Basic Trope: A character is said to be gay, but nothing really shows that he is.
- Straight: Bob is stated to be gay, yet he never seems to date or have crushes on any men.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob is stated to be gay — while he has his arms around both Alice and Clara.
- Bob is stated to be gay — while he is in the midst of an orgy with five women.
- Downplayed:
- Bob is stated to be gay, yet while he claims to have gone on dates and the like, we never see any actual evidence that he has, nor is the dating ever mentioned in relationship to his homosexuality.
- But Not Too Gay.
- Justified:
- Bob is Straight Gay, and lacks an overall campy attitude.
- Bob is a minor character.
- Bob has taken a vow of chastity.
- Bob is shy with little to No Social Skills.
- Bob is in high school and doesn't care about sex or dating at the moment. There'll be time for that when he's in college, but right now, he has urgent tests to worry about.
- Bob lives in a small town and is the only gay boy living there who's out of the closet. That's gotta suck around prom.
- Bob may be gay, but his job takes priority over any romantic escapades.
- Inverted:
- Gender-Inverted: Alice and everybody around her says she's a lesbian, yet she never gets in any romantic relationships with other women or even evinces a desire to do so.
- Subverted:
- For the first book, Bob is mentioned to be gay, but never dates anyone. In the second book, however, he meets and hooks up with Daniel.
- Bob is a Fish out of Temporal Water, and he uses the word "gay" in its old-school meaning.
- Double Subverted:
- ... But they promptly break up and he hooks up with Clara.
- He is also gay in the way the adjective is used today.
- Parodied: Bob wears a shirt that says "I'm Gay!" on it and introduces himself by saying "Hi, I'm Bob, and I'm gay!" Then he gives a passionate kiss to Clara.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob is gay but never shows interest in any men, except for Danny. But then they break up and Bob's back to having no love interests again ... until Edward shows up, that is.
- Averted:
- Bob has a boyfriend or a crush on another boy.
- Bob isn't gay.
- Enforced:
- Bob is picked to become the token gay guy.
- The executives won't allow the writers to show Bob actually being in a gay relationship or imply that he has sex.
- Lampshaded:Alice: Hey, Bob, you're gay, right?Bob: Yeah.Alice: Well ... have you had a boyfriend? Like, EVER?
- Invoked: Bob is in high school, but thinks dating in school is a bad idea.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Clara is constantly setting Bob up on dates with other gay guys she thinks Bob would like.
- Discussed:Claire: That's Bob. He's gay, just so you know.Alice: Lemme guess ... he never dates other guys or flirts with them, he just IS gay?
- Conversed: "Have you ever noticed that a lot of gay guys on TV never actually have boyfriends?"
- Deconstructed: Bob is trying to build himself up to coming to some close relatives who have thus far remained unreadable as to how they might react, so he takes every opportunity he can to steel himself for a negative response. He's postponing dating for the time being as he doesn't feel that he can juggle the stress of not being out to his family with a relationship.
- Reconstructed: Bob feels it's important that he makes as many people as possible realise that they know someone who's gay, in the hope that they form more positive opinions on the queer community as a whole. He also wants to change the idea that a gay person must be actively dating someone of the same sex to validate their orientation, as he knows that they are queer folks who have had a hard time getting people to take them seriously when they came out.
- Played for Laughs:
- "Have I mentioned I am gay?" is Bob's catchphrase. He says it (while looking at the camera) each time he is proposed by a girl on screen. And they are many.
- Bob is a closeted heterosexual who pretends to be gay.
- Played for Drama: Bob is a fundamentalist self-hating gay man who whips himself in punishment for his "urges" and has constant angst because he believes he is going to Hell. He is never with a man (obviously) and is constantly trying to start awkward romantic relationships with women that are doomed to fail.
- Implied: Bob is The Ghost and Alice talks about how this is the main thing he says to her ... even though she has made clear to him that she isn't into him specifically, either, for one or more reasons exogenous to their Incompatible Orientation.
"Hey, guys, have I mentioned that I'm gay yet?"
