Are ‘gay’ and ‘homosexual’ the same? Here’s what we found. - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “GAY” AND “HOMOSEXUAL"? IS ONLY BY GENR?
• ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER
• GAY
• ARE ‘GAY’ AND ‘HOMOSEXUAL’ THE SAME? HERE’S WHAT WE FOUND.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “GAY” AND “HOMOSEXUAL"? IS ONLY BY GENR?

Anyway, gays took back the word "gay" bee was beg ed as a slur agast them, much like the n-word, much like the word faggot (and if you are unfaiar wh the rivatn of the word faggot, I suggt you n to your dictnary right now, sce is no where near as fortable as the rivatn of the word lbian). Suffice to say that the word homosexual is an outdated term all but the most tached scientific wrg; that the word lbian appli strictly to women; and that the word gay n refer to both men and women, but ually refers to men. There are some who would argue that "homosexuals" are those who meet the clil fn of beg more attracted to members of the same sex than those of the oppose sex (given that most theori of sexual orientatn today dite that sexual orientatn is a ntuum, that heterosexualy and homosexualy are more than or ls than differenc rather than dichotomi).

Given the opprsn that has led to the "closet, " many people who are more homosexual than heterosexual do not and have never participated the gay liftyle or culture and may even be largely unaware of .

ABOUT THE CENTERSCE 1983 THE CENTER HAS BEEN SUPPORTG, FOSTERG AND CELEBRATG THE LGBT MUNY OF NEW YORK CY. FD MORE RMATN ON AND OUR WORK ABOUT THE CENTER. VIS ABOUT THE CENTEROUR MISSNCYBER CENTERCENTER HISTORYRACE EQUYMEDIA CENTERLEARSHIP & STAFFEMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNICORPORATE PARTNERSHIPSANNUAL REPORTS & FANCIAL INFORMATNCONTACT USHOURS & LOTNSEMAPSUPPORT THE CENTER

It tends to imply salcns bee the word SEX ss right there the middle--a sure attentn-grabber and an implitn that homoSEXuals are exclively ncerned wh SEXual gratifitn and have no "fay valu" whatsoever. A ltle outdated and clil, perhaps, but nocuo enough: that five-syllable word has never been more load, more liberately ed and, to the ears of many gays and lbians, more pejorative. “ ‘Homosexual’ has the rg of ‘lored’ now, the way your grandmother might have ed that term, except that hasn’t been recuperated the same way, ” said Gee Chncey, a Yale profsor of history and an thor who studi gay and lbian culture.

GAY

The Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn, or Glaad, has put “homosexual” on s list of offensive terms and 2006 persuad The Associated Prs, whose stylebook is the wily ed by many news anizatns, to rtrict e of the P. Lakoff, a profsor of gnive science and lguistics at the Universy of California, Berkeley, has looked at the way the term is ed by those who try to portray gays and lbians as viant. ”Historians believe the first e of “homosexual” was by Karl-Maria Kertbeny, a Hungarian journalist who wrote passnately opposn to Germany’s anti-sodomy laws the 19th century.

William Leap, a profsor of anthropology at Amerin Universy who studi the field of “lavenr lguistics, ” which exam how gay people e certa words and phras, said the offensivens of the word stems om s medil history. “It already has all that clil baggage heaped on : that’s the legacy of the term now, ” he said, addg that bee of s e a scientific way, many people do not realize how n fall on gay and lbian ears.

“Now they’re enuragg this young man who’s announced he’s homosexual to go play, when Obama said he wouldn’t even let his own son play, ” Rh Limbgh said recently as he talked about Michael Sam, the llege football player who recently me out. ”And last year, when Jason Colls beme one of the first profsnal male athlet to reveal he was gay, Chris Brosard, an ESPN mentator who has lled homosexualy “that liftyle” and nmned as a s, announced that he had “no problem wh homosexuals. In the late 1970s, Ana Bryant’s “Save Our Children” mpaign was centered on the notn of “homosexual recment, ” the belief that gays and lbians tried to woo unspectg children to their ranks.

ARE ‘GAY’ AND ‘HOMOSEXUAL’ THE SAME? HERE’S WHAT WE FOUND.

“A lbian uld say she met a gay gal the night before and her lbian iend would know exactly what she meant, ” Profsor Chncey said, “while her straight boss would have no ia what she was talkg about. ” The early gay-rights movement was lled the homophile movement bee s founrs explicly rejected the word homosexual; they did not want to be intified as exclively sexual begs. For example, the adjective “gay” n be terpreted broadly, to clu all genrs, or more narrowly, to clu only men, so fe “gay” when you e your paper, or e the phrase “gay men” to clarify the age.

Homoprejudice, biprejudice, homonegativy, and so forth are terms ed to note prejudicial and discrimatory attus toward lbians, gay men, bisexual dividuals, or other sexual mori. The terms “straight” and “heterosexual” are both acceptable to e when referrg to people who are attracted to dividuals of another genr; the term “straight” may help move the lexin away om a dichotomy of heterosexual and homosexual. Use specific scriptors of “gay, ” “lbian, ” and so forth only when the are known intifitns; sexual orientatn may be scribed by dividuals g a multu of scriptive self-intifitn labels (lbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, queer, and many others).

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.”. 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.