gaybait

English

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

From gay +‎ bait (“something that allures”).

Noun

gaybait (uncountable)

1. (slang) A man who is attractive to other gay men.

Synonyms

• queerbait

Etymology 2

From gay +‎ -bait (manipulation to elicit a particular response).

Verb

gaybait (third-person singular simple present gaybaits, present participle gaybaiting, simple past and past participle gaybaited)

1. To harass or vilify someone for their real or imagined homosexuality, typically to advance political ends against them.
   • 2004 October 7, Leslie Feinberg, “Can a homosexual be a member of the Communist Party?”, in Workers World‎^[1]:

     In addition to gay-baiting fascists and fascist-baiting homosexuals, currents of [Soviet] officialdom also used epithets of "effeminacy" and "effete" homosexuality to label elements of the old ruling class and to help build the image of the proletarian society and its soldiers as hypermasculine.

   • 2020 January 29, “Editorial: Darrell Issa’s shameful gay-baiting attack ads are the worst kind of time warp”, in Los Angeles Times‎^[2]:

     It’s possible, we suppose, that former Rep. Darrell Issa didn’t realize his TV ad attacking a GOP rival, Carl DeMaio, in the 50th Congressional District primary race could be seen as gay-baiting. The ad, ostensibly about DeMaio’s stance on immigration and President Trump, includes two gratuitous references to the fact that DeMaio is gay.

2. (transitive, slang) To entice or pander a gay person through demagoguery.
3. (transitive, slang) To seduce a heterosexual into homosexual relations.