How ‘Gay’ Came to Mean ‘Homosexual’

Contents:

• GAY (ADJ.)
• GAY
• THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”
• THE ORIGS OF THE WORD ‘GAY’
• HOW ‘GAY’ GOT S RABOW: WHAT ONCE MEANT MERRY IS NOW A BADGE OF INTY FOR HOMOSEXUALS HDTAN TIM | BYPOULOMI BANERJEE SEP 21, 2018 04:18 PM IST SHARE VIA COPY LK THE DICTNARY TRAC THE ORIG OF GAY TO THE FRENCH WORD GAI. BUT HOW DID SOMETHG THAT MEANT CHEERFUL BEE SYNONYMO WH HOMOSEXUALS, WHO HAVE HAD TO FIGHT LONG AND HARD FOR THEIR INTY? IF (ISDEVICEENABLED('SMALL') || ISDEVICEENABLED('MEDIUM') && !ADFREE) { (FUNCTN () { GOOGLETAG.DISPLAY('DIV-GPT-AD-1524814893923-0'); }); } ON THURSDAY, AS THE SUPREME COURT CRIMALISED HOMOSEXUALY, READG DOWN THE NTROVERSIAL BRISH-ERA SECTN 377 OF THE PENAL , MUMBAI-BASED ARNAB NANDY TOOK TO SOCIAL MEDIA TO EXPRS HIS JOY, AS MANY ACROSS THE UNTRY AND THE WORLD WERE DOG. “I AM SO GAY TODAY…” HE WROTE A G-OUT POST THAT HAS SCE GONE VIRAL. BUT WHILE NANDY’S CHOICE OF WORD WAS BANG ON THAT DAY, HOW DID A WORD THAT HAD ORIGALLY MEANT LIGHT-HEARTED, REEE OR CHEERFUL, BEE ASSOCIATED WH A MUNY WHOSE LIFE HAS BEEN OFTEN BEEN ANYTHG BUT? CARY GRANT AND KATHARE HEPBURN THE 1938 FILM BRGG UP BABY, WHERE GRANT ED THE WORD ‘GAY’ ON SCREEN. OPN IS DIVID THOUGH, ON WHETHER HE ED TO MEAN HOMOSEXUAL OR HAPPY AND CHEERFUL.(ALAMY STOCK PHOTO) THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTNARY TRAC THE HISTORY OF THE WORD ‘GAY’ TO THE FRENCH WORD GAI. MERRIAM WEBSTER TAK FURTHER BACK TO A GERMANIC ORIG “AK TO THE OLD HIGH GERMAN GAHI” THAT MEANT “QUICK OR SUDN”. ACRDG TO BOTH DICTNARI, ENGLISH THE E OF ‘GAY’ TO MEAN HAPPY, EXCED, MERRY, REEE OR BRIGHT STARTED THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERD THAT STRETCH BETWEEN THE 12TH AND THE 16TH CENTURY. ALL FOR AN INTY WHILE SOME BOOKS AND WEBS ON THE HISTORY OF THE GLOBAL HOMOSEXUAL MOVEMENT CLAIM THE WORD GAY WAS ED AS A SECRET BY HOMOSEXUALS TO INTIFY THEMSELV EVEN AS FAR BACK AS THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, PROFSOR ASHLEY TELLIS SAYS “ WAS THE 1960S THAT THE WORD ME TO BE POPULARLY ASSOCIATED WH THE MUNY”. R RAJ RAO, WRER AND PROFSOR OF ENGLISH AT PUNE UNIVERSY, ADDS: “THE STONEWALL RTS (A SERI OF VLENT NONTATNS BETWEEN MEMBERS OF THE LGBT MUNY AND THE POLICE NEW YORK 1969) ARE THE BEGNG OF MOST GAY-RIGHTS MOVEMENTS THE WORLD. IT WAS AROUND THIS TIME THAT THE MUNY STARTED G THE WORD GAY TO INTIFY SELF. IN THE BEGNG, GAY WAS ALSO AN ACRONYM FOR ‘GOOD AS YOU’.” IN INDIA, WHILE TELLIS SAYS THE E OF THE WORD GAY TO MEAN HOMOSEXUALS STARTED THE 1970S AND ’80S WH INDIAN MEN WHO TRAVELLED TO THE WT AND ME BACK, RAO AND WRER HOSHANG MERCHANT SAY THE WORD STARTED GETTG ED HERE THE 1990S AFTER THE SETTG UP OF BOMBAY DOST, THE UNTRY’S FIRST LGBT MAGAZE, BY ACTIVIST ASHOK ROW KAVI. GLOBALLY, THE MUNY PREFERRED GAY TO HOMOSEXUAL, SAYS TELLIS, BEE THE LATTER HAD A NEGATIVE FEEL TO – WAS A MORE CLIL TERM, SUGGTIVE OF A MEDIL NDN. AS AN ARTICLE ON THE WEBSE OF THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICE MENTNS, WAS ONLY 1980 THAT HOMOSEXUALY WAS LETED OM THE DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTIL MANUAL OF THE AMERIN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATN, TH CHANGG THE VIEW THAT WAS A BEHAVURAL DISORR. ““WHEREAS HOMOSEXUALY IS JT A WORD NOTG A SEXUAL PREFERENCE OR TENNCY AND ED ROGATORILY, GAY IS AN INTY. EVER SCE STONEWALL, SEXUAL POLICS HAD E TO PLAY AND INTIFYG AS GAY WAS A WAY FOR THE MUNY TO BE A PART OF THAT POLICS,” SAYS RAO. “IT WAS A SUBVERSN OF THE TABLISHED VOBULARY BY THE MUNY. THE SAME WAY THAT ‘QUEER’ WOULD BE ED, LATER ON,” HE ADDS. “WHILE THE NVENTNAL MEANG OF QUEER IS WEIRD, AND IS A DISCRIMATORY TERM SELF, THE MUNY HAS BEEN G AS AN INTY,” HE POTS OUT. THE LGBTQ HAVE THEIR OWN VOBULARY, ONE THAT OFTEN VARI OM CY TO CY, AND HAS TAKEN ON REGULAR WORDS THAT MEAN SOMETHG QUE DIFFERENT WHEN APPLIED TO THEMSELV OR ED WH THE MUNY, SAYS ASHOK ROW KAVI. “IN BOMBAY FOR EXAMPLE, THE LGBTQ MUNY THE WORD ‘GHODI’ TO MEAN A PLACLOTH POLICEMAN,” HE EXPLAS. A NEW USE
• MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH
• THE MEANG OF GAY: WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO USE IT

