Both found the accuracy of these new tropes difficult to prove, but explored their complex and often contradictory origins. Earlier this year, Vice writer James Greig attempted to fact-check the “new gay stereotypes.” GQ writer Alim Kheraj also investigated the gay love of iced coffee. From “gays can’t drive” to “gays love iced coffee,” new ones seem to appear every day. Inevitably, gay people being active online (Twitter gays, I’m looking at you) has caused new stereotypes to emerge. Yet today’s gay men aren’t as reliant on representations crafted by others, with social media helping to democratize storytelling by providing a platform for people to share their experiences. Historically, gay stereotypes have been even less kind. To find out what else was gay, I looked to popular-culture, where I saw gay men mostly adhering to a fairly one-dimensional set of stereotypes: fashionable, witty, effeminate.

Growing up, people would often tell me that I “walked gay.” I used to wonder how putting one foot in front of the other could seem gay, but I heard it so frequently that I accepted it as truth.