The history of the word “gay” | The Gayly

Contents:

• THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”
• GAY SLANG 101
• GAY (ADJ.)
• SYNONYMS OF GAY
• QUEER VS. GAY: HOW THE WORDS ARE DIFFERENT, AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
• ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER
• MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH
• GAY
• ALL MEANGS OF GAY
• WHAT DO "GAY" MEAN?

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”

Pri, formerly known as Gay Pri, is a regnn of LGBTQ inty, affirmatn of equal rights, and celebratn of visibily, digny, and diversy the LGBTQ muny. While the word homosexual is still ocsnally ed some ntexts, you might have noticed that don’t make an appearance any versn of the LGBTQ acronym.

As our age note on the term stat, “up until 1973, homosexualy was listed The Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs (DSM), psychiatry’s standard reference on the classifitn of mental illns. People aware of this former tegorizatn feel that the term homosexual still rri a negative nnotatn.

GAY SLANG 101

And many feel that this word plac undue emphasis on sexual activy, or that sounds overly clil.” In fact, the term homosexual was liberately rejected by early gay rights activists bee, acrdg to The New York Tim, “they did not want to be intified as exclively sexual begs.”. Gay, on the other hand, n be ed to scribe a person of any genr who experienc same-sex attractn, although is most often ed to scribe a man who is attracted to men. On June 28, 1969, the New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn, a bar equented by gay and genr-nonnformg people (at a time when terms like LGBTQ didn’t yet exist).

They attempted to arrt the gay and trans bar patrons, which started a seri of protts agast the police. Partially rponse to Stonewall, 1970, queer activists New York Cy anized a march to Central Park wh the theme “Gay Pri.” A more prehensive history of the Stonewall Rt or the Stonewall Uprisg n be found our Pri Month explaer.

GAY (ADJ.)

Queer lerally means “strange or odd om a nventnal viewpot,” and by at least by the late 1800s, queer was ployed as a rogatory term for an effemate or gay man.

SYNONYMS OF GAY

Queer was seen as a way to refer to gays and lbians whout beg genr-sentialist or g divisns wh the muny.

Only sce the begng of the 20th century has queer been ed to refer to people who intify as gay or lbian.

QUEER VS. GAY: HOW THE WORDS ARE DIFFERENT, AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

GLAAD prefers that we don’t e the term homosexual bee ’s “aggrsively ed by anti-gay extremists to suggt that gay people are somehow diseased or psychologilly/emotnally disorred.

ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER

Bee suggts that beg lbian, gay, bisexual, or of another sexual orientatn is a choice and the person n be “cured. It’s OK to scribe someone you know who publicly self-intifi as gay, lbian, bisexual, or another sexual orientatn as out. But, people who are gay, lbian, bisexual, or transgenr also re about a wi variety of other polil, social, and cultural issu.

It’s sometim ed as a disparagg way to scribe the recment of heterosexuals to a homosexual liftyle.

The word gay dat back to the 12th century and om the Old French “gai, ” meang “full of joy or mirth. For centuri, gay was ed monly speech and lerature to mean happy, reee, bright and showy, and did not take on any sexual meang until the 1600s.

MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH

At that time the meang of gay as reee evolved to imply that a person was unrtraed by morals and prone to nce and promiscuy.

“Gay hoe” was monly ed to refer to a brothel and, later, “gaiety” was ed as a mon name for certa plac of entertament.

In the 1890s, the term “gey t” (a Sttish variant of gay) was ed to scribe a vagrant who offered sexual servic to women or a young traveler who was new to the road and the pany of an olr man. This latter e suggts that the younger man was a sexually submissive role and may be among the first tim that gay was ed implyg a homosexual relatnship.

GAY

In 1951, gay appeared the Oxford English Dictnary for the first time as slang for homosexual, but was most likely ed this way “unrground” at least 30 years earlier.

” 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.

When gay is ed today to mean stupid or unsirable ( has only been ed this way sce the 1990s), rri wh a history of negative judgment and rigid ias about who or what is acceptable. As part of the curriculum, Unheard Voic featur a sectn on the word “gay, ” s history and how to e the word properly.

ALL MEANGS OF GAY

Unheard Voic released a seri of statements ma by stunts around the Uned Stat on the phrase “that’s gay.

Aromantic Homosexual — A person who has sexual attractn to the same genr, but they do not experience romantic attractn. Gay — Gay is an umbrella term ed to refer to people who experience a same-sex or same-genr attractn. Gay is also an inty term ed to scribe a male-intified person who is attracted to other male-intified people a romantic, sexual, and/or emotnal sense.

WHAT DO "GAY" MEAN?

Gay Aromantic — A person who has sexual attractn to the same genr, but they do not experience romantic attractn. Homoaro — A person who has sexual attractn to the same genr, but they do not experience romantic attractn. Homophobia — Homophobia means to have an irratnal fear or tolerance of people who are homosexual or havg feelgs of homosexualy.

LGBTQ+ — LBGT is an abbreviatn for lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (often ed to enpass sexual preference and genr inti that do not rrpond to heterosexual norms). LGBTIQAPD – Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, Queer and/or Qutng, Intersex, Asexual and/or Ally, Pansexual, and Demi-sexual.

As a surname, Philipp Gay), om Old French gai "joyful, happy; pleasant, agreeably charmg; forward, pert; light-lored" (12c.

The suggtn of immoraly the word n be traced back at least to the 1630s, if not to Chcer:But oure bed he was so sh and gay. ) begs to appear psychologil wrg the late 1940s, evintly picked up om gay slang and not always easily distguished om the olr sense:After discharge A.