Recent research has demonstrated that concerns about being misidentified as gay or lesbian lead to the avoidance of gay men and lesbians. Because being misidentified as gay/lesbian can result in the loss of heterosexual people’s mating opportunities, we predicted that the activation of mating motives would heighten concerns among some heterosexuals about being misidentified as gay/lesbian. To combat such misidentification, we argued that heterosexuals would express antipathy toward and avoid contact with gay/lesbian people. Consistent with predictions, the activation of mating motives led heterosexuals who were generally concerned about misclassification as gay/lesbian to denigrate (Study 1) and avoid (Study 2) gay/lesbian people. Activating mating motives increased heterosexual participants’ concerns about being misclassified, which in turn heightened interest in avoiding gay/lesbian people (Study 3). These findings indicate that, although the motivation to find a romantic partner can have positive implications, it can contribute to negative responses to gay/lesbian people.