Dick Lesch’s Gui to Seventi Gay Slang | The New Yorker

Contents:

• DICK LESCH’S GUI TO SEVENTI GAY SLANG
• THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
• 12 SLANG WORDS FOR GAY – USE THE TERMS TO ADDRS THEM!
• THE OLR GAY MEN TRYG TO UNRSTAND NEW GAY SLANG IS THE BT THG YOU'LL SEE TODAY
• THS:GAY MAN
• THE CURSE OF AN ATTRACTN TO OLR GAY MEN

DICK LESCH’S GUI TO SEVENTI GAY SLANG

Dick Lesch, an early gay-rights activist, who is now his eighti, arranged to donate his old workg fil to the archiv of the New York Public Library. ”In 1959, when Lesch was twenty-four, he left his fay home, Kentucky, for New York Cy, where he found work as a pater, a bartenr, a rator, a journalist, and as the unpaid print of the Mattache Society, one of the first gay-rights anizatns.

When the Stonewall rts broke out, three years later, he was the only openly gay reporter on the scene, verg the event for a new gay-focsed magaze lled The a recent Friday eveng, Lesch’s buzzer rang. In 1959, he left Kentucky for New York Cy, where he beme the print of the Mattache Society, one of the first gay-rights anizatns. “This rd file is great, ” he said, flippg through a set of four-by-six x rds on which Lesch had neatly typed out gay slang terms om antiquy.

THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN

” Some of the fns were more nuanced: an “ntie, ” Lesch had wrten, was “an ageg or middle aged homosexual, offtim effemate character, ” or “a person of settled meanor who utns agast temperate acts.

12 SLANG WORDS FOR GAY – USE THE TERMS TO ADDRS THEM!

Lesch ed to llect mentns of the “homophile movement, ” a term that preced the morn gay-rights vobulary. Photograph by Rebec FudalaNext up was Lesch’s llectn of magaz and newsletters, cludg After Dark (“Oh, bls you—they’re real llector’s ems, ” Bmann said); Christopher Street (“We have the archiv”); Female Mimics (“That’s fabulo”); the 1969 Time issue on homosexualy (“Cute”); and the monthly bullet for the Mattache Society. A 1971 issue of Gay featured an terview that Lesch had nducted wh a twenty-five-year-old Bette Midler.

Before 'gay' beme mon and accepted parlance, the world vented s own unofficial terms for men who dug men.

THE OLR GAY MEN TRYG TO UNRSTAND NEW GAY SLANG IS THE BT THG YOU'LL SEE TODAY

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. In England, homosexualy was officially nsired a crime until 1967, when the Sexual Offenc Act legalized private “homosexual acts” between nsentg adults over 21.

THS:GAY MAN

) The Act me a after the ernment’s Wolfenn Report, which igned bate by remendg the partial crimalizatn of homosexual acts. 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. 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.

Many who were lobbyg for sexual equaly, says Dolan, “felt was about gay people prentg themselv as jt ordary folks. 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 CURSE OF AN ATTRACTN TO OLR GAY MEN

“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. Given s associatns wh stereotypil reprentatns of gay men, Polari may not seem to have a place the 21st century.

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? Although manther often refers to straight men, ’s also ed the gay muny to scribe olr guys who chase after younger men. Don’t worry; you’re not help you keep up wh the nstantly evolvg language, we have piled a list of mon slang words for scribg homosexualy.

Whether you’re g them ironilly or scerely, slang words for gay dividuals are a way to exprs sir knowledge and bsh up on your termology and get ready to add some flavor to your nversatns.