GAY (ADJ.)

Gay ts were severely and celly abed by "real" tramps and bums, who nsired them "an ferr orr of begs who begs of and otherwise preys upon the bum — as were a jackal followg up the kg of beasts" [Prof. In "Soclogy and Social Rearch" (1932-33) a paragraph on the "gay t" phenomenon not, "Homosexual practic are more mon than rare this group, " and gey t "homosexual boy" is attted Noel Erske's 1933 dictnary of "Unrworld & Prison Slang" (gey is a Sttish variant of gay) "Dictnary of Amerin Slang" reports that gay (adj.

From Middle English gay, om Old French gai (“joyful, lghg, merry”), ually thought to be a borrowg of Old Occan gai (“impetuo, lively”), om Gothic *?????? (*gaheis, “impetuo”), mergg wh earlier Old French jai ("merry"; see jay), om Frankish *gāhi;[1] both om Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudn”). The sense of homosexual (first rerd no later than 1937 by Cary Grant the film Brgg Up Baby, and possibly earlier 1922 the poem "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene" by Gert Ste[6][7]) was shortened om earlier gay t ("homosexual boy") unrworld and prison slang, self first attted about 1935, but ed earlier for a young tramp or hobo attached to an olr one. 2003, Michael McAvennie, The World Wrtlg Entertament Yearbook:She uldn't even ga accs om a fay iend whose name was on the list, nor uld she e her feme charms to turn on the staff member, who revealed he was gay and was more imprsed seeg Billy and Chuck enter the buildg.

