Is Marcus Bachmann gay? Ask Google

Here’s an interesting Internet feature: If you ask Google whether someone is gay, you might get an answer in the form of a “best guess.”

But whether Google’s best guess is accurate or not is anyone’s guess.

For instance, type in: “Is Marcus Bachmann gay,” and you’ll get the answer, “Best guess for Marcus Bachmann Sexual orientation is Straight.”

But ask about Rachel Maddow or Ellen DeGeneres, and you’ll get the correct answer.

Gawker.com appears to be the first to report on this latest Google feat.

“Finally getting hip to the fact that it is the world’s sexual barometer, Google has introduced its own sort of gaydar, which will tell you which celebrities are gay and which are straight. But how reliable is it?” Gawker posted earlier today.

As Gawker notes, Google’s gaydar only works for people who have publicly disclosed their sexual orientation, such as Ricky Martin, Jodie Foster, Rosie O’Donnell and Neil Patrick Harris.

Many of those who’ve been beset by gay rumors, such as Oprah Winfrey, Hugh Jackman and Katy Perry, are indexed as straight. Some presumed closet cases, such as John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Anderson Cooper and Kevin Spacey, elicit no response at all, although some searches will direct googlers to an article on the subject.  

And many celebrities return no results at all, including Lady Gaga, who is openly bisexual, and baseball player Mike Piazza, who held a press conference to come out as straight.

It appears Google has some fine-tuning to do.