HBO - Game of Thrones SPOILERS INSIDE. you have been warned

[strife]

The books never directly says Loras and Renly are gay, but there are lots of hints about it and comments from other characters that make it somewhat apparent, and GRRM had said he was gay prior to the series being shot.

I dunno about lots of hints. I re-read the first book before watching season one when I got it on Blu-Ray and I was specifically looking for hints of homosexuality because I had heard it was in the series. I finished the first book and came up with nothing beside Loras dressing as a bit of a fop.

This. And of all the deviations from the book, this is the one that annoyed me the most - HBO just wanting a broader audience at my expense. I also went back through the first book to see where the hints were, because we talked about it here on the boards following the first instance in season one.

Yea... also the first book was published in 1996... which was in a time when being gay wasn't the main stream phenomena it is today. I'm glad to see that this just wasn't me completely missing it... I'm curious to see how finishing up book 2 will change my perceptions now that I'm actually thinking about it.. when I watched them talk about Renly and the "Rainbow knights" I wanted to stab my eyes out.