2005, Mark Caldwell, New York Night, page 133:Of the dozen or so survivg articl, squibs, and letters to the edor, the most remarkable appeared the Whip and Satirist’s Febary 12, 1842, issue, and disclosed the existence of a bal of gay men New York's otherwise wholome nightspe of brothels and rts.

GAY

Among the syndite of perverts, the wrer announced, "we fd no Amerins as yet—they are all Englishmen or French" (the English lled homosexualy the French vice and the French the English vice; for the Whip was the French and English vice). The two failed attempts to receive the necsary accs to medilized transn procr by the renowned FTM activist Lou Sullivan—a gay man who refed to ply wh the imperative that transsexual men mt sire women— […].

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”

2010, Noėl Sturgeon, Environmentalism Popular Culture: Genr, Race, Sexualy, and the Polics of the Natural, page 128:In fact, as several letter wrers to the New York Tim poted out their rponse to the article, the disjuncture between the two popularized pengus shows how radilly separated om each other are muni of gay people and muni of right-wg relig nservativ: if the Christian fundamentalists had looked up "gay pengus" or even "pengus" on the Inter, they would have enuntered several gay pengu s, cludg the story of Roy and Silo, the Central Park Zoo gay pengu uple about whom a children's book was wrten; the saga of the gay pengu muny at a German zoo; and the mpaign of Gay Pengu for Print (whose slogan was "Gee W.

THE ORIGS OF THE WORD ‘GAY’

1977, Charl Silverste; Edmund Whe, The Joy of Gay Sex, New York: Crown Publishers, →ISBN, page 162:Gays meet each other special-tert social groups—gay softball leagu, gay bike clubs, gay gymnasia, gay activist polil anizatns, the Gay Amic Unn (an anizatn for gay teachers, scholars and stunts), gay universy stunt clubs and so on. 2003, Lawrence Block, Small Town, page 269:He might well have spected Cheek was a gay bar whout seeg any of s patrons, simply bee was a neighborhood where most of the bars were gay, and bee you uldn't see the wdows. 2014, Christopher Schaberg; Robert Bent, Denstctg Brad Pt, Bloomsbury Publishg USA, →ISBN, page 211:Beg gay for Brad, even a teensy b, is at the very least beg able to image the potential for queerns.

In a sense, like the recent popular and cril furor over men who are gay-for-pay, beg gay for Brad is what Jefey Esffier f as "suatnal homosexualy, " or other forms of man-on-man behavr […] In other words, rather than worry over whether or not men who are queer for Brad n easily be labeled as straight or gay, […]. 1905, Barons Emmka Orczy, chapter 2, The Affair at the Novelty Theatre‎[7]:Miss Phyllis Man, as the hapls heroe drsed the shabbit of cloth, appears the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophis all and sundry there, cludg the villa, and has a magnificent scene which always brgs down the hoe, and nightly adds to her histrnic lrels.

2019, Lawrence Lariar, He Died Lghg, Open Road Media, →ISBN:We shot along Sunset Boulevard at a gay pace, and squealed a turn down Ve Street wh never a jterbug pestrian to make the drivg tertg. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickerg […], 1873, →OCLC:A Beavie of fair women, richly gay / In gems and wanton drs. John, The Subalpe kgdom: or, Experienc and studi Savoy, Piedmont, and Genoa, volume 2, page 158:Prce Bhe was what is lled a "gay, dissipated man"—that is to say, a powerful person leadg a bched and famo life.

