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September 7, 2003 12:48 PM

"Gaydar Direct brings you the first electronic device that allows gay men and women to meet safe and discreetly!" Guess the inventor's never heard of the Internet. Oh, yeah, this gaydar? It vibrates. Links are safe, but standard pop-up warnings apply.
posted by WolfDaddy (19 comments total)

heh.. it sells for.. heh.. sixty nine dollars haha
heh
posted by shadow45 at 1:12 PM on September 7, 2003

Safe and discreetly?
Gaydar starts to vibrate loudly in very quiet library. "Teehee, look, a leftyhomo".

I'm quite sure this concept has been launched before for singles looking for a date/other singles. It flopped.

Gaydar2000 ........by the end of this year it is estimated that a million will be in use!

Well?
posted by ginz at 1:17 PM on September 7, 2003

Was this the guy that was on the Daily Show a while back? I think it was Steve Carrell, kept asking the inventor if he was gay or not. The gy kept denying it and looked ever more annoyed as the interviewer persisted. hilarious stuff.
posted by Space Coyote at 1:18 PM on September 7, 2003

I notice that the address is 449 Church St. in Toronto, which is "Flatirons" - a gay gift/novelty/card shop in our Chuch&Wellesley "village."
(I googled it thinking that the address would lead to Priape, which is an entirely different kind of novelty shop.)
posted by stonerose at 1:22 PM on September 7, 2003

This has been done already by the Japanese Lovegety.
posted by me & my monkey at 1:48 PM on September 7, 2003

Okay fine that's all well and good for homosexuals and I'm happy for them, but when is technology going to invent radar for straight, available, tolerably neurotic, single people? I've been wrong so many times, if I were a bat, I'd have my head caved in.

"I'm quite sure this concept has been launched before for singles looking for a date/other singles. It flopped."

A fish can't flop on the ground if it's never pulled outta the water.
posted by ZachsMind at 2:00 PM on September 7, 2003

it was on the daily show, space...i don't see the need--it's all in the eyes usually.

I'm reminded of Boy Meets Boy, where the star (the guy looking for love) had really bad gaydar (although it could have been the editing)...it was a mean show

and zach: wrong how?--you hit on lesbians? or married women?
posted by amberglow at 2:45 PM on September 7, 2003

And Tripod dies...
posted by i_cola at 2:52 PM on September 7, 2003

amber--

I'm suspecting an even split between "unavailable" and "not what you'd call tolerably neurotic", with a dash of marriage to spice things up.

Zach? Enquiring minds want to know.
posted by effugas at 3:38 PM on September 7, 2003

straight people are such a mystery ; >
posted by amberglow at 4:01 PM on September 7, 2003

straight people are such a mystery ; >

No arguments here.
posted by Space Coyote at 5:35 PM on September 7, 2003

I go with ZachsMind on that one. Apart from being gay, there are plenty of other orientations and preferences that make it similarly hard to find a compatible partner.
posted by raygirvan at 5:45 PM on September 7, 2003

What of the biological gaydar, that so many gay folk have boasted of?

I may be the most stereotypically heterosexual male in the universe. Poorly groomed, bad fashion sense, I hate dance music, don't work out, and have a famously noxious diet.

For the above reasons and many others, I am rarely (as in almost never) hit on by females. However, more bafflingly, I've been blatantly hit on by gays numerous times. I'm flattered, but this tells me that gaydar is so much bullshit or I must be sending up some kinda bizarre jamming signal.
posted by jonmc at 7:05 PM on September 7, 2003

Gaydar starts to vibrate loudly in very quiet library. "Teehee, look, a leftyhomo"

Surely you mean "Teehee, two leftyhomos!" That's how it's supposed to work anyhoo.

And that Daily Show interview was the most hilarious one I've seen... let's just say the guy had had fairly stereotypical jobs (bar dancer, interior decorator, etc.)
posted by clevershark at 8:14 PM on September 7, 2003

If I were back home in Georgia and thinking about using one of these things, my main worry would be that it can be used as a convenient locator for the overzealous gaybasher.
posted by troybob at 9:54 PM on September 7, 2003

amberglow: My theory on Boy Meets Boy is that the producers wanted the audience to sympathize with the main guy because he was being screwed over (by not knowing there were straight guys in the crew). A straight audience who is rooting for him not to pick the straight guy is a straight audience that is all that much closer to feeling that gay relationships are as legitimate as straight ones.
posted by troybob at 9:57 PM on September 7, 2003

good theory troybob, and probably true.

but still mean to the guy...i wonder how much "directing" of who to pick for finalists was their doing
posted by amberglow at 10:53 PM on September 7, 2003

I don't think there was any directing. Each phase of eliminations was done in groups set up by the producers, from which the guy would pick one to eliminate. I actually figured out who the straight guy was because they would put the straight guys into the same group, guaranteeing that in the end one at least one straight guy would remain.
posted by troybob at 11:52 PM on September 7, 2003

Surely you mean "Teehee, two leftyhomos!"
Never underestimate the deviousness of hetero giggling girls.
posted by ginz at 1:10 AM on September 8, 2003