gaydirt -- new word?

[Baker, John]

        Google Groups has from 3/22/1989:

        <<I was thinking, this gay/straight stuff is just like mismatched
    impedances.  They don't receive our signals, and they bounce right
    back, attenuated, and then we think they're giving the signal.   I'm
    sure it like is on some sort of GAYDAR thing.>>

        Washington Post has from 4/23/1993:

        <<You didn't need Gaydar - that mythical tracking system for spotting other gays - this weekend in Washington. Everyone was gay, it seemed.>>

        So in 1989 it was still being spelled in all caps, and in 1993 the Post thought it necessary to explain the term (though perhaps that would still be true today).  The Post use was the earliest on Westlaw.

John Baker