Supposedly, years ago, gay men would identify themselves to each other by wearing green on Thursdays. I first heard about it in high school in the mid 1960s, in joking references. Back then, nearly all gay people were closeted. I never heard it again until it was mentioned in the classic style guidebook Dress For Success. The author warned against it.
A lot has changed since then, and I wondered if anyone still takes it seriously. Or more to the point, have you even heard of it?
I heard this once about 20 years ago. Never knew it went back into the 60s.
I heard it as wearing purple on Thursdays meant you were a lesbian.
I never took any of that sort of thing seriously.
Bizarre. First time ever hearing any of this in my half-century+ and I didn’t exactly grow up in a Norman Rockwell home in Peoria.
No, never heard of it. Sounds awkward, only having one day… if you came out to yourself on a Friday, you’d have to wait a week to announce it to the world.
And what of Hetero Hank, who innocently bought a green jacket on a Thursday? How long would it take him to notice he was gay?
When I was a kid (lonnng time ago) everything was a sign you were gay. Mikey wore a shirt one day with a “Froot Loop” in the back. Gay. Billy skipped playing baseball to decorate some gay cookies, and graduated to making gay jewelry. Robert wore his dress shoes for kickball once… because he was Super Gay. George loudly jingled a pocketful of change all day. It was like a bird call, but for The Gays.
Good old days, pfft…
This is my first time hearing it as a thing. Green is a pretty common part of my warddrobe and I’ve undoubtedly worn it many, many times on Thursdays. Nobody’s ever acted like they got the memo that I missed.
Is that like when a woman wears red on Friday, she’s a whore?
I heard it as a kid. Surely no adult took/takes this seriously??
All I know is about wearing a red shirt at a Disney theme park.
Well, that and the earring code, where one ear would mean you were a badboy, and the other would mean you were gay. But it was never consistent which was which.
By the time I graduated high school in 2003, it had started to be more common just to be out. I at least knew of a few lesbians, but only in classes below mine. (More of my class came out in college.)
I don’t know about the green thing but I sure talked to a lot of women Friday night in bars wearing red but I never had to pay for it.
Okay, that would get expensive. I’m going to stay straight.
I heard that wearing a red t-shirt that says “I am Gay” on a Tuesday means that you are gay, but only on Tuesdays.
I’ve never heard of it.
First I’ve heard of it, too.
When March 17 is a Thursday is everyone gay?
No, red on Friday meant a slut in general, not a prostitute.
“Green on Thursdays” was a thing when I was in high school in the late 60s. No one really took it seriously, but if you were spotted wearing it, you’d get teased about it, with comments like “Well, Tom, green on Thursday. We all know what *that *means.”.
The National Lampoon High School Yearbook Parody made mention of it when describing Forrest Swisher, who was clearly supposed to be a closeted gay.
I figured but just like the green thing I’ve never heard of it. Man, if I knew the sluts hung out signs it would have totally changed my dating life.
Nope. And never was.
Well, I’d stay in the closet if I went to C. Estes Kefauver High School in Dacron, Ohio (OMG, WHY do I know this?)