Gay and Lbian Language on JSTOR

Contents:

• THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
• GAY SLANG 101
• LEARNG GAY LGO: A STARTER GUI!
• POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE
• SWARDSPEAK: THE COLORFUL LANGUAGE OF THE FILIPO GAY COMMUNY
• GAY SLANG: A SECRET LANGUAGE THAT BEGAN AS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE
• GAY
• THE 'GAY' WORD: WHAT DO MEAN WHEN YOUNG PEOPLE E NEGATIVELY?

THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN

GLAAD prefers that we don’t e the term homosexual bee ’s “aggrsively ed by anti-gay extremists to suggt that gay people are somehow diseased or psychologilly/emotnally disorred. Bee suggts that beg lbian, gay, bisexual, or of another sexual orientatn is a choice and the person n be “cured. It’s OK to scribe someone you know who publicly self-intifi as gay, lbian, bisexual, or another sexual orientatn as out.

But, people who are gay, lbian, bisexual, or transgenr also re about a wi variety of other polil, social, and cultural issu. 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.

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.

GAY SLANG 101

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.

LEARNG GAY LGO: A STARTER GUI!

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. () Wh a transgenr woman  Congrs and the immense populary of shows like Queer Eye and RuPl's Drag Race, gay culture is currently at the foreont of mastream Filipo nscns a way has never been before. Provg jt how funny the evolutn of language n be, achoo is the newt eratn of the classic beki term "pamta, " which refers to gay men who seem like they're straight.

POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE

Vada (“look at”), dolly eek (a pretty face), and chicken (a young guy) are all words om the lexin of Polari, a secret language ed by gay men Bra at a time when homosexualy was illegal. In the 1930s was spoken among the theater typ of the Wt End, om which crossed over to the cy’s gay pubs, gag s stat as the secret language of gay men.

SWARDSPEAK: THE COLORFUL LANGUAGE OF THE FILIPO GAY COMMUNY

In England, homosexualy was officially nsired a crime until 1967, when the Sexual Offenc Act legalized private “homosexual acts” between nsentg adults over 21. ) The Act me a after the ernment’s Wolfenn Report, which igned bate by remendg the partial crimalizatn of homosexual acts.

Durg the terim years, when beg openly non-straight brought the risks of social isolatn and crimal prosecutn, Polari provid gay men wh a subtle way to fd one another for pannship and sex. The Hidn History of Gay Life at Sea, Pl Baker and Jo Stanley wre that Polari played a role “allowg gay men to nstct a humoroly performative inty for themselv. In the late ‘60s, as gay liberatn groups were fightg for regnn and equaly, Polari h mastream Brish pop-culture the form of Julian and Sandy, two flamboyant, not-officially-but-pretty-obvly gay characters on a BBC rad show lled Round the Horne.

Julian and Sandy prented a nundm: as lovable gay characters on a very popular show, they enared themselv to Brish dienc an era of homophobia.

GAY SLANG: A SECRET LANGUAGE THAT BEGAN AS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE

By the early ‘70s, as LGBT groups fought for rights beyond those granted by the 1967 Sexual Offenc Act, the image of the mp gay man had bee the target of ire.

Many who were lobbyg for sexual equaly, says Dolan, “felt was about gay people prentg themselv as jt ordary folks. When Ecclton and Fairbairn posted the film onle, they were surprised by the enthiastic rponse—and the level of fascatn wh Polari, this myster, cipherable “gay language.

“The kds of nts still exist where opprsn is still entrenched, ” says Ecclton, cg Swardspeak, a language based on English and Tagalog that is ed among gay men the Philipp. Dolan brgs up the pot that gay men shouldn’t have to be “straight-actg” orr to be accepted: “Might not be more fun to embrace a b more mp and actually have fun wh ourselv and wh each other?

GAY

Many untri around the world have their own versn of queer slang, om Brish gay slang rived om the rhymg slang Polari to beki – the Philipp’ queer language that borrows om a slew of sourc, cludg pop culture, Japane, Spanish, and the untry’s lol languag. But the Onle Slang Dictnary c 1960s gay male culture as the earlit known source, particularly rtoonist Joe Johnson’s characters “Miss Thg” and “Big Dick”, which appeared early issu of The Advote.

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

Homosexualy remaed illegal