HOW ‘GAY’ GOT S RABOW: WHAT ONCE MEANT MERRY IS NOW A BADGE OF INTY FOR HOMOSEXUALS HDTAN TIM | BYPOULOMI BANERJEE SEP 21, 2018 04:18 PM IST SHARE VIA COPY LK THE DICTNARY TRAC THE ORIG OF GAY TO THE FRENCH WORD GAI. BUT HOW DID SOMETHG THAT MEANT CHEERFUL BEE SYNONYMO WH HOMOSEXUALS, WHO HAVE HAD TO FIGHT LONG AND HARD FOR THEIR INTY? IF (ISDEVICEENABLED('SMALL') || ISDEVICEENABLED('MEDIUM') && !ADFREE) { (FUNCTN () { GOOGLETAG.DISPLAY('DIV-GPT-AD-1524814893923-0'); }); } ON THURSDAY, AS THE SUPREME COURT CRIMALISED HOMOSEXUALY, READG DOWN THE NTROVERSIAL BRISH-ERA SECTN 377 OF THE PENAL , MUMBAI-BASED ARNAB NANDY TOOK TO SOCIAL MEDIA TO EXPRS HIS JOY, AS MANY ACROSS THE UNTRY AND THE WORLD WERE DOG. “I AM SO GAY TODAY…” HE WROTE A G-OUT POST THAT HAS SCE GONE VIRAL. BUT WHILE NANDY’S CHOICE OF WORD WAS BANG ON THAT DAY, HOW DID A WORD THAT HAD ORIGALLY MEANT LIGHT-HEARTED, REEE OR CHEERFUL, BEE ASSOCIATED WH A MUNY WHOSE LIFE HAS BEEN OFTEN BEEN ANYTHG BUT? CARY GRANT AND KATHARE HEPBURN THE 1938 FILM BRGG UP BABY, WHERE GRANT ED THE WORD ‘GAY’ ON SCREEN. OPN IS DIVID THOUGH, ON WHETHER HE ED TO MEAN HOMOSEXUAL OR HAPPY AND CHEERFUL.(ALAMY STOCK PHOTO) THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTNARY TRAC THE HISTORY OF THE WORD ‘GAY’ TO THE FRENCH WORD GAI. MERRIAM WEBSTER TAK FURTHER BACK TO A GERMANIC ORIG “AK TO THE OLD HIGH GERMAN GAHI” THAT MEANT “QUICK OR SUDN”. ACRDG TO BOTH DICTNARI, ENGLISH THE E OF ‘GAY’ TO MEAN HAPPY, EXCED, MERRY, REEE OR BRIGHT STARTED THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERD THAT STRETCH BETWEEN THE 12TH AND THE 16TH CENTURY. ALL FOR AN INTY WHILE SOME BOOKS AND WEBS ON THE HISTORY OF THE GLOBAL HOMOSEXUAL MOVEMENT CLAIM THE WORD GAY WAS ED AS A SECRET BY HOMOSEXUALS TO INTIFY THEMSELV EVEN AS FAR BACK AS THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, PROFSOR ASHLEY TELLIS SAYS “ WAS THE 1960S THAT THE WORD ME TO BE POPULARLY ASSOCIATED WH THE MUNY”. R RAJ RAO, WRER AND PROFSOR OF ENGLISH AT PUNE UNIVERSY, ADDS: “THE STONEWALL RTS (A SERI OF VLENT NONTATNS BETWEEN MEMBERS OF THE LGBT MUNY AND THE POLICE NEW YORK 1969) ARE THE BEGNG OF MOST GAY-RIGHTS MOVEMENTS THE WORLD. IT WAS AROUND THIS TIME THAT THE MUNY STARTED G THE WORD GAY TO INTIFY SELF. IN THE BEGNG, GAY WAS ALSO AN ACRONYM FOR ‘GOOD AS YOU’.” IN INDIA, WHILE TELLIS SAYS THE E OF THE WORD GAY TO MEAN HOMOSEXUALS STARTED THE 1970S AND ’80S WH INDIAN MEN WHO TRAVELLED TO THE WT AND ME BACK, RAO AND WRER HOSHANG MERCHANT SAY THE WORD STARTED GETTG ED HERE THE 1990S AFTER THE SETTG UP OF BOMBAY DOST, THE UNTRY’S FIRST LGBT MAGAZE, BY ACTIVIST ASHOK ROW KAVI. GLOBALLY, THE MUNY PREFERRED GAY TO HOMOSEXUAL, SAYS TELLIS, BEE THE LATTER HAD A NEGATIVE FEEL TO – WAS A MORE CLIL TERM, SUGGTIVE OF A MEDIL NDN. AS AN ARTICLE ON THE WEBSE OF THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICE MENTNS, WAS ONLY 1980 THAT HOMOSEXUALY WAS LETED OM THE DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTIL MANUAL OF THE AMERIN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATN, TH CHANGG THE VIEW THAT WAS A BEHAVURAL DISORR. ““WHEREAS HOMOSEXUALY IS JT A WORD NOTG A SEXUAL PREFERENCE OR TENNCY AND ED ROGATORILY, GAY IS AN INTY. EVER SCE STONEWALL, SEXUAL POLICS HAD E TO PLAY AND INTIFYG AS GAY WAS A WAY FOR THE MUNY TO BE A PART OF THAT POLICS,” SAYS RAO. “IT WAS A SUBVERSN OF THE TABLISHED VOBULARY BY THE MUNY. THE SAME WAY THAT ‘QUEER’ WOULD BE ED, LATER ON,” HE ADDS. “WHILE THE NVENTNAL MEANG OF QUEER IS WEIRD, AND IS A DISCRIMATORY TERM SELF, THE MUNY HAS BEEN G AS AN INTY,” HE POTS OUT. THE LGBTQ HAVE THEIR OWN VOBULARY, ONE THAT OFTEN VARI OM CY TO CY, AND HAS TAKEN ON REGULAR WORDS THAT MEAN SOMETHG QUE DIFFERENT WHEN APPLIED TO THEMSELV OR ED WH THE MUNY, SAYS ASHOK ROW KAVI. “IN BOMBAY FOR EXAMPLE, THE LGBTQ MUNY THE WORD ‘GHODI’ TO MEAN A PLACLOTH POLICEMAN,” HE EXPLAS. A NEW USE

