At least as old as late 1970s, it meant a male homosexual who's tastelessly over the top or hyper-faggish to an obnoxious potency, way too brassy and overacting the part of how he sees his own sexual personality, or else he's doing it half unawares, because of some unmet inner needs. A person who hangs out ordinarily with his /her close gay friends will not dig being within earshot or line-of-sight of this type of individual. So it's not an anti-gay thing. It's a Taste thing. period. Many other gay men would ask for long-handled wooden spoons to gag with rather than endure a Liberace clone attack.
Purple flamers might behave in a child-like way deliberately, just to piss you off or hijack your attention to them also in a babyish way.
by 3deep December 28, 2016
Get the purple flamers mug.