Queer Eyes: Blips On The Gaydar

Psychology Today: It's true: Some people really do have "gaydar." Until now, the concept has been the stuff of urban legend. But in fact, according to a study conducted in 2005, some people are better at identifying gays than others, and overall, gays are better at it than straight individuals. William Lee Adams, an undergraduate at Harvard College who studied the topic for his senior thesis, found that when volunteers quickly view a stranger with minimal information—from neck-up photos and videos, without jewelry or makeup—homosexual men and women are more accurate in identifying other homosexuals. Neither the viewers nor the videotaped volunteers knew the purpose of the study. Gay men and women not only made more accurate assessments, they were efficient, too: It took about 2 seconds for gays to decide whether a person was straight or not. Says Adams, "You either have gaydar or you don't."