Buzz
During the 1980s, the U.S. Navy launched an unsuccessful investigation to locate a fictional woman. The Naval Investigative Service (NIS) discovered that gay men often used the term 'friends of Dorothy' and mistakenly believed, as Randy Shilts detailed in his 1993 book Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military, that a woman named Dorothy was the central figure in a vast network of military homosexuals in Chicago. Determined to uncover this supposed leader, the NIS sought to identify and interrogate her, hoping she would expose gay service members.
However, as the LGBTQ+ community well understood, the term 'friend of Dorothy' was never about a real person—it was a subtle way for closeted individuals to recognize one another without drawing suspicion.
Although coming out remains challenging today, the historical oppression of LGBTQ+ individuals in the U.S. was so intense that they developed coded language to communicate safely. For example, rather than risking exposure, gay men would often ask, “Are you a friend of Dorothy?” Those familiar with the phrase would respond affirmatively, while heterosexuals would typically answer with confusion, saying “no” or “Dorothy who?”
While the phrase has become less common due to greater acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals, it still appears in various movies and TV shows, ranging from Clueless to The Crown. But who exactly was Dorothy, and how did her name become part of this coded expression?
Who Is the True Dorothy?
The exact origin of friend of Dorothy remains unclear, but several theories exist about the Dorothy in question. The most widely accepted theory points to The Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy Gale, portrayed by Judy Garland. In the story, Dorothy forms friendships with societal misfits like the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion—characters often interpreted as representations of gay men. The Cowardly Lion, in particular, is frequently seen as queer-coded due to his flamboyant behavior, self-descriptions like “sissy” and “dandy,” and his distinctive bow-adorned mane.
Garland’s status as a gay icon likely reinforced the phrase’s popularity. According to queer cinema scholar Richard Dyer in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Garland’s appeal to the LGBTQ+ community stemmed from her tumultuous personal life mirroring queer struggles, her campy performances, and her close relationships with gay men, which deeply influenced her cultural understanding.
Some theories suggest that the phrase may have existed before Garland’s portrayal of Dorothy, potentially originating from L. Frank Baum’s Oz books. In the 1909 novel The Road to Oz, Dorothy is told, “You have some queer friends,” to which she responds, “The queerness doesn’t matter, so long as they’re friends!”
An alternative theory connects the phrase friend of Dorothy to the sharp-witted author Dorothy Parker. Legend has it that during the Jazz Age, Parker hosted extravagant parties where gay men were frequent guests. As mentioned in a 2001 Los Angeles Times letter, “uninvited men would often gain entry by claiming to be ‘friends of Dorothy,’ a term used among Manhattan elites to describe unfamiliar individuals.”
Other, less widely accepted theories point to figures like writer and actress Dorothy Dean and socialite Dorothy King, both of whom were known to associate closely with gay men.
The Elusive Dorothy Hunt
In the early 1980s, Mel Dahl was dismissed from the Navy after confessing to being gay during an official inquiry. (He later filed a lawsuit over his dismissal and emerged victorious). Dahl revealed to a reporter that he wasn’t the sole LGBTQ+ individual at the Great Lakes base, prompting the NIS to initiate a widespread investigation to uncover other gay service members.
While the NIS’s pursuit of Dorothy proved futile, the military historically succeeded in identifying and discharging LGBTQ+ personnel. Before the 2011 repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, approximately 100,000 individuals were dismissed from the military due to their sexual orientation. The government’s misguided quest to locate the so-called Dorothy inadvertently highlighted the necessity of such coded language within the LGBTQ+ community.
