Stereotypes of gay men indicate that they have a stronger visual sense, and therefore a more highly developed color vocabulary, than straight men. We tested this idea using a survey that provided different contexts in which men were asked to name colors shown them.  Responses were assigned to one of three categories: basic color terms (per Berlin and Kay), modified basic color terms, and non-basic color terms.  Gay men used 19.4% more basic color terms than straight men, while straight men used 16.5% more modified basic color terms than gay men.  The two groups used roughly the same number of non-basic color terms; the total number of responses was also nearly identical.  These results do not obviously support the conventional wisdom.  We will discuss possible interpretations of the data, including untrue sterotypes, conscious stereotype avoidance, performance pressure, and distinctions between competence and performace.  We will also mention some other aspects of the data, such as responses to colors that have special relevance to the gay community and non-color term responses.

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