1879, Great Bra, Reports om mte, Hoe of Commons, page 61:[…] is possible for people to be diseased whout beg prostut or gay women; is possible for people years ago to have spent a gay life and to have not got rid of their disease, or they may have bee diseased by their hbands or lovers.

MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH

1889, Albert Barrère; Charl Godey Leland, A Dictnary of Slang, Jargon & Cant: Embracg English, Amerin, and Anglo-Indian Slang, Pidg English, Tker's Jargon and Other Irregular Phraseology‎[8], volume 1, page 399:Gay (mon), loose, dissipated; a "gay woman" or "gay girl, " a prostute. E., bched, than Zeno's urt, so the ladi of gay disposn had great sway ; particularly one, whose name was Fsta, who, though not extremely handsome, was by her w and sprightls very agreeable to the emperor. Some claim that homosexual is dated and evok a time when homosexualy was nsired a mental illns by the mental health muny, while others feel that the word homosexual(y) do not exprs the emotnal aspects of sexual orientatn.

When ed ordatn wh other terms for sexual orientatns, ually specifilly refers to men who are attracted only to men, and exclus lbians, bisexuals and other orientatns, as phras like lbian, gay and bisexual (LGB). anti-gaydon't say gayex-gaygay-assgay bargay-bashgay bashgay bashergay bobgay bombgayborhoodgay boyGaybrahamgay ncergay chickengay curgay-dargaydargay athgaydomgay for paygay for the staygay-iendlsgay-iendlygay iendlygay-hategay ingay liberatngay mangay marriagegay-marrygay marrygaynsgay panic fensegay plaguegay prigay-related immune ficiencygay-related immunoficiencygay rightsgay-shamegay-shamggaysomegay-straight alliancegay tyke boygay upgunclehomogayI'm gayland rights for gay whalnosegaypray away the gaypray the gay awayprison gaypro-gay.

