Nowadays, it can feel like TikTok is controlling our lives. Something can be trendy one day and forgotten about the next. However, once in a while, a historical trend rotates back into fashion and earns TikTok’s seal of approval by going viral. This is what recently happened with the lesbian carabiner code.
So when did this code begin?
Lesbians started wearing carabiners during World War II. As men went off to war, many women entered the workforce for the first time. These women became blue-collar workers and, like the men holding these jobs before, used carabiners to carry work tools or keys. This work force included queer women. The use of the carabiner in this way would eventually lead to the creation of the carabiner code.
These jobs provided women of different gender expressions, such as butch women, the opportunity to express themselves in a more masculine fashion. These blue-collar jobs would have been some of the only jobs open to masculine-presenting women since more feminine jobs would not necessarily hire them due to their masculine appearance. Women were gaining more freedom in the job market, as well as in their gender presentation, often represented by their carabiners.
Carabiners continued to signal lesbian identity into the 1970s. As clothing became more androgynous, women began to dress in a more masculine way. Included in this fashion were carabiners. Gay men began to use a similar code. They hung key chains on the right side of their body to indicate playing a “passive” sexual role and on the left side to indicate playing a “dominant” sexual role.
The lesbian carabiner code was also used by lesbians to discreetly indicate sexual preference. They could hang a carabiner on the left to indicate that they were a “top” and on the right to indicate that they were a “bottom.” Eventually, as lesbians faced less of a need to hide their sexuality, the code became less known to the next generations of queer women. However, it recently rotated back into fashion on TikTok.
Photo of Amanda Browne by Andrew Hadden
In March 2025 many lesbians began posting about the code to the sound of Chappell Roan’s new single, “The Giver.” These lyrics speak about “topping,” with “So take it like a taker/’Cause, baby, I’m a giver,” initiating a rise of sexual lesbian talk on TikTok to go along with the carabiner code. Users understood the difference in messaging between the dominant nature of the song and their own preferences. @Jove posted a TikTok captioned “vibing to the giver by chappell, but I wear my carabiner on the right side,” indicating how users took advantage of the simultaneous virality of “The Giver” and the code. @makingemi pointed this trend out in a TikTok of hers set to “The Giver” and captioned, “it took this song coming out for me to learn what it means to have your carabiner on your right.”
However, the resurgence of the code is not the first time that lesbians wearing carabiners has been talked about on TikTok, or at least, gay TikTok. Many users posted themselves putting on a carabiner to indicate their sexuality, though not their sexual preference. In July 2024 @hayleystrash13 posted “gotta show them i’m gay somehow” with a video of herself clipping a carabiner to her pants and wearing an otherwise feminine outfit.
Many people use carabiners nowadays. Climbers, lesbians, lesbian climbers. Though the lesbian carabiner code is an important part of understanding lesbian history, its relevance with younger lesbians doesn’t seem to reach much further than TikTok. Despite this, carabiners are still often used as an accessory to make an outfit just the slightest bit gayer.
Top Image: Andrew Hadden
