The Origs of the Word ‘Gay’ – uTalk Blog

Contents:

• THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”
• GAY (HOMOSEXUAL) AND GAY (HAPPY)
• WHEN DID THE MEANG OF THE WORD GAY CHANGE?
• MERRIAM WEBSTER: CHANGE THE PRIMARY FN OF GAY TO MEAN HOMOSEXUALMERRIAM WEBSTER: CHANGE THE PRIMARY FN OF GAY TO MEAN HOMOSEXUAL
• HOW ‘GAY’ ME TO MEAN HOMOSEXUAL
• GAY (ADJ.)
• THE ORIGS OF THE WORD ‘GAY’
• CHANGG MEANGS OF GAY
• GAY

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”

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.

GAY (HOMOSEXUAL) AND GAY (HAPPY)

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. ” 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.

WHEN DID THE MEANG OF THE WORD GAY CHANGE?

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTWord Through The timA Word That Beme a Pot of PriThis June, we explored the evolutn of the word “pri” and how beme nnected wh the morn gay rights HuangPublished June 18, 2023Updated June 27, 2023In Word Through The Tim, we trace how one word or phrase has changed throughout the history of the a 1940 review of the film “Pri and Prejudice, ” the New York Tim cric Bosley Crowther wrote, “Lrence Olivier is Darcy, that’s all there is to — the arrogant, sardonic Darcy whose pri went before a most felico fall.

On June 29, 1969, The Tim wrote about a police raid the prev day at a gay bar the Wt Village; the article, headled “4 Policemen Hurt ‘Village’ Raid, ” was ls than one lumn long. Of urse, the event is now known as the uprisg at the Stonewall Inn, a moment that brought on the morn gay rights June 28, 1970, thoands of people marched 50 blocks of New York Cy honor of the first anniversary of Stonewall.

MERRIAM WEBSTER: CHANGE THE PRIMARY FN OF GAY TO MEAN HOMOSEXUALMERRIAM WEBSTER: CHANGE THE PRIMARY FN OF GAY TO MEAN HOMOSEXUAL

” Michael Kotis, the print of the Mattache Society, one of the untry’s earlit gay rights anizatns, was quoted as sayg, “The gay people have disvered their potential strength and gaed a new pri. ” The term was stamped to the natnal lexin 1999 when Print Bill Clton clared June as Gay and Lbian Pri Month, which is now known as Pri 2021, The Tim updated s style gui to match an creasgly mon renrg of the word, uppersg “Pri” referenc to L. On Thursday, as the Supreme Court crimalised homosexualy, readg down the ntroversial Brish-era sectn 377 of the penal , Mumbai-based Arnab Nandy took to social media to exprs his joy, as many across the untry and the world were dog.

Acrdg to both dictnari, English the e of ‘gay’ to mean happy, exced, merry, reee or bright started the Middle English perd that stretch between the 12th and the 16th century. All For An Inty While some books and webs on the history of the global homosexual movement claim the word gay was ed as a secret by homosexuals to intify themselv even as far back as the early twentieth century, profsor Ashley Tellis says “ was the 1960s that the word me to be popularly associated wh the muny”. R Raj Rao, wrer and profsor of English at Pune Universy, adds: “The Stonewall Rts (a seri of vlent nontatns between members of the LGBT muny and the police New York 1969) are the begng of most gay-rights movements the world.

” In India, while Tellis says the e of the word gay to mean homosexuals started the 1970s and ’80s wh Indian men who travelled to the Wt and me back, Rao and wrer Hoshang Merchant say the word started gettg ed here the 1990s after the settg up of Bombay Dost, the untry’s first LGBT magaze, by activist Ashok Row Kavi. Globally, the muny preferred gay to homosexual, says Tellis, bee the latter had a negative feel to – was a more clil term, suggtive of a medil ndn. As an article on the webse of The New England Journal of Medice mentns, was only 1980 that homosexualy was leted om the Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, th changg the view that was a behavural disorr.

HOW ‘GAY’ ME TO MEAN HOMOSEXUAL

A New UseToday, though gay has bee synonymo wh homosexual, the Washgton Post 2017 published an article on whether social perceptns about the two are really the same, after a news webse reportedly published an article wh the headle “Homosexual eas to 100 fal at Olympic trials’, followg Olympian Tyson Gay’s qualifitn for the 100-metre n fal. “The mistake was ed by the se’s edorial filter, which changed the athlete’s last name tomatilly — keepg wh the outlet’s policy agast nng stori that e the term ‘gay’, replacg wh ‘homosexual’ stead.

GAY (ADJ.)

” The first fn of gay the Oxford dictnary is: adjective; (of a person) homosexual (ed pecially of a man), though Rao clarifi that gay is not genr specific, as lbian is. ” Dpe the LGBTQ muny’s efforts to e as a more posive word than homosexual, however, the negative perceptn of the muny among many has also tated the word gay.

Also, the claimg of inty do not change the fact that if one go by s Middle English meang – happy, merry or cheerful – the muny’s e of the word gay for self is somewhat paradoxil.

THE ORIGS OF THE WORD ‘GAY’

Magaze, the term GLB surfaced around this time to also clu lbian and bisexual people, who felt that “gay” wasn’t clive of other THAYER - Getty ImagBy the end of the 1990s, activist anizatns started g LGBT or GLBT, cludg the “T” for transgenr folks. ” GLAAD pots out that, today, this term is more monly ed among younger people, for those who fd “gay, ” “lbian, ” or “bisexual” too rtrictive fg their sexual inty. Lbian: A woman who is attracted to other An acronym that stands for lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr, wh the “Q” often meang eher “queer” or “qutng.

The word “gay” seems to have s origs around the 12th century England, rived om the Old French word ‘gai’, which turn was probably rived om a Germanic word, though that isn’t pletely known. Fast-forward to the 19th century and the word gay referred to a woman who was a prostute and a gay man was someone who slept wh a lot of women (ironilly enough), often prostut. In terms of the sexual meang of the word, a “gay man” no longer jt meant a man who had sex wh a lot of women, but now started to refer to men who had sex wh other men.

CHANGG MEANGS OF GAY

Gay men themselv seem to have been behd the drivg thst for this new fn as they felt (and many still do), that “homosexual” is much too clil, soundg like a disorr.

As such, was mon amongst the gay muny to refer to one another as “gay” s before this was a monly known fn (reportedly homosexual men were llg one another gay as early as the 1920s). Sce then, gay, meang homosexual male, has steadily driven out all the other fns that have floated about through time and of urse also has gradually begun supplementg the word ‘lbian’ as referrg to women who are homosexual. Bee even mentng someone was a homosexual was so offensive at the time England, people who were thought to be gay were referred to as “sporty” wh girls and “artistic” for boys.

GAY

Has a history of repeatedly sharg unfound nspiraci that man-ma chemils the environment uld be makg children gay or transgenr and g the femizatn of boys and masculizatn of girls. The basels claim that chemils – particularly tap water – uld turn people gay has gaed populary wh nspiracy theorists over the years, most memorably wh nservative rad host Alex Jon, who said chemils the water were “turng the igg’ ogs gay.

Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love. There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia.

'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022. Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife.