Sexual drive

Does choosing an automobile say something about your sexual orientation?

Ron Geren, an actor in Los Angeles, commutes to auditions and jobs throughout southern California in a sleek black Mazda MX-5 Miata convertible. But for a recent date with a woman, he rented a Cadillac Escalade because he was so used to friends saying his Miata is 8220;gay8221;.

A few years ago, Meghan Daum, an op-ed contributor to The Los Angeles Times, wrote about a promising first date that never led to a second one because, she later learned, the guy saw that she drove a Subaru Outback station wagon and concluded she must be a lesbian. And when Joe LaMuraglia, the founder of Gaywheels.com told his partner he wanted to buy a Mini Cooper convertible, the boyfriend joked that he would not be seen in it because the couple 8220;would look like such a gay clicheacute;8221;.

Cars are no more straight or gay than cell phones, office chairs or weed whackers. But in recent years that truism has not stopped a perception that certain cars can be statements about a driver8217;s sexual orientation. To some people, such stereotyping is homophobia. Others, though, including gay theorists, say gay motorists happily embrace certain cars as reflections of identity.

8220;People presume you want to throw off a stereotype,8221; said Judith Halberstam, a lesbian who is a professor of gender studies at the University of Southern California. She drives a black Mazda 3 hatchback that she considers 8220;butch8221;. But, she said, 8220;Not all gays want to present an image that is normative,8221; she said.

Ramone Johnson is a gay journalist and former Saturn engineer who compiles an annual Top 10 Gay Cars list for About.com, which is owned by The New York Times Company. Johnson maintains that 8220;soft lines8221; and a 8220;vibrant personality8221;8212;say like those on a Volkswagen New Beetle8212;are typical attributes of a gay man8217;s car.

Neither car manufacturers nor dealers compile statistics on the sexual orientation of buyers. Subaru has been the most prominent company to embrace the gay market. As long ago as 2000, the automaker created advertising campaigns around Martina Navratilova, the gay tennis star, and also used a sales slogan that was a subtle gay-rights message: 8220;It8217;s not a choice. It8217;s the way we8217;re built.8221; Little wonder that many lesbians refer to their Outbacks as 8220;Lesbarus8221;.

Even General Motors recently began to include questions about sexual orientation on internal market surveys, although data are not yet compiled, said Adam Bernard, who tracks the product strategies of GM8217;s competitors. Company executives, he said, do not seem to feel skittish about losing market share among straight consumers if gay buyers suddenly seize on a particular model. 8220;Frankly,8221; he added, 8220;the money8217;s all the same colour.8221;

Story continues below this ad

On Gaywheels.com, one indicator of actual gay buying trends is the list of vehicles most frequently researched. As of last October, the Toyota Yaris, a 12,000 economy car, led that list, followed by the Toyota Camry, which was the No. 3 selling car in America last year.
It would be hard to find a more conventional automobile.
Alex Williams/NYT