Test Your Gaydar
— -- This story was originally broadcast Oct. 29, 2004.
New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey surprised a lot of people last summer when he announced: "I am a gay American."
But a lot of people say they can tell right away -- just by looking at someone -- or listening to them -- whether they're gay or not. They say they have "gaydar." (The word is a play on radar ... seeing what's hidden.)
Apparently McGreevey's wife doesn't have gaydar. They are reported to have separated. And his ex-wife said she had no clue and most of his constituents didn't know. So if so many people can be fooled, does gaydar really exist?
Homosexuality is routinely hidden. Movie star Rock Hudson fooled almost everyone for years.
Lots of people were surprised when Rosie O'Donnell came out.
It all made us want to do our own test, so we persuaded 10 men, five gay and five straight, to subject themselves to several dozen people's gaydar.
The testers mingled with our subjects for about an hour, and then graded them straight, gay, definitely gay, definitely straight or don't know.
No one was allowed to ask any direct questions about sexuality. It wasn't a scientific test, but Northwestern University psychology professor Michael Bailey, who has done scientific tests of gaydar, said the test was valid.
On the whole, the testers did pretty well. Had they made random guesses, they would have been 50 percent right. But they were 60 percent correct -- better than chance.
"Gaydar absolutely exists. On average people do far better than chance," said Bailey.
Bailey's more scientific tests found graders to be accurate more than 70 percent of the time. Even when all they saw was a 10-second videotape, or just listened to the subjects' voices, they were right about who was gay more often than not.
In his book, "The Man Who Would Be Queen," he gives reasons why.
According to Bailey:
* Straight men tend to move in their arms from their shoulders more. Gay men do more movements from their elbows down.
* Straight men tend to slouch, gay men tend to sit a little more neatly.
