History Main / ArmouredClosetGay

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* At a party, Shay from ''Webcomic/BetweenTheLines'' notices a girl as being a kid who used to beat her and throw homophobic slurs at her when they were younger. Shay comments that Nikki became like how she hated - they're both transgender - which gets Nikki quite mad.

* Kagura from ''Roleplay/YukariIsFree'' used to be this, until her friends "dragged her kicking and screaming out of the closet" mid-season 2.

%%* [[spoiler:Col. Fitts]] from ''Film/AmericanBeauty'', [[spoiler:especially the homophobic part, and violent]].

* The villain from the early gay rights film ''Film/{{Victim}}'' is strongly implied to be this. He's a blackmailer who wears leather and sunglasses, has nude male artwork and photographs of musclemen in his apartment, and seems to enjoy humiliating his victims a little ''too'' much.

* The ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Bloom}}'' depicts Victoria Chase as going to great lengths to hide her lesbianism from her friends. Her ex, Rachel Amber, uses this against her by [[ForcedOutOfTheCloset threatening to out her]] if she keeps bullying Max. When Victoria gets her own spin-off, ''In The Night We Trust'', this aspect of her character puts a strain on her budding romance with her friend, Taylor.

* ''Series/MrShow'' plays this for laughs with Wyckyd Sceptre, a brainless hair metal band that becomes infamous overnight for a viral tape of one of their parties... which features the guys giving each other copious amounts of oral and anal sex. They not only reject the idea that it's gay, and mockingly call the record exec a "faggot" when he tries to commiserate with them as a gay man, but seem to have no ''concept'' of how this could possibly be construed as such when they do it ("dude, stop sayin' that, it was just a party!"). [[spoiler:They later get marketed for flamboyantly gay audiences by the label, become sponsored by Menuco Butt Plugs, and perform a song -- "Gettin' the Shaft" -- that suggests their catalogue is already full of innuendo.]]

* Kurt and Rams' dads in ''{{Theatre/Heathers}}''. At the funeral, where he believes his son killed himself over being gay and ashamed, Ram's previously mega-macho man's man dad reveals that he and Kurt's dad have been having a secret affair for years.

* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'': Mac begins the series as a ManChild who is obsessed with heavily muscled action heroes. The homoerotic undertones of his obsession get turned into a RunningGag that he is secretly gay but unable to admit it because of his staunch Catholicism. Over the seasons, he loses all interest in women, and the rest of the gang become increasingly vocal about how he's obviously gay. In the 12th season, Mac finally comes out of the closet to win a dispute over a lottery scratcher.

* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', James Garret is an... interesting example of this trope. He fits all the criteria, appearing to be disgusted to the point of anger by what he turns out to be himself. But he is not so much an armored closet gay man as he is an Armored Closet [[spoiler: ''{{Robosexual}}''. The similarities to this trope are only further highlighted when the robot in question turns out to have a masculine personality and... [[NoodleImplements implied... parts.]] ]]

* Invoked and played with for Kanji Tatsumi in ''VideoGame/Persona4''. When he was a kid, the other kids [[KidsAreCruel teased him]] for liking things like sewing and other "girly" things, so he developed a BadassBiker facade in order to defend himself. These feelings manifest themselves as a half-naked CampGay EvilTwin [[ShadowArchetype Shadow]] with shades of HeManWomanHater. However, since part of acquiring one's Persona is learning to accept your suppressed feelings, Kanji learns to be more at ease with himself (especially once he learns that there are people who ''do'' accept him for who he is). Although he remains [[ManlyGay a tough guy]], he stops worrying about whether or not he's "strange." Worth noting that his sexuality is [[ShrugOfGod deliberately left ambiguous]] in both (English and Japanese) versions, as the original focus of his issues that his interests make him "unmanly" by Japanese values, which is a problem that [[ValuesDissonance doesn't convey as well to Western audiences]]. Thus, Kanji could be gay, bi, or even straight, with his LoveInterest [[spoiler:famously being a girl with a ''very'' {{Tomboy}}-ish appearance, and who herself struggles both with wanting to work in a heavily male-oriented environment, and possibly having some gender identity issues herself, which her own shadow is merciless about.]]

