I hadn't heard of this before, but it's being described as a "signal" which homosexual men have used for restroom hookups. Because heterosexual men didn't know until now what it meant, they could send the signal to anyone, and if the recipient happened to be heterosexual and/or hostile to homosexuals, the result would be nothing more dire than confusion. Now that this story has exposed the signal to everyone, they can't really use it anymore.