If however the stranger be spected of “sailg unr false lours, " when they are all faiar chat about nothg particular, “Co Jacky” will take ocsn to say to the new chum, “My ar; d 'e ever see a duck clunk a gay?

THE MEANG OF GAY: WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO USE IT

1869, Joseph Carr, Sketch of village life, by “Eavdropper”, page 60:Now, to end my story, if o' t' village beti wad g t' relign that good ld parson Jenks remends, wad gay sharply mak' t' dirty women clean, […]. ' For Rivera, 'gay' meant non-heteronormative (or 'queer' today's lexin), crossg sexual and genr boundari to clu lbians, gay men, and transvt, as well as the street youth who had participated Stonewall. In some s transgenr people are also clud the term, although many transgenr people do not nsir themselv gay or lbian, and at some pots gay history, transgenr rights were nsired part of the gay rights movement.

^ Lacey Sloan, Nora Gtavsson, Vlence and Social Injtice Agast Lbian, Gay, and Bisexual People (2014, →ISBN), page 116: Lata lbians, Lato gays and bisexuals may experience a triple stigma and opprsn when they are not fully accepted the gay muny bee of their ethnicy[. From English gay, om Middle English gay, om Old French gai (“joyful, lghg, merry”), ually thought to be a borrowg of Old Occan gai (“impetuo, lively”), om Gothic *?????? (*gaheis, “impetuo”), mergg wh earlier Old French jai (“"merry"”), om Frankish *gāhi, both om Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudn”). ” This le (ad-libbed by Grant) n be terpreted to mean that he was behavg a happy-go-lucky or lighthearted way but is accepted by many as the first e of gay to mean homosexual a mastream movie.

Until then homosexual actors, micians, athlet or anyone the public eye had two choic life: to keep their homosexualy a secret, pecially om the media, or adopt the mannerisms and a of drs which were very mp but at the same time (ironilly) never admtg their sexual preferenc publicly. Tom Robson released a very succsful song entled (Sg if you're) Glad to be Gay, was the mid-70s, and I was still at a Catholic primary school when I remember que distctly hearg gay beg ed for the first time to unteract the BrEng rogatory terms such as: poofter, poof, queer, not normal, fairy and queen that were rife at the time. In the send verse, pots to the hypocrisy of Gay News beg prosecuted for obsceny stead of porn magaz like magaz Playboy or the tabloid The Sun which publish photographs of topls girls on Page 3.

For me, a young child livg London at the time, the term gay (meang homosexual and not "happy") was ed much more equently by the media and the general public after the release of "Glad to be Gay". Havelock Ellis, "Studi Psychology, " 1897]Sexual versn (1883, later simply versn, by 1895) was an earlier clil term for "homosexualy" English, said by Ellis to have origated Italian psychology wrg. By the 1970s, the term ‘gay man’ had bee firmly entrenched s current meang, referrg only to ‘homosexual men’, which was a far cry om jt a hundred years earlier, when meant ‘womaniser’ or ‘sexually unhibed man’.

Three years earlier, while he was studyg journalism at Michigan State Universy, he had publicly e out as gay an say he wrote for Outsports.At the time of the say, he braced for a backlash, but nothg materialized. It was paful at the time — the worst thg that had happened to him as a gay man, he said — but has reced far enough to his memory that did not e to md an hourlong terview about his experienc as a gay broadster. He didn’t take them personally, but they ma him unfortable, as did the ia of g out.“I knew the stuff wasn’t directed at me,” Bach said, “but I was thkg, ‘Oh, is this how ’s gog to be for me my entire life?’”By the start of his sophomore year at Michigan State, Bach was ready to tell his parents that he was gay, tchg his father off guard but nfirmg what his mother had prevly assumed.