** Parodied in [[http://www.theonion.com/video/heartbroken-santorum-condemns-gay-marriage-for-two,27497/ this video]] where "Rick Santorum" reveals why he doesn't like gay marriage is because his boyfriend cheated on him and married some other guy.

He's the strongest, toughest, manliest man, and he's not shy about letting you know it. As such, he's absolutely not gay. He'll remind you, [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial without prompting]], that [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday he's completely, 100% straight]]. He hates gays so much that he might even be violent about it, which makes him all the manlier. And when you're not looking, he's browsing Grindr, or visiting the gay bar WhereEverybodyKnowsYourFlame, hanging with the {{Club Kid}}s and {{Gym Bunn|y}}ies. His claims of heterosexuality are totally untrue -- and yet, no matter [[ImplausibleDeniability where you catch him]], he'll never, ever admit he's gay. He's in the {{closet|Gay}} -- and locked the door behind him.

It's one of the most common variants of YouAreWhatYouHate. {{Homophobia|Index}} has long been so pervasive that it's easy to be surrounded by idols, mentors, and authority figures who think being gay is ''bad''. This leads to quite a few homosexuals growing up not wanting to do evil things but finding themselves unable to change their sexuality. This trope is a common result.

Indeed, it's so common that it leads to a little bit of a MortonsFork -- there's no way of outright denying that you're gay without making it look like you're in the "armoured closet". No, not even if you point out that [[NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat there's nothing wrong with being gay]]. And if you go too far in the other direction, it goes back to the slightly more obvious conclusion -- if you keep going on about how there's nothing wrong with being gay, then maybe you ''are'' gay. It's a classic [[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Kafkatrap Kafkatrap]] -- any denial makes you look guilty. The best way to deal with this is to recongise that it works in reverse -- anyone who's trying that hard to out you as gay is probably gay themselves! Because of all this, the likelihood of any given person being in the "armoured closet" is not actually that high. This trope isn't about assuming that all homophobic characters are gay (that's for WildMassGuessing); it only applies when the audience ''knows'' that the character is gay and in denial about it. Indeed, many such characters are in the TransparentCloset; they may be stuck inside, but everyone knows they're in it.

Despite [[http://www.afterellen.com/tv/493157-gay-tv-tropes-every-queer-woman-aware what After Ellen wrote,]] this isn't ForcedOutOfTheCloset, though this character may end up being a target of that.

Sometimes there's a point to staying in the closet; the character might simply be in a situation in which coming out would be seriously dangerous. This leads to some overlap with the {{Gayngster}}.

Wiki/RationalWiki helped popularise the formulation of "Haggard's Law", which states that "The more vocally opposed a person is to homosexuality, the more likely they are to be gay themself and closeted about it." Their page on it even links to this page.

Intersects with a ton of related tropes, many of which have to do with struggling with homosexuality ({{Gayngst}}, ClosetGay, SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny) or AggressiveCategorism (BoomerangBigot, BigotWithACrush, InternalizedCategorism, PsychologicalProjection, YouAreWhatYouHate). Contrast GymBunny and ManlyGay (openly gay but no less manly), StraightGay (openly gay but not obvious about it), or GayBravado (acting gay to affirm your heterosexuality -- unless, of course, it's a [[DoubleSubversion double bluff]]).

* In ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}''...a police-detective, real CowboyCop, Dirty Harry-type. Outspoken bigot, who hated blacks, Asians, Muslims, and--more than anything--gays. He is only tangentially involved with the plot, but a short while later, the main character stumbles on him in a bondage club, getting it on with a couple black guys.

%%* ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'' features Elder [=McKinley=], a MauveShirt who demonstrates this as a RunningGag whenever the show draws attention to him.

