The history of the word “gay” | The Gayly

Contents:

• THE 'GAY' WORD: WHAT DO MEAN WHEN YOUNG PEOPLE E NEGATIVELY?
• "THAT'S SO GAY!" PRIMG THE GENERAL NEGATIVE AGE OF THE WORD GAY CREAS IMPLIC ANTI-GAY BIAS
• WHY IS IT OK TO SAY "THAT'S SO GAY?"
• THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”
• GAY (HOMOSEXUAL) AND GAY (HAPPY)
• "DO I SOUND GAY?"
• WHAT DO IT MEAN TO SOUND GAY?

THE 'GAY' WORD: WHAT DO MEAN WHEN YOUNG PEOPLE E NEGATIVELY?

A word that origally meant happy and reee beme a ntral label to scribe homosexualy, and end up beg a term ed to ppot somethg people don’t like, fd embarrassg, or want to distance themselv do this mean that young people are more homophobic than ever before?

"THAT'S SO GAY!" PRIMG THE GENERAL NEGATIVE AGE OF THE WORD GAY CREAS IMPLIC ANTI-GAY BIAS

“But ’s very hard for people who heard ‘gay’ as beg solely homophobic, like I did growg up, to see that n mean somethg different to a different generatn. “The problem wh sayg ‘that’s so gay’ is that even though you and your iends might know you’re not beg homophobic, if you’re g a public or semi-public space, other people might see you as homophobic, ” he jt my stunt overdraft as my budget, I cid to make a documentary explorg how this piece of language had evolved, and speak to people both gay and straight to see how they felt aboutthe word takg on a negative gay people I spoke to were ntent wh the word evolvg, while there were straight people who were outraged.

Younger people, whom we might have expected to have more awarens of what means to intify as gay bee of media verage, were often the mographic fendg the negative e of this olr people I spoke to felt strongly that should not be allowed to be ed negatively. The language we e, nscly or subnscly, n reflect our feelgs towards “rgh, that’s gay” reveals a lack of llective unrstandg of what means to intify as gay.

WHY IS IT OK TO SAY "THAT'S SO GAY?"

Equal marriage legislatn may suggt that society has advanced s thkg, but there remas a gap s grasp of gay inty, culture and the week leadg up to the premiere of my documentary, The Gay Word, s trailer was shown a London cema. Staff noticed how the dience’s body language often shifted and beme awkward on jt seeg the word gay projected on Soho, I hand out stickers promotg the film and reactns were mixed.

One sendary school teacher told me staff often “turn a bld eye” to behavur that may be makg gay pupils feel unfortable at young people I met while makg this film told me that school is tough and not a place they n flourish.

Rearch has shown that exposure to explicly homonegative speech n crease anti-gay bias; however, the effect of more ambivalent homonegative speech on implic attus has not yet been explored. Therefore, this study vtigated the effect of primg the general negative age of gay on participants' implic attus towards gay dividuals, as measured by the Implic Associatn Tt. Ally: A person who supports and rpects sexual diversy, acts acrdgly to challenge homophobic and heterosexist remarks and behavrs, and is willg to explore and unrstand the forms of bias wh themselv.

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”

An umbrella term that refers to members of a subculture the gay and bisexual male muni and is often fed as more of an attu or sense of fort wh natural masculy and bodi. Bicur: An dividual who typilly intifi as gay or straight while showg some cursy for a relatnship or sexual activy wh a person of the genr they do not favor.

The term n also exclively refer to men who are emotnally, romantilly, sexually, affectnately, or relatnally attracted to other men, or who intify as members of the gay muny. Bee most LGBTQ people are raised the same society as heterosexuals, they learn the same beliefs and stereotyp prevalent the domant society, leadg to a phenomenon known as ternalized homophobia, whereas LGBTQ-intified dividuals feel shame, guilt or hatred towards the part of themselv intified as LGBTQ.

Internalized Homophobia: The fear and self-hate of one’s own homosexualy or bisexualy dividuals who have learned negative ias about homosexualy throughout childhood. Leather culture is most visible gay muni and most often associated wh gay men (“leathermen”), but is also reflected var ways the gay, lbian, bisexual, and heterosexual worlds. Queer: Term scribg people who have a non-normative genr inty, sexual orientatn or sexual anatomy—clus lbians, gay men, bisexual people, and transgenr people and alli.

GAY (HOMOSEXUAL) AND GAY (HAPPY)

Same-Genr Lovg (SGL): A term ed by some Ain-Amerin dividuals to scribe their sexual orientatn, as a rult of the perceptn that “gay” and “lbian” are primarily whe terms. His most recent book is The Years of Talkg Dangeroly Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network Listen to the TOTN podst.

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.

"DO I SOUND GAY?"

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.

Tom Robson a Brish mician and sger, one of the first, if not the very first pop artist who did not disguise or hi his homosexualy om the general public. Until then homosexual actors, micians, athlet or anyone the public eye had two choic life: to keep their homosexualy a secret, pecially om the media, or adopt the mannerisms and a of drs which were very mp but at the same time (ironilly) never admtg their sexual preferenc publicly. Tom Robson released a very succsful song entled (Sg if you're) Glad to be Gay, was the mid-70s, and I was still at a Catholic primary school when I remember que distctly hearg gay beg ed for the first time to unteract the BrEng rogatory terms such as: poofter, poof, queer, not normal, fairy and queen that were rife at the time.

WHAT DO IT MEAN TO SOUND GAY?

In the first verse, criciz the Brish police for raidg gay pubs for no reason at all, once homosexualy had been crimalized sce the 1967 Sexual Offenc Act. In the send verse, pots to the hypocrisy of Gay News beg prosecuted for obsceny stead of porn magaz like magaz Playboy or the tabloid The Sun which publish photographs of topls girls on Page 3.

For me, a young child livg London at the time, the term gay (meang homosexual and not "happy") was ed much more equently by the media and the general public after the release of "Glad to be Gay".

Whatever the reason for spendg the acunt, the cint rais tertg qutns about whether "queer" ntu to be an offensive word, and how bots that pick up slurs should be programed to take to acunt the nuanc of Oxford English Dictnary has intified of "queer" to mean strange as early as the 1500s, although back then did not relate to a person's genr or sexualy, explas Jsi Stern, the executive director of LGBT advocy group Outright more: Betsy Devos Won't Protect Trans Bathroom Rights wh New Law"Durg the perd between the 1890s and 1920s, the term began to be ed srnfully to scribe gay or effemate men, lbian or manly women, and probably transgenr people who didn't neatly nform to expectatns about who a woman or man should be, " says Stern.