Undercover in a Gay Bar

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Related tropes/genres	Pretend Couple
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Going undercover in a gay bar is a slash trope commonly used in fanfiction written for buddy cop fandoms or AUs based on a police or investigative partnership. In these stories, two same-sex characters (at least one straight-identified) must pose as lovers at a gay bar to solve a crime, but during the course of their investigation, they discover that they are attracted to each other.

The gay bar is optional as long as they are undercover as a gay couple in an environment where acting on their attraction will be socially acceptable.

The Starsky/Hutch novella Murder on San Carmelitas is probably amongst the earliest examples of the trope.

Examples

• Wrapped in a Red Ribbon by auburnnothenna (SGA). John and Rodney undercover as a gay couple in a BDSM club.
• Going Deep by AnneZo (Once a Thief). Vic and Mac pretending to be lovers and moving to a gay neighborhood to solve a missing person case.
• Sky Blue and Black by Sylvia Bond (Starsky and Hutch). The partners go undercover in a gay bar to catch a killer named Joshua Bright.
• Dance While You Can by Alexandra (Professionals). "Bodie and Doyle are sent undercover in a gay bar to catch a blackmailer and discover it is agony to keep their hands off each other."
• More Certain in Affection by Keiko Kirin (Master and Commander). "Stephen has arranged for a source to stay at a gentleman’s club that caters to a particular sort of gentleman, with particular tastes; Jack, unknowing, follows him there. Possibly this is the Age of Sail version of the “undercover in a gay bar” trope, but it is handled so deftly and sensitively here that it seems completely in keeping with canon. Jack’s utter obliviousness is just wonderful."
• Number Eight by Speranza (Due South).
• The Truth in the Lie by flawedamythyst (Supernatural). Sam and Dean pretend to be a couple on a gay couples' bus tour of Nova Scotia in order to hunt a monster.
• Mr Rosso Goes to Hawaii‎ by Siria (Hawaii Five-0). Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams try to infiltrate a drug cartel by posing as a gay married (gangster) couple.
• Eating At Home by Helen (The Sentinel). As described by the author--"...the first installment in the Conventions a-go-go Series, in which Jim and Blair have an undercover moment."
• this city bleeds its aching heart by Renne (Captain America Movieverse). Steve and Bucky go undercover as a gay couple in the suburbs.

Resources

• Fanworks tagged with undercover as gay or gay bar at AO3.

The Trope in Original Media

In original media, the trope is often used to showcase the discomfort of the straight-identifying cop and to highlight the otherness of the gay community. The fanfiction trope is often an intentional subversion of this idea.

• The 1980 film Cruising may well be the first example of the trope used in original media. In that film, Al Pacino goes undercover to hunt a gay serial killer. The film was widely criticized as homophobic both during filming and after its release.

• The 1982 film Partners, starring Ryan O'Neil and John Hurt, used the same set up, murders in the gay community, to tell a story about an unlikely partnership between a butch straight cop and his stereotypically mousy gay partner who falls in love with him during their assignment.

• In the Fastlane episode, Strap On, Billie Champers pretends to be a lesbian and picks up a suspect in a lesbian bar in order to catch a killer. This story is remarkable in that Billie's sexuality is never clearly stated and she is never shown expressing discomfort at her surroundings.