The history of the word “gay” | The Gayly

Contents:

• THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”
• GAY & LESBIAN VAISHNAVA ASSOCIATION
• IS SAM HGHAN GAY? HERE IS THE OUTLANR STAR'S DATG HISTORY
• ONE OF N.L.'S FIRST MARRIED GAY UPL LOOK BACK WH PRI
• RACG TO PRERVE THE HISTORY OF MAE’S 1ST GAY RIGHTS ANIZATN

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”

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.

GAY & LESBIAN VAISHNAVA ASSOCIATION

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.

IS SAM HGHAN GAY? HERE IS THE OUTLANR STAR'S DATG HISTORY

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

ONE OF N.L.'S FIRST MARRIED GAY UPL LOOK BACK WH PRI

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.

Nohels, some relig groups ntue to emphasize reparative therapy the attempt to “cure” homosexualy through prayer, unselg, and behavur modifitn. 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. It is likely that many stanc of homosexualy rult om a batn of born or nstutnal factors and environmental or social fluenc.

RACG TO PRERVE THE HISTORY OF MAE’S 1ST GAY RIGHTS ANIZATN

Together wh a growg acceptance of homosexualy as a mon exprsn of human sexualy, long-standg beliefs about homosexuals had begun to lose crence.