy father figure (and I say that in the nicest possible way–I had a little crush on that character when I was a teenager–I was a weird teenager). Tanna’s ho-yay was more with Binzer (or really more vice versa–the Binz obviously had a raging crush on Dan.) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/35 "2010-11-13T00:14:34Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Guys, this was the seventies. We didn’t think Elton John seemed gay. Nor that one panelist on Match game. Dude loved to see how much gay lingo he could get on the air, without any straight people being any wiser. Unless gay lingo actually came from 70s straight slang… ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/36 "2010-11-13T00:20:33Z")
I **loved** that show, but they were gay compared to Tony Beretta. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/37 "2010-11-13T00:33:06Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Guys, this was the seventies. We didn’t think Elton John seemed gay. I actually remember the day it clicked for me that Freddie Mercury might be gay. Even the big brand QUEEN sailed over my head. He sang so compellingly about the appeal of fat-bottomed girls and their geo-rotational qualities! I think at least (unlike his contemporaries) I was pretty sure that Liberace was gay. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/38 "2010-11-13T22:00:23Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Nor that one panelist on Match game. Dude loved to see how much gay lingo he could get on the air, without any straight people being any wiser. Unless gay lingo actually came from 70s straight slang… Charles Nelson Reilly? Heck, this was a decade where people danced along to the Village People’s “YMCA” without noticing it was about dudes cruising for dudes at the Y. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/39 "2010-11-13T22:33:42Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > And brown. The 'Seventies were very brown. > > _Starsky and Hutch_ bravely paved the way for other on-screen detective couples to further and more openly explore their feelings for each other, like Ponch and Jon, Dan Tanna and Philip Roth, and of course the spiritual successors to Starsky and Hutch, Crockett and Tubbs. I don’t think anyone realize just how blatantly homosexual all of this was until it started rerunning on the USA network in the mid-Nineties to a generation that wasn’t permanently addled by the lethal combination of LSD, Liberace, and the Nixon Administration. > > Stranger They weren’t detectives, but I’d just like to mention that Tod Stiles and Buz Murdock (on **Route 66)** had a joint bank account. And that was in 1960. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209/40 "2010-11-13T22:50:38Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > Charles Nelson Reilly? > > Heck, this was a decade where people danced along to the Village People’s “YMCA” without noticing it was about dudes cruising for dudes at the Y. And Paul Lynde was another example. There was basically no such thing as “gaydar” back then. We knew that homosexuality existed in the abstract but it was completely invisible to the general public. So everyone who could be seen was just assumed to be heterosexual by default. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-starsky-and-hutch-seem-this-gay-back-in-the-70s/560209.md?page=3)