The Fotten Secret Language of Gay Men - Atlas Obscura

Contents:

• GAY BRA GLOSSARY
• THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
• MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH
• GAY DICTNARY ENGLISH
• GAY
• SYNONYMS FOR GAY MAN

GAY BRA GLOSSARY

Ntie – bear – benr – bottom – bum band – bum chum – bumr – bummer – butch – butt hugger – rpet muncher – tcher – chaser – chickenhawk – chicken hawk – cub – drag kg – dyke – fag – faggot – Fairy – femme – flamer – u – fudge packer – gay – gaylord – girliend – GLBT – hasbian – homo – homo thug – the closet – jobby jabber – lemon – lez – lipstick lbian – mge muncher – mo – nellie – nelly – Peter Puffer – pole smoker – poof – Poofter – power top – puff – queer – shirt lifter – sister – versatile – wasbian. 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.

THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN

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.

” 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).

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. The street ns parallel to the Rochdale Canal and me to s own as an tablished gay district the 1990's wh the onset of greater tolerance for gay life and bs, pecially Manchter.

MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH

Homosexual - term first ed 19th century Germany and taken up the UK by Havelock Ellis the early 20th century to scribe same sex attractn. Homosexual Law Reform Society - (HLRS) an anisatn that mpaigned the UK for chang the laws that crimalised homosexual relatns between men. Jack Sl - psdonym of the thor of The Ss of the Ci of the Pla - one of the first pornographic, homoerotic novels published England 1881.

Lbians and Gays Support the Mers (LGSM) - was a an alliance of lbians and gay men who supported the Natnal Unn of Meworkers durg the 1984-1985 mer's strike. Outed - when a lbian, gay, bi or trans person's sexual orientatn is revealed to someone else whout their wh Pri, Greater Manchter Police Mm & Archiv, ManchterP. The 2017 Policg and Crime Act implements what is known rmally as the "Alan Turg Law" which pardoned 50, 000 men who for homosexual acts that were no longer nsired offenc.

The Calls and Lower Briggate - the ma gay area Leeds and home to the New Penny pub and Charlie's, inic and long-standg gay venu the cy. Alan Turg Statue - a statue of Alan Turg Sackville Park near the Gay Village Manchter honours the mathematil geni who helped to crack the German Enigma s World War II. Wolfenn Report - aka the Report of the Departmental Commtee on Homosexual Offenc and Prostutn published 1957 after a number of proment dividuals cludg John Gielgud, Alan Turg, Lord Montagu of Beli, Michael Pt-Rivers and Peter Wilblood were tried and nvicted of homosexual offenc.

GAY DICTNARY ENGLISH

Vada (“look at”), dolly eek (a pretty face), and chicken (a young guy) are all words om the lexin of Polari, a secret language ed by gay men Bra at a time when homosexualy was illegal.

In the 1930s was spoken among the theater typ of the Wt End, om which crossed over to the cy’s gay pubs, gag s stat as the secret language of gay men.

GAY

In England, homosexualy was officially nsired a crime until 1967, when the Sexual Offenc Act legalized private “homosexual acts” between nsentg adults over 21. Durg the terim years, when beg openly non-straight brought the risks of social isolatn and crimal prosecutn, Polari provid gay men wh a subtle way to fd one another for pannship and sex.

The Hidn History of Gay Life at Sea, Pl Baker and Jo Stanley wre that Polari played a role “allowg gay men to nstct a humoroly performative inty for themselv. In the late ‘60s, as gay liberatn groups were fightg for regnn and equaly, Polari h mastream Brish pop-culture the form of Julian and Sandy, two flamboyant, not-officially-but-pretty-obvly gay characters on a BBC rad show lled Round the Horne.

Julian and Sandy prented a nundm: as lovable gay characters on a very popular show, they enared themselv to Brish dienc an era of homophobia.

SYNONYMS FOR GAY MAN

By the early ‘70s, as LGBT groups fought for rights beyond those granted by the 1967 Sexual Offenc Act, the image of the mp gay man had bee the target of ire. When Ecclton and Fairbairn posted the film onle, they were surprised by the enthiastic rponse—and the level of fascatn wh Polari, this myster, cipherable “gay language.

“The kds of nts still exist where opprsn is still entrenched, ” says Ecclton, cg Swardspeak, a language based on English and Tagalog that is ed among gay men the Philipp. Dolan brgs up the pot that gay men shouldn’t have to be “straight-actg” orr to be accepted: “Might not be more fun to embrace a b more mp and actually have fun wh ourselv and wh each other?

Back the 1960s, was illegal to be gay the UK and so gay men began to e a kd of language or slang that was a mix of Italian, Romany and rhymg slang.