Defns | The Office of Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, Queer, and Intersex Life | Vanrbilt Universy

Contents:

• MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH
• QUEER VS. GAY: HOW THE WORDS ARE DIFFERENT, AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
• THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”
• GAY
• GAY (HOMOSEXUAL) AND GAY (HAPPY)
• SYNONYMS OF GAY
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER, & INTERSEX LIFE

MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH

That same year, Pieters beme a natnal spokperson for AIDS awarens and gay polil activism after his historic terview wh televangelist Tammy Faye on her broadst, which fied the work's homophobic tennci. Rapoe, who is gay, is an outspoken advote for LGBTQ+ rights and was a lear the natnal team’s fight for genr equaly, which paid off last year when U.S. Jenna Lyons, the first openly gay hoewife, and Jsel Taank, the first Indian hoewife, jo the diverse st tend to better reprent all of the different kds of New Yorkers.

The exampl are programmatilly piled om var onle sourc to illtrate current age of the word 'gay.' Any opns exprsed the exampl do not reprent those of Merriam-Webster or s edors.

? 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. 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. 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.

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

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. 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. And many feel that this word plac undue emphasis on sexual activy, or that sounds overly clil.” 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). Partially rponse to Stonewall, 1970, queer activists New York Cy anized a march to Central Park wh the theme “Gay Pri.” A more prehensive history of the Stonewall Rt or the Stonewall Uprisg n be found our Pri Month explaer.

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”

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.

GAY

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. 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. 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.

GAY (HOMOSEXUAL) AND GAY (HAPPY)

” 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.

The term "gay" may be nfg and even foreign to some, forcg people to ask, "What is gay?" or "Am I Gay?" And while some might thk the fn of "gay" is simple, to many, actually isn't.

SYNONYMS OF GAY

Homosexualy is still the rrect term clilly, but even though homosexualy is no longer nsired immoral, some people feel there are still negative overton to the word given s orig.

Gay is a term that is not genr specific so men or women n be termed "gay." When intifyg people as gay though, 's important to nsir three thgs. For example, a person may feel same-sex sexual attractn but not intify as "gay" whereas another person who behav sexually towards men and women may intify as "gay." Moreover, is not unmon for people to intify as "gay" at some tim their liv, while straight (not gay) at other tim.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER, & INTERSEX LIFE

Adjective, gay·er, gay·, relatg to, or beg a person who is sexually or romantilly attracted to people of their own sex or genr: A gay uple strolled by on the, relatg to, or beg a person who is sexually or romantilly attracted only to people of their own sex or genr: Gay and bisexual men are both discsed this, ditg, or supportg terts or issu pertag to gay people or the gay muny: He giv charable ntributns to a gay anizatn.

Appropriately forward or bold; overly faiar; reckls: Gee got gay at the Christmas party and sudnly swept his boss's wife onto the dance floor. A person, pecially a man, who is sexually or romantilly attracted exclively to people of the same sex or of gay1First rerd 1275–1325; Middle English gai, om Old French “happy, cheerful, ” om Germanic; pare Old High German gāhi “fast, sudn”age alert For gayThe sexual orientatn meang of the word gay has bee so predomant that people hate to e the term s origal sens of “merry, lively” and “bright or showy. After World War II, as social attus toward sexualy began to change, gay was applied openly by gay men to themselv, first as an adjective and later as a noun.

Age note For gayWords like gay and lbian are often ed as umbrella terms scribg anyone who experienc same-genr attractn, and also as more specific labels. Umbrella age, as gay marriage or lbian uple, typilly refers to any same-genr pairg, or to any person who is attracted to people of their own genr. And gay n also be ed to refer to only men who are attracted to men (exclively or not), ntrast to lbian, which only refers to women.

Other words om gaygay·ns, nounnon·gay, adjectiveWords Nearby gaygawkgawkygawpGawragawsygayGayagayalGaya MaretangayatrigaydarOther fns for Gay (2 of 2)nounJohn, 1685–1732, English poet and dramatist.