Gay Defn & Meang - Merriam-Webster

Contents:

• QUEER VS. GAY: HOW THE WORDS ARE DIFFERENT, AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
• SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FALLY UNLOCKED PUZZLE OF WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY
• WHAT DO IT MEAN TO BE GAY? DEFN AND MEANG OF GAY
• THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”
• GAY

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

? SummaryIn the ntext of LGBTQ+ inty, the word gay is typilly ed reference to a person who is sexually and/or romantilly attracted to people of their own sex or genr. Some people may intify as both gay and queer, though others may e only one of the terms or a different term altogether.

You may have qutns about why some people intify as gay, queer, both, or another specific way. In this article, we will expla how the terms gay and queer are ed differently the ntext of sexualy and genr inty.

SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FALLY UNLOCKED PUZZLE OF WHY PEOPLE ARE GAY

In the ntext of sexual inty, the word gay is generally ed to mean “of, relatg to, or beg a person who is sexually or romantilly attracted to people of their own sex or genr. ” Often, the word gay is ed specifilly reference to men who are attracted to other men. Women who are attracted to other women often e the word lbian, though some women also e the term gay as well.

Some people may intify as both gay and queer, wh some g the terms to dite different thgs different ntexts. A man who is attracted to other men may intify as gay while also intifyg as part of the queer muny. Scientists may have fally solved the puzzle of what mak a person gay, and how is passed om parents to their children.

WHAT DO IT MEAN TO BE GAY? DEFN AND MEANG OF GAY

A group of scientists suggted Tuday that homosexuals get that tra om their oppose-sex parents: A lbian will almost always get the tra om her father, while a gay man will get the tra om his heredary lk of homosexualy has long been tablished, but scientists knew was not a strictly geic lk, bee there are many pairs of intil tws who have differg sexuali. Scientists om the Natnal Instute for Mathematil and Blogil Synthis say homosexualy seems to have an epigeic, not a geic thought to have some sort of heredary lk, a group of scientists suggted Tuday that homosexualy is lked to epi-marks — extra layers of rmatn that ntrol how certa gen are exprsed.

In homosexuals, the epi-marks aren't erased — they're passed om father-to-dghter or mother-to-son, explas William Rice, an evolutnary blogist at the Universy of California Santa Barbara and lead thor of the study.

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”

"There is pellg evince that epi-marks ntribute to both the siary and dissiary of fay members, and n therefore feasibly ntribute to the observed faial herance of homosexualy and s low nrdance between [intil] tws, " Rice and his team created a mathematil mol that explas why homosexualy is passed through epi-marks, not geics.

Evolutnarily speakg, if homosexualy was solely a geic tra, scientists would expect the tra to eventually disappear bee homosexuals wouldn't be expected to reproduce. But bee the epi-marks provi an evolutnary advantage for the parents of homosexuals: They protect fathers of homosexuals om unrexposure to ttosterone and mothers of homosexuals om overexposure to ttosterone while they are gtatn. "The epi-marks protect fathers and mothers om excs or unrexposure to ttosterone — when they rry over to oppose-sex offsprg, n e the masculizatn of femal or the femizatn of mal, " Rice says, which n lead to a child beg gay.

GAY

Rice not that the markers are "highly variable" and that only strong epi-marks will rult a homosexual scientists have long spected some sort of geic lk, Rice says studi attemptg to expla why people are gay have been few and far between. " Homosexual behavr has been observed black swans, pengus, sheep, and other animals, he 's mol still needs to be tted on real-life parent-offsprg pairs, but he says this epigeic lk mak more sense than any other explanatn, and that his team has mapped out a way for other scientists to tt their work.