The history of the word “gay” | The Gayly

Contents:

• GAY OLD TIME
• THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”
• GAY OLD TIME ED MEANG
• THE OLST GAYS HISTORY
• OUTRAGE OVER THE FLTSTON “GAY OLD TIME”
• GAY MEN AND AGG
• HAVE A GAY OLD TIME
• 6 - SEX AND OLR GAY MEN
• THEY LIVED A 'DOUBLE LIFE' FOR S. NOW, THE GAY ELRS ARE TELLG THEIR STORI.

GAY OLD TIME

The word gay dat back to the 12th century and om the Old French “gai, ” meang “full of joy or mirth. 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.

At that time the meang of gay as reee evolved to imply that a person was unrtraed by morals and prone to nce and promiscuy. “Gay hoe” was monly ed to refer to a brothel and, later, “gaiety” was ed as a mon name for certa plac of entertament. 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.

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”

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. As part of the curriculum, Unheard Voic featur a sectn on the word “gay, ” s history and how to e the word properly.

Unheard Voic released a seri of statements ma by stunts around the Uned Stat on the phrase “that’s gay. The term gay is equently ed as a synonym for homosexual; female homosexualy is often referred to as different tim and different cultur, homosexual behavur has been varly approved of, tolerated, punished, and banned.

GAY OLD TIME ED MEANG

Homosexualy was not unmon ancient Greece and Rome, and the relatnships between adult and adolcent mal particular have bee a chief foc of Wtern classicists recent years. Others—om factns wh mastream Prottantism to anizatns of Reform rabbis—have advoted, on theologil as well as social grounds, the full acceptance of homosexuals and their relatnships. Morn velopments Attus toward homosexualy are generally flux, partially as a rult of creased polil activism (see gay rights movement) and efforts by homosexuals to be seen not as aberrant personali but as differg om “normal” dividuals only their sexual orientatn.

The nflictg views of homosexualy—as a variant but normal human sexual behavur on one hand, and as psychologilly viant behavur on the other—rema prent most societi the 21st century, but they have been largely rolved ( the profsnal sense) most veloped untri.

The Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, for example, classified “ego-syntonic homosexualy” (the ndn of a person ntent wh his or her homosexualy) as a mental illns 1973. Nohels, some relig groups ntue to emphasize reparative therapy the attempt to “cure” homosexualy through prayer, unselg, and behavur modifitn.

THE OLST GAYS HISTORY

Selected theori of homosexualy Psychologists the 19th and 20th centuri, most of whom classified homosexualy as a form of mental illns, veloped a variety of theori on s orig.

OUTRAGE OVER THE FLTSTON “GAY OLD TIME”

It is likely that many stanc of homosexualy rult om a batn of born or nstutnal factors and environmental or social fluenc. Together wh a growg acceptance of homosexualy as a mon exprsn of human sexualy, long-standg beliefs about homosexuals had begun to lose crence. The stereotyp of male homosexuals as weak and effemate and lbians as mascule and aggrsive, which were wispread the Wt as recently as the 1950s and early ’60s, have largely been disrd.

) Rearchers such as Aled Ksey reported that homosexual activy was a equent pattern adolcence, among both mal and femal.

The Ksey report of 1948, for example, found that 30 percent of adult Amerin mal among Ksey’s subjects had engaged some homosexual activy and that 10 percent reported that their sexual practice had been exclively homosexual for a perd of at least three years between the ag of 16 and 55. A range of more recent surveys, ncerng predomantly homosexual behavur as well as same-genr sexual ntact adulthood, have yield rults that are both higher and lower than those intified by Ksey.

GAY MEN AND AGG

Instead of tegorizg people absolute terms as eher homosexual or heterosexual, Ksey observed a spectm of sexual activy, of which exclive orientatns of eher type make up the extrem. Suatnal homosexual activy tends to occur environments such as prisons, where there are no opportuni for heterosexual ntact. Although the topic of homosexualy was ltle discsed the public fom durg the early part of the 20th century, beme a polil issue many Wtern untri durg the late 20th century.

This was particularly te the Uned Stat, where the gay rights movement is often seen as a late offshoot of var civil rights movements of the 1960s. After the 1969 Stonewall rts, which New York Cy policemen raid a gay bar and met wh staed ristance, many homosexuals were embolned to intify themselv as gay men or lbians to iends, to relativ, and even to the public at large.

In much of North Ameri and wtern Europe, the heterosexual populatn beme aware of gay and lbian muni for the first time. Many gay men and lbians began to mand equal treatment employment practic, hog, and public policy.

HAVE A GAY OLD TIME

In rponse to their activism, many jurisdictns enacted laws banng discrimatn agast homosexuals, and an creasg number of employers Ameri and European untri agreed to offer “domtic partner” benefs siar to the health re, life surance and, some s, pensn benefs available to heterosexual married upl.

Although ndns for gay people had generally improved most of Europe and North Ameri at the turn of the 21st century, elsewhere the world vlence agast gay people ntued. Gay stunts at Jamai’s Northern Caribbean Universy were beaten, and an anti-gay group Brazil by the name of Arda Corao (“Wake Up, Dear”) was blamed for murrg several gay people.

In Ecuador a gay rights group lled Quogay received so much threateng e-mail that was given support by Amnty Internatnal.

6 - SEX AND OLR GAY MEN

Even parts of the world where physil vlence is absent, tolerance of homosexualy often persists. In one such stance, Albania repealed s sodomy statut 1995, and gay upl Amsterdam 2001 were legally married unr the same laws that ern heterosexual marriage (rather than unr laws that allowed them to “register” or form “domtic” partnerships). In the late 20th century gay men and lbians proudly revealed their sexual orientatn creasg numbers.

Still others, notably those the public eye, had their sexual orientatn revealed the media and agast their will by activists eher for or agast gay rights—a ntroversial practice known as “outg.

” One of the issu that loomed largt for gay men the last two s of the 20th century and beyond was AIDS. Elsewhere the world AIDS was transmted prcipally by heterosexual sex, but the Uned Stat and some European centr was particularly prevalent urban gay muni. As a rult homosexuals were at the foreont of advocy for rearch to the disease and support for s victims through groups such as Gay Men’s Health Crisis New York Cy.

THEY LIVED A 'DOUBLE LIFE' FOR S. NOW, THE GAY ELRS ARE TELLG THEIR STORI.

The disease also took a heavy toll on the arts muni the centr, and virtually none of the artistic output of gay men the late 20th century was untouched by the topic and the sense of great loss. However, most shared wh gay men the sire to have a secure place the world muny at large, unchallenged by the fear of vlence, the stggle for equal treatment unr the law, the attempt to silence, and any other form of civil behavur that impos send-class article was most recently revised and updated by Alison Eldridge.

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. 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.