# Is there any real evidence that Kagan and Napolitano are gay? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 11, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063 "2010-05-11T16:35:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/21 "2010-05-12T01:47:20Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Gay marriage is a hot political topic these days. Getting nominated to the Supreme Court is a political process. And that’s why the questions will be about her stand on that issue, and the Defense of Marriage Act she has bitterly opposed, and not on her own orientation. Very artfully worded questions they will be, too. ---
**Author:** ![Vaevictis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f04885/32.png) [@Vaevictis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vaevictis)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/22 "2010-05-12T04:49:10Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Fantasies? Kagan has some mannish characteristics, including voice, hair, clothing and demeanor. It’s logical to assume that she may be gay, but not necessarily so. Since when does mannish suggest gay? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/23 "2010-05-12T05:08:30Z")
Is this question posed/debated about every nominee to SCOTUS or only when they appear to not fit within our preconceived opinions of how people should be? ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/24 "2010-05-12T11:11:25Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I started a thread defending Kagan from the “hideous” charge some are labeling her with, but real world if you “present” a fairly dykish appearance (and she does), and there is not even a rumor of you ever having been in an intimate heterosexual relationship (and there is not) the chances that you are a gay woman are pretty damn good. Glad you agree that the SDMB is not the real world. As for me, if “don’t ask;don’t tell” is good enough for the military it should be good enough for politicians… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![mo50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@mo50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mo50)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/25 "2010-05-12T11:57:59Z")
C’mon, she plays softball fer godsake (& from the photos looks like she has a pretty decent stance) of COURSE she’s a sapphic sistah! Not that it matters, of course. kumbaya! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/26 "2010-05-12T21:16:12Z")
according to a former female college roomie she isn’t [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100512/ts\_ynews/ynews\_ts2018](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100512/ts_ynews/ynews_ts2018) ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/27 "2010-05-12T21:23:48Z")
I believe many males have a difficult time understanding that females can wear their hair short, can be interested in sports, can eschew lots of makeup, and might still be heterosexual. I’m not sure why that is, but that seems to be the underlying thread here (“of COURSE she’s a saphic sistah,” “she ‘looks’ gay,” etc.) I also wonder how many of the guys who “know” she’s gay work extra hard to avoid “looking gay” themselves. Maybe there’s an underlying homophobia at work behind these strong assertions about someone else’s sexuality - someone who they know virtually nothing about. Do they protest too much? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/28 "2010-05-12T21:28:33Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > To the OP: What kind of “evidence” would qualify? > > I am a member of a 90-man gay chorus. Yet except for myself, I could not provide “evidence” that any particular individual is gay. I can. They sing in a gay men’s chorus. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/29 "2010-05-12T21:53:45Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > To the OP: What kind of “evidence” would qualify? Well, if we knew that Kagan had been a member of a 90-woman lesbian chorus, I think that would qualify. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/30 "2010-05-14T01:06:58Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > No. Ditto for Condoleezza Rice. It’s just speculation based on the fact that these women all chose to focus on their careers to the exclusion of marriage & motherhood. Even if a man did the same (& women still have to make choices that men don’t) he wouldn’t be subject to this much speculation (people would still talk just not as much). Ask David Souter if that’s true, or former NYC mayor Ed Koch. Both had to field questions about their sexuality and endure endless speculation that they were gay. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/31 "2010-05-14T04:14:22Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > I can. They sing in a gay men’s chorus. 🙂 For the record, we have had straight guys in the chorus. One guy had just moved here from another country. He had enjoyed singing, and asked his coworkers if there were a choral group he could join. As a total prank they recommended our gay men’s chorus, and he joined. Of course it didn’t take him long to wake up and smell the coffee, but he was having a great time and stayed. He even participated in several of the dance numbers. After a couple of years he had to drop out when he got transferred to another city. I wonder if he joined the gay chorus there. In my experience lesbian choruses have a greater percentage of straight women. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/32 "2010-05-14T12:32:28Z")
The Obama administration is now [encouraging her friends to come out of the heterosexual closet](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37114.html)with their stories of how totally straight she is, but could never find the right guy. “Queen of the trouser pilots… I think” “Would have been a total slut… if she ever got the chance” “In college, we’d sit around in our pajamas, eat 'smores, smoke some joints and talk about boys all night long.” “I tried to show her how to blow a guy using a banana, but she bit off the end and ate it!.. Oh how we laughed!” ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/33 "2010-05-14T13:00:31Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > They both “look” gay. > > There is a stereotype of lesbians, esp. older lesbians, as being somewhat overweight with short hair and a lack of attention to appearance that is often demanded of professional women. There are plenty of lesbains who don’t fit the stereotype, and plenty of women who look like that who are into dudes. That’s why it’s a stereotype. But let’s not pretend it doesn’t exist. > > –Cliffy OTOH - you might pick on Rosie O’Donnell as that “look”; but her previous partner and current partner don’t fit the mold; and Ellen DeGeneres? Suzi Ormand? Hmm, 5 lesbians that I can think of off hand. (And some country or pop singer…?) One out of five or six that fit the stereotype; and Rosie actually played “woman” parts in the movies when she was younger, so she has only recently “grown into” the look. Actually, she just looks like a lot of women her age that I am aquanted with, all hetero married/divorced and with weight issues. So does Kagan. Also, somewhat short hair is a style a lot of women adopt when they reach the lifestyle that doesn’t give them a lot of time to primp in the morning and continuously through the day. So if, let’s say, she has lesbian urges but has never acted on them, what does that make her? Meanwhile there was a separate thread somewhere about whether smart (hetero) women had trouble finding suitable partners because a lot of men don’t like a smarter woman, according to popular wisdom. Should we be surprised that an aggressive smart and comeptent woman may have just gven up on looking for a partner (of whatever type) as a waste of time? The scandal with trying to pick up guys in an airport washroom was (a) breaking the law and (b) being a hypocrite about it by promoting anti-gay views while being a closet gay. If you are a politician, your constituents have a right to know if you are a hypocrite. (Kagan is Jewish??? I didn’t know that!) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/34 "2010-05-14T18:25:33Z")
Janet Reno, Condi Rice and David Souter were all whispered about. Anyone over, say, age 40 who goes into public life, is “of a certain appearance,” isn’t married and isn’t known to have dated people of the opposite sex, is going to have these questions asked about them. Silly and irrelevant, but inevitable. Sexual orientation is important to some people, and for those opposed to the “gay lifestyle,” a convenient bludgeon with which bash a nominee to whom they’re probably irrevocably opposed for other reasons anyway. I don’t mind people staying in the closet, if that’s what they want to do. It’s their private life, not mine. What I can’t stand is hypocrisy (Exhibit A: George Rekers). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/35 "2010-05-14T18:43:49Z")
I think that the only drawback is the potential for blackmail, or if the person is a raging hypocrite. Over the past 40 years being gay has become a non-issue for everyone except some (not all) conservatives. A very conservative gay bashing politician is subject to blackmail over gay liaisons, but so what for everyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063/36 "2010-05-14T21:07:57Z")
I suspect the real issue with her “look” is an indirect one. She is an unattractive woman, and this probably makes it hard to hook up with men. Especially because she is also a very intelligent and successful woman - this makes the type of guy she needs more of a catch and the sucessful men in her league likely set their sights higher in the looks department. And she’s probably not interested in the type of people who would settle for her. As a result, she has probably had very few dates over the years, which leads to people whispering that she’s gay. But not that the look itself is some sort of gay look. Same might go for any number of other successful but unattractive women. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-real-evidence-that-kagan-and-napolitano-are-gay/539063.md?page=1)