# How did having piercings in the right ear become associated with homosexuality? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 22, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309 "2014-11-22T02:28:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/21 "2014-11-24T02:56:30Z")
I remember in the early 80s that left ear was straight and right ear was gay, though I knew several guys who had just their right ear pierced, and they weren’t gay. There reasoning was that they wanted an earring, and they didn’t want it showing in their left ear in case they got pulled over by a cop. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/22 "2014-11-24T06:44:08Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > That’s not an urban legend, there is a well defined color code to indicate just about every fetish and left side means you like that fetish as a top/active (depending on fetish) and right is bottom/passive. It’s not used as much these days, but it’s not even remotely legend. Most of these stories I gave as much credence as the “smoking banana peels” thing, which IIRC was a joke that some people did not get, so they tried to smoke peels. (Probably the placebo effect). Similarly, I saw the argument that most motorcycle gangs were mostly modelled on Marlon Brando’s film “The Wild One”, a case of life imitating art imitating life. I wonder if a lot of this sort of hanky/earring folklore was a case of people following what they “heard” was supposed to be true. Sorry, it’s just too good to be true, and what good is a “secret code” that everyone knows? ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/23 "2014-11-24T07:10:35Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Most of these stories I gave as much credence as the “smoking banana peels” thing, which IIRC was a joke that some people did not get, so they tried to smoke peels. (Probably the placebo effect). > > Similarly, I saw the argument that most motorcycle gangs were mostly modelled on Marlon Brando’s film “The Wild One”, a case of life imitating art imitating life. I wonder if a lot of this sort of hanky/earring folklore was a case of people following what they “heard” was supposed to be true. Sorry, it’s just too good to be true, and what good is a “secret code” that everyone knows? Among the gay leather community, the hanky code is well known although not as prevalent as it used to be. At first it was more of a ‘secret’ code during the pre-Stonewall days when they would use their keys to indicate top/bottom based on which side they were hanging. Considering that you couldn’t even admit a bar was gay, things were a lot more secretive. The color code system came about in the early 70’s to indicate activity preferences as well as position preference. By the time I was going out to bars, especially leather/fetish/etc ones in the mid 90’s, they weren’t used nearly as much but I had a number of conversations with the older guys there. Some still used it, but it was more of a relic of the previous couple decades. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/24 "2014-11-24T12:14:39Z")
I don’t know if it spread to America, but English, especially London, gays had their own language called Polari. Many polari words have moved into the general English vocabulary - bijou (small), hoofer (dancer), mince (walk like Poirot), naff (bad or drab), are just a few. Anyone interested can look here - [Polari - British gay slang](http://chris-d.net/polari/) ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/25 "2014-11-24T16:46:47Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > However, it was also “common knowledge” in our freshman-year conversations that in California, the LEFT ear was the “gay” ear. Got my left ear pierced in CA in the mid-80s. At that time it was mostly agreed that left was straight and right was gay, but the meaning was already starting to fade by then and you’d see straights with only the right pierced. Piercing both ears seemed to be reserved for musicians. By the mid to late 90s, any left vs right meaning had disappeared and it was old-school to have only one. Most men with piercings had both ears done. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/26 "2014-11-24T17:00:51Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > The “right ear is queer” is no longer a thing and hasn’t been for 15 years at the very least. The majority of kids these days are getting both ears pierced. > When I told me son about the right ear thing after he got his ears pierced, he just gave me that “Old people are weird” look. Yep. I wouldn’t know anything about it except that when I was a teenager my mom was chatting about people she knew in college and the Left is Right and Right is Wrong saying came up. I don’t know anyone my own age who would draw conclusions about orientation from the ear itself. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/27 "2014-11-24T17:35:17Z")
Back when I was young (around the dawn of the Cretaceous period) I was told that either ear makes you gay - the left meant “pitcher” and the right “catcher”. I don’t believe it means anything much nowadays. Which is fortunate, since I got my earring in '93. Regards, Shodan PS - the left. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/28 "2014-11-24T19:11:04Z")
