Extratextual awareness (that is, knowledge outside of a written text), has been a key component for queer representation, which has historically been censored or implied through subversive means. In this article, I discuss how extratextual awareness of a character’s gender identity and subtextual implication of queerness have cemented Strauss’s opera Der Rosenkavalier’s iconic status in the gay subculture. Additionally, I explore how self-identification via extratextual means may offer an imperfect—and at times, problematic—form of queer representation.