Karen Walker (Will & Grace) - Sexuality

Sexuality

Karen frequently implies that she's attracted to other women, and has hinted that she may have slept with members of the same sex. Several lines of dialogue have implied that Karen has bi-/homosexual tendencies, and/or that she may be a male-to-female transsexual herself:

• She occasionally has semi-sexual encounters with Grace (mostly kissing and touching) at work. In one episode, Karen said (in reference to Grace), "I woke up with red hair on my pillow and lesbian porn in the VCR." (In Series 5, Episode 12, Grace says "I've kissed Karen more times than I can count")
• She had the above-mentioned relationship with the openly-lesbian Martina Navratilova (who was apparently straight before they met).
• She was mocked by a roommate (Madonna) for her "weird bisexual vibe".
• In a sixth-season episode, Karen said to a lesbian realtor (Edie Falco), "Stay back, bulldozer, I'm engaged" to which she replied, "You were last time, too."
• She makes passes at Diane (played by Mira Sorvino), the only woman Will ever slept with, going so far as to walk up to Diane and say, "I like you—wanna make out?" (to which Diane uneasily replied, "I like you too ... let's see how the evening goes").
• In an episode where Karen and Grace are on their way home from Vermont, they're holding hands after an emotional moment and Karen starts to caress her breasts with Grace's hand. When Grace pulls her hand away, Karen responds, "Sorry, something about Vermont." (Vermont was the first state to recognize civil unions.) In the same episode, she requests a kiss from Grace every time they're about to go to sleep. Grace surprisingly asks for one in return, before Karen falls asleep in the car at the end of the episode.
• Another episode hints that she had a lesbian experience with Candice Bergen after they got drunk on sake.
• She repeatedly alludes to lesbian experiences while a student at Sarah Lawrence College.
• She implies that she had a relationship with Goldie Hawn.
• She's been seen flirting with Rosario and suggesting they get together, to which Rosario responded, "Lady, quit trying to unhook my bra."
• In the final episode, Grace has a fantasy dream in which Karen and Rosario are married.
• She once said to Grace, "Okay, now let's put on some music and get those tops off." Grace replies, "Karen, you do know it's not that kind of girls' night," and Karen says suggestively, "We'll see ..."
• She said to Jack, "The last town we lived in, I fell in love with a boy. He had long blond hair, delicate features, soft skin ... at least I think it was a boy. Well, anyway, I was in love. And he or she loved me."
• When Jack and Karen went to Ohio to help Tommy come out of the closet, after Jack said that Tommy worked in the bowling alley as the guy who sprayed the shoes before renting them out, Karen says that when she was a boy, she worked at a supermarket. She realizes the trip-up and takes it back, declaring, "Did I say I was a boy? Cause I wasn't. I was a girl ..."
• She flirted with a teenage girl in Elliot's school, where she suggestively asks "How old is someone like you, 25? Ever been in a limo?" This event happened twice (season 4 and 6).

Despise numerous references to her possibly being bisexual, Karen Walker clearly does not consider herself to be a part of the gay community or sexually alternative. In episode 20 of the sixth season, Karen even referred to herself as a "straight woman" when she tells Jack "every healthy relationship between a gay man and a straight woman has a sell-by date" after he expresses concern about the future of their relationship. If not bisexual, Karen definitely had a bi-curious past. Although there are other references to Karen being straight, another noticeable one is in episode 20 of season 7 when Jack tells Karen "all straight people age" after she expresses concern for growing old and needing glasses.