![]() Born from these codes is a phrase few now remember as familiar, “Left is right and right is wrong” (“wrong” here meaning gay). We, as piercers, generally know and love the hanky code (raise your hand if you own a purple one!) This same philosophy also helped to coin“The Gay Ear”. ![]() These codes were a form of protection, a small way to tell people in-the-know what their preferences were without outing themselves and potentially changing, or even ending, their lives. People gathered in secret bars, hung around dark trails in local parks, and used various forms of code based on location to subtly tell people they were gay. The AIDs crisis was beginning and both hate and fear concerning anything gay were at an all-time high. Many people lived in fear of losing their jobs, homes, families, or being outright attacked. A different time when it was still perilous to be LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, and asexual or allied) and publicly out, and there were no legal or social protections for people who were. To find out how an ear piercing could carry such symbolism we need to look back to the ‘70s and ‘80s in America. It’s actually quite fascinating to take a look behind how one specific piercing developed such recognition as a gay symbol. any of us may not understand the history of this concept. ![]() We’ve all given a little internal eye roll when we have to field this question in our studios and most of us have a carefully prescribed response. In piercing studios around the country the question is still asked today, “Does one side have any special meaning? You know, what ear is the gay ear?” Despite changing times and modern progress many people still associate piercings-particularly a single piercing in the lobe-as a symbol of one’s sexuality.
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