Barking Up the Wrong Tree

What are some signs, “You are Barking Up the Wrong Tree”?

We have all heard (or embarrassingly enough experience) of times where an individual has pursued someone who was taken (in a relationship, engaged, married). There are even other times where the one being pursued is of different sexual orientation (gay or lesbian). I hear more times from straight women, “I thought he was gay?!” When in reality, they are actual caring, nice guys. Switch things around, straight men will often say, “She’s a lesbian?” In other words, there are mixed signals from both sides, and both orientations, on who to pursue and who not to pursue.

My question is how does one know they are barking up the wrong tree? The sometimes called, “Gay-dar” methods are not always bulletproof and apply to everyone. However, here is the opportunity to address the urban myths of detecting sexual orientation.