What Exactly are 'Gay' Pants?

Photo of Anthony Weiner's pants via Grace Rauh's Twitter

There must be something about Anthony Weiner and his pants. A few years ago, the major concern was his lack of them. Now that he's campaigning for mayor of New York City (in a Democratic primary that includes City Council Speaker Christine Quinn) and trying to woo LGBTQ voters, the pants he's wearing are making a statement--supposedly.

Last month, the day of the NYC Pride March, the Daily Newsreported on Weiner's (or more likely, his stylist's) sartorial choice to wear colored pants twice and quoted designer Jeffrey Banks, who wondered if this may have been "a blatant attempt to get the gay vote."

The Post noted the fashion choice, quoting Weiner as saying: "Here is the gay-straight divide. Straights say I look silly, and gays say I look amazing." When he asked a supposedly gay campaign staffer, "How do I look?" The guy responded: "Well, your pants could be tighter."

NYmag took it one step further and deemed them "gay" pants. Please allow me to take it yet another step: What the hell are "gay" pants?

The pants appear to be bright red--not quite Nantucket Red, but still on The Preppy Handbook scale. If you look at the campaign staffer photographed alongside Weiner in this photo, he's wearing a pink shirt and green pants. Pretty New England summer preppy in our view. So when did red become a gay color? What are all the straight men vacationing in New England going to do now? We want to know.