[KenP]

Lawless told O?Brien that it was watching this episode that made her alter ego?s sexual orientation finally clear to her:

"Actually, you know, there was always an element of doubt in my mind, it was ? it didn't matter to the way I played the role. So if the audience chose to see it or not ? but I saw it [the finale] for the first time last night and I went home and said to my husband [Xena Executive Producer Rob Tapert], "you've outed my character. I just ... I can't believe I'm saying this. I didn't run this by anybody, but I don't think there's any doubt in my mind anymore."

But something else soon appearedto distinguish Xena from the rest of the pack for lesbian and bisexual women. The writers, producers and actors began intentionally introducing sexual innuendo and dialog that lesbian audiences could read as desire between women, while the rest of the show?s viewing public wouldn?t necessarily notice a thing, such as this exchange in the second episode of Season 3:

Joxer (looking at Xena?s neck): ?Is that a hickey??

Gabrielle and Xena both turn away with guilty looks.

These hints at a romantic or sexual relationship between the two characters became known as ?subtext.?

Lesbian producer Liz Friedmanwas often interviewed in the gay press as the show?s popularity soared, and quite openly acknowledged the show?s lesbian subtext, as she did in 1996 on One in Ten:

"That's one of the best parts of the job, getting to throw in references that I know the fans who are interested in that will pick up on, but don't necessarily flash any irrevocable red lights. We opened up a show with the two of them fishing naked, and we're about to have a Halloween episode that will certainly have some nice moments for our queer fans, a little lesbian vampire show."

Here's a list of some of the sexual subtext:
http://www.geocities.com/televisioncity/4580/frame.html