I used to wear a small hoop or stud. The practice ended completely when I went to Fire School, and ripped the booger out of my left earlobe pulling off my SCBA mask. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/29 "2014-11-24T19:54:53Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01] Among the gay leather community, the hanky code is well known although not as prevalent as it used to be. At first it was more of a ‘secret’ code during the pre-Stonewall days when they would use their keys to indicate top/bottom based on which side they were hanging. [/QUOTE] And even that had a West Coast/East Coast split. Up until around 25 or so years ago, the switch happened somewhere between Chicago and New York. Now, it’s pretty much universal that top is left and bottom is right. There also used to be only half a dozen colors to indicate what you were into. Now, the color chart has exploded into utter nonsense requiring people to try and tell if a bandana in someone’s pocket is robin’s egg blue or sky blue, dark gray or charcoal gray, etc. Just another thing to keep people on their toes or guessing. Another thing with regional variants is dancing - some parts do a two-step as quick quick slow slow, and others do slow slow quick quick. Swing dancing also has east and west coast flavors. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/30 "2014-11-24T20:04:00Z")
Around 1980 or so I’d heard it’s the left ear, the right ear, any ear at all. Screw it, I was a punk and punks don’t care. My favorite musician was Gary Numan and he had his left ear pierced, so I just copied him. Really it was just homophobia and a form of “slut shaming.” Oh, you have an earring, doesn’t that mean you’re gay?" Whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/31 "2014-11-24T21:07:40Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I assumed this left-right thing was just a joke, like the urban legend about hankies in the back pockets. One side indicated “gay on top” preference, other side “gay on bottom”. (Is there even such a distinction in gay life? Who really cares?) Back in the 70’s in San Francisco, some people were using little teddy bears. In the pockets, not the ears; that would tickle. ---
**Author:** ![EdwinAmi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5fc32e/32.png) [@EdwinAmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwinAmi)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/32 "2014-11-25T01:37:55Z")
alls I want to say is the funniest term for gays/lesbians is “Friend of Dorothy”. You can say it and it immediately becomes apparent what it means also, one would do better to wear rainbow-decorated stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/33 "2014-11-25T02:54:54Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > And even that had a West Coast/East Coast split. Up until around 25 or so years ago, the switch happened somewhere between Chicago and New York. Now, it’s pretty much universal that top is left and bottom is right. There also used to be only half a dozen colors to indicate what you were into. Now, the color chart has exploded into utter nonsense requiring people to try and tell if a bandana in someone’s pocket is robin’s egg blue or sky blue, dark gray or charcoal gray, etc. > > Just another thing to keep people on their toes or guessing. Yea it’s gotten a little nuts, but the basic point is that it is certainly a real thing with a real history. ---
**Author:** ![wolfhead1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/47e85d/32.png) [@wolfhead1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfhead1)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/34 "2017-08-20T02:37:50Z")
i grow up in the 60s and i rememberin 65 hearing about which ear to get pierced and that if you had the the left ear piericd you were gay I grew up in the city (new york) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/35 "2017-08-20T21:56:26Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > My understanding as a kid was that wearing earrings at all, in either ear or both, was pretty questionable. Yep, that was what I remember as kid. Any man wearing an earring was likely queer. To actually have the ear pierced for earrings moved it from likely queer to definitely. Even a woman with pierced ears was at least ‘easy’ or slutty, if not an actual hooker. Times have changed. ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2017, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/36 "2017-08-20T23:14:30Z")
Times have changed, and did, rapidly. **Wolfhead1** says that in 1965 NYC, left ear pierced meant you were gay. I was 17 in 1979 and living in Maryland when I got my _left_ ear pierced. While none of my male friends had either ear pierced, we definitely thought the right ear was the gay one. Apparently my having been a heterosexual all these years is an aural mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2017, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/37 "2017-08-21T01:57:13Z")
Oh, dear! I always thought it meant that he lost the other one! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2017, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/38 "2017-08-21T03:07:50Z")
When I was a high school freshman, in 1975, any man who wore an earring was either a Gypsy or gay. By the time I was a senior, it had changed- Now, an earring in one ear meant you were gay, but the other ear was “okay.” Unfortunately, nobody could ever remember which ear was which. By 1983, when I was a senior in College, a guy could have 5 earrings in both ears, and it meant nothing. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/39 "2017-08-22T00:08:57Z")
> [@gracefulfatsheba](#): > > Does it vary by culture? I would say so, both mine have been pierced since long before high school was even a thought. Mayhaps things be different in the paleozoic? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2017, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309/40 "2017-08-22T14:49:51Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > Left ear buccaneer, right ear queer. They’re not [mutually exclusive](https://www.outsports.com/2015/1/27/7919543/super-bowl-nfl-gay-logos-oilers-patriots-buccaneers) (and as a Bucs fan I am proud of having once had the gayest logo in football). 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-having-piercings-in-the-right-ear-become-associated-with-homosexuality/705309.md?page=3)