Are 'The Gap' Stor Named for 'Gay and Proud'? |

Contents:

• ARE 'THE GAP' STOR NAMED FOR 'GAY AND PROUD'?
• NO, GAP DON'T STAND FOR "GAY & PROUD," BUT THE SCHOOLYARD TNT STILL FOLLOWS ME TODAY
• GAP - GAY AND PROUD? RETAILER SLAMMED BY PARENTG GROUP FOR PRO-HOMOSEXUAL ADVERTISG MPAIGN

ARE 'THE GAP' STOR NAMED FOR 'GAY AND PROUD'?

The clothg store cha The Gap took s name om an acronym for 'Gay and Proud. Ak to the Troop Sport ("To Rule Over Opprsed People") and Adidas ("All Day I Dream About Sex") nards, the mor about The Gap asserts that drew s name om an ializatn of the phrase "Gay And Proud":.

Yterday, I heard this one: The GAP was started by a gay man and the name means Gay And Proud. Although The Gap did beg San Francis, a cy home to a large homosexual populatn and strongly associated wh gay pri, s name has nothg to do wh eher of those cint facts.

"Gay and proud" beme a tchphrase wh the gay muny bee proclaimed a posively-voiced manner that s members took pri who they were rather than feelg ashamed of their liftyle. It wasn't that long ago that ncealg all evince of a same-sex preference was the orr of the day, and the phrase "Gay and proud" th reprented a major shift how a muny viewed both self and the value of s dividual members society. (It's one thg to wave a "Gay and Proud" sign if you know you're holdg , but que another to fd one has been pned to your back whout your knowledge.

NO, GAP DON'T STAND FOR "GAY & PROUD," BUT THE SCHOOLYARD TNT STILL FOLLOWS ME TODAY

Even the most gay-sympathetic person might take umbrage at that. The creative featur notable nam such as pneerg trans nway mol, Connie Flemg; founr of Born Perfect Foundatn, dited to fightg to end gay nversn therapy, Mathew Shurka; former InStyle EIC, wrer, and founr of ABBAPAPA, a parentg newsletter,  Ariel Foxman and his hband, tor Brandon Cart-Hernanz; fashn signer, creative director, and food enthiast, Peter Som; artist, activist and tor, Bradley Miller; chef and thor, Angela Dimayuga.

GAP - GAY AND PROUD? RETAILER SLAMMED BY PARENTG GROUP FOR PRO-HOMOSEXUAL ADVERTISG MPAIGN

That’s bee “Gap” was synonymo wh “gay and proud” amongst my thls, pre-teen schoolyard tntg related to Gap is one of the most formative memori I have about fashn — and my own queerns. I will adm, my early 2000s search history on dial-up Inter probably ntaed the phrase “Do Gap really mean ‘Gay And Proud?

I already knew the answer — of urse didn’t mean gay and proud.

But that didn’t stop children om latchg on the the psdo-acronym as a form of homophobic bullyg. “I walked to middle school as a fifth grar wh a GAP hoodie on and had to go home and Google what ‘gay’ meant, ” 25-year-old Meghan Welch, who is one of my former classmat, tells me.