The orig of the word ‘Gay’ s Homosexual ntext

Contents:

• GAY HISTORY: HOW ‘GAY’ CAME TO MEAN ‘HOMOSEXUAL’
• THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”
• GAY (ADJ.)
• THE ORIG OF THE WORD ‘GAY’ S HOMOSEXUAL NTEXT
• WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “GAY” AND “HOMOSEXUAL"? IS ONLY BY GENR?
• GAY
• GAY RIGHTS

GAY HISTORY: HOW ‘GAY’ CAME TO MEAN ‘HOMOSEXUAL’

The word “gay” seems to have s origs around the 12th century England, rived om the Old French word ‘gai’, which turn was probably rived om a Germanic word, though that isn’t pletely known. Fast-forward to the 19th century and the word gay referred to a woman who was a prostute and a gay man was someone who slept wh a lot of women (ironilly enough), often prostut. In terms of the sexual meang of the word, a “gay man” no longer jt meant a man who had sex wh a lot of women, but now started to refer to men who had sex wh other men.

Gay men themselv seem to have been behd the drivg thst for this new fn as they felt (and many still do), that “homosexual” is much too clil, soundg like a disorr. As such, was mon amongst the gay muny to refer to one another as “gay” s before this was a monly known fn (reportedly homosexual men were llg one another gay as early as the 1920s).

Sce then, gay, meang homosexual male, has steadily driven out all the other fns that have floated about through time and of urse also has gradually begun supplementg the word ‘lbian’ as referrg to women who are homosexual. Bee even mentng someone was a homosexual was so offensive at the time England, people who were thought to be gay were referred to as “sporty” wh girls and “artistic” for boys. The name chosen by this important early activist group is the ma reason gay beme the polilly rrect term stead of any of the many more mon terms e before then.

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”

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. 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.

GAY (ADJ.)

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. 240]The associatn wh (male) homosexualy likely got a boost om the term gay t, ed as far back as 1893 Amerin English for "young hobo, " one who is new on the road, also one who sometim do jobs.

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. McCook, "Tramps, " "The Public Treatment of Pperism, " 1893], but some acunts report certa olr tramps would domate a gay t and employ him as a sort of slave.

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. Rawson ["Wicked Words"] not a male prostute g gay reference to male homosexuals (but also to female prostut) London's notor Cleveland Street Sndal of 1889. [John Boswell, "Christiany, Social Tolerance, and Homosexualy, " 1980]As a teen slang word meang "bad, ferr, unsirable, " whout reference to sexualy, om (n.

THE ORIG OF THE WORD ‘GAY’ S HOMOSEXUAL NTEXT

Use of the word “gay” a homosexual ntext may date to as long ago as Paris the late 16th century, when homosexuals were reportedly lled ‘gai, ” but there are a uple of other trigug and perhaps more provable theori. Homosexual Amerin ary personnel wanrg the streets of London durg World War I may have picked up on the phrase and brought back to the Uned Stat after 1918. In Abigail van Buren’s “Dear Abby” advice lumn of Augt 9, 1982 (#721 below), a rear objects to the e of the word “gay” to scribe homosexuals and feels “queer” is more appropriate.

If, for example, a homosexual man were at a party and started nversg wh a man he found attractive, he might throw the word slyly to the nversatn to see how the other man reacted.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “GAY” AND “HOMOSEXUAL"? IS ONLY BY GENR?

” As a homosexual New Yorker, he undoubtedly unrstood the double entendre, as would have many New York theatergoers, but s meang would have been lost on most dienc the provc. Bis a fleetg reference 1949, the first time the Courier-Journal ed the word s morn ntext was a 1969 display ad for a homosexually-themed Hollywood movie entled The Gay Deceivers. Probably bee the word lbian exists as well, one is slightly more likely to refer to men when g the word gay; but note that is very often also ed for women.

Anyway, gays took back the word "gay" bee was beg ed as a slur agast them, much like the n-word, much like the word faggot (and if you are unfaiar wh the rivatn of the word faggot, I suggt you n to your dictnary right now, sce is no where near as fortable as the rivatn of the word lbian). Suffice to say that the word homosexual is an outdated term all but the most tached scientific wrg; that the word lbian appli strictly to women; and that the word gay n refer to both men and women, but ually refers to men.

There are some who would argue that "homosexuals" are those who meet the clil fn of beg more attracted to members of the same sex than those of the oppose sex (given that most theori of sexual orientatn today dite that sexual orientatn is a ntuum, that heterosexualy and homosexualy are more than or ls than differenc rather than dichotomi). Given the opprsn that has led to the "closet, " many people who are more homosexual than heterosexual do not and have never participated the gay liftyle or culture and may even be largely unaware of .

GAY

It tends to imply salcns bee the word SEX ss right there the middle--a sure attentn-grabber and an implitn that homoSEXuals are exclively ncerned wh SEXual gratifitn and have no "fay valu" whatsoever. Virgia is not the only state that is experiencg an outbreak — Florida officials are rpondg to a ser outbreak of mengocl disease among gay and bisexual men.

The Universy of Wyomg mp Laramie has a long history of wranglg wh LGBTQ+ issu sce the murr of gay hman Matthew Shepard 1998 heightened attentn to them natnwi. The duo also reced several members of the former AAGPBL to serve as advisers — cludg the legendary Maybelle Blair, who at age 95 me out as gay durg the prs tour for the show. The term gay is equently ed as a synonym for homosexual; female homosexualy is often referred to as different tim and different cultur, homosexual behavur has been varly approved of, tolerated, punished, and banned.

Homosexualy was not unmon ancient Greece and Rome, and the relatnships between adult and adolcent mal particular have bee a chief foc of Wtern classicists recent years. Others—om factns wh mastream Prottantism to anizatns of Reform rabbis—have advoted, on theologil as well as social grounds, the full acceptance of homosexuals and their relatnships. Morn velopments Attus toward homosexualy are generally flux, partially as a rult of creased polil activism (see gay rights movement) and efforts by homosexuals to be seen not as aberrant personali but as differg om “normal” dividuals only their sexual orientatn.

GAY RIGHTS

The nflictg views of homosexualy—as a variant but normal human sexual behavur on one hand, and as psychologilly viant behavur on the other—rema prent most societi the 21st century, but they have been largely rolved ( the profsnal sense) most veloped untri. The Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, for example, classified “ego-syntonic homosexualy” (the ndn of a person ntent wh his or her homosexualy) as a mental illns 1973. Selected theori of homosexualy Psychologists the 19th and 20th centuri, most of whom classified homosexualy as a form of mental illns, veloped a variety of theori on s orig.