Read My Lisp

Is Michele Bachmann's husband gay? Don't trust gaydar to settle the question.

By William Saletan
Slate
Posted Friday, July 15, 2011

I was outed three years ago. Johann Hari, now a contributor to Slate, declared me a gay writer. I'm not sure how he figured it out. Maybe it was my conspicuous interest in homosexuality. Maybe it was my writing style, a photo, or a TV appearance. Somehow, he knew.

Now Marcus Bachmann, husband of Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, is setting off gaydar alarms. It started as a subtle joke among bloggers. Then it progressed to parody and overt insinuation. On Tuesday, Dan Savage said the Bachmanns' marriage was frigid because Mr. Bachmann may have "tiptoed down" the road to homosexuality "just a couple of inches … maybe six, maybe seven." As evidence, Savage cited Bachmann's "mincing" in a YouTube clip, plus "the sound of his voice." He concluded that Bachmann "appears to be a lying closet case." On Wednesday, Jon Stewart said Bachmann, who counsels homosexuals to overcome their urges, seems to be doing this "so he can hoard all the gayness for himself." Stewart said Bachmann "dances and sounds not only gay, but center-square gay."

There's nothing new about calling somebody gay based on a lisp or a girlish gait. We all saw, did, or suffered it in grade school. What's unusual is seeing grown-up gays and liberals do it in 2011 with such open ridicule. But don't worry: The new queer-hunters are progressive. They detect homosexuality based on science, not stereotypes. Savage cites a series of studies, written up two years ago in Scientific American, in which college students correctly distinguished gay from straight men based on facial features. He concludes: "Gaydar is for real."

Is it? Can gaydar identify Marcus Bachmann's orientation? Let's look at those studies.

(More here.)