K.J.’s answer to “What's the most romantic line you've ever read?” > Likes and Comments

Absolutely! I was quite surprised to read a blog on Cotillion that said, "But Freddy says to his father very early in the book that he “isn’t in the petticoat line.” It’s really hard not to read that as a polite period declaration of homosexuality. And it’s really hard not to read Freddy as one of those gay best friends so common in fiction who knows about men’s clothes and women’s clothes and how to dance. Indeed, even with his delightful declaration of love for Kitty at the end, I see him as bi, one of those people who is most attracted to the same sex but somewhat attracted to the opposite sex too. I have no idea if this was Heyer’s intention, as while there were lots of gay people in 1953 they didn’t generally appear in fiction unproblematically."
Because, like you, I read Freddy's declaration as an outpouring: if he had been more "in the petticoat line", more like Jack, his words would have meant less.

I don't read Freddy as bi at all. To me he seems much more demisexual, ie only feels sexual attraction once a strong emotional attachment exists. Hence he really means it: he's not interested in 'petticoats' (such a reductive term for women) but only in Kitty.

If you want really clearly coded gay characters in Heyer, I nominate Francis Cheviot in The Reluctant Widow and Gil and Ferdy in Friday's Child... :D

Yes, and Cyprian ("I ain’t a marrying man!”) Wychbold from The Grand Sophy.