* A ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'' sketch has Scott Thompson playing a macho actor who constantly denies that he's gay, even when he's seen in bed with a man. The sketch ends with him dead and in an open-casket funeral, with two women wondering how he died. One of them says it was AIDS, but his corpse keeps muttering "Cancer." (A FunnyAneurysmMoment as Scott - who is gay in RealLife - was successfully treated for cancer in 2009.)

AKA [[Wiki/RationalWiki Haggard's Law]], or the Law of Inverse Homosexuality: ''The more [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial vocally opposed]] a person is to homosexuality, the more likely they are [[YouAreWhatYouHate to be gay themself and closeted about it]].''

He's the strongest, toughest, manliest man in the sports team. He might hate gays and be vocal, or even violent about it. He will remind everybody that [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday he is completely, 100% straight]]. That is, during the daytime. When night falls, you can find him WhereEverybodyKnowsYourFlame with the {{Club Kid}}s and {{Gym Bunn|y}}ies. He might be browsing Grindr with a headless torso pic. He's the self-loathing gay guy who hides behind a macho homophobic façade.

If FridgeLogic is applied, this trope can become a MortonsFork. ''Anyone'' who is homophobic might be suspected of being a secretly self-hating gay person. On the other hand, if you go in the opposite direction and ''defend'' gays, you're ''[[SarcasmMode obviously]]'' speaking up on behalf of your people, which means you're gay anyway! (Then again, people who would try to catch you out this way are probably homophobes, and thus potentially gay themselves, so in that sense it sort of evens out. This is a prime example of a [[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Kafkatrap Kafkatrap]], where any denial of something is used as proof that you're guilty.)

This is one of the most common variants of YouAreWhatYouHate. It's also a subtrope of BigotWithACrush, BoomerangBigot, InternalizedCategorism, PsychologicalProjection, and SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny. See also {{Gayngst}} if the character is particularly self-tormented about it. Not to be confused with StraightGay, who is out of the closet but just non-flamboyant, or GymBunny or ManlyGay, also out of the closet and macho all the same.

Subtrope of ClosetGay. Polar opposite of GayBravado -- acting gay to affirm your heterosexuality -- unless it's a [[DoubleSubversion double bluff]], of course. Sometimes overlaps with {{Gayngster}} and with TransparentCloset--just because the armor's there doesn't mean that people can't see through it. May result in IrrationalHatred of gays, or {{tsundere}} behavior toward the object of such a character's same-sex affection.

Despite [[http://www.afterellen.com/tv/493157-gay-tv-tropes-every-queer-woman-aware what After Ellen wrote,]] this isn't ForcedOutOfTheCloset, though this character may end up being a target of that. Remember that the character's homosexuality has to be mentioned in-story. If it's never said but you have good reasons to believe that a character is an armoured closet gay, explain it at WildMassGuessing.

* In ''Out of the Shadows'' by Sue Hines, Jodie is continually picked on by the AlphaBitch because of her [[RomanticTwoGirlFriendship extremely close friendship]] with Ro. She gets back at the Alpha Bitch later on in the book by suggesting that she's trying to cover up her own lesbian yearnings with her bullying. It's never confirmed if her accusation was right or not, but the Alpha Bitch ''does'' leave her alone after that.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuA7l9vQQXQ This]] animatic for a cover of "Hellfire" from ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' changes the implications of the song due to the singer being female. The protagonist of the short is a nun who is lusting over another woman. Frollo's hypocritical and violent attitude is still there.

* In ''Series/TheLWord'' Alice and Tasha meet an NBA star at a closet party. A few days later, said player makes homophobic comments about a fellow player, and Alice outs him in public.

%%* Bo the [[JerkJock wrestler]] in ''[[Film/{{Cursed 2005}} Cursed]]''. He only comes out of the closet to Jimmy because he has a crush on him due to his [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent "unnatural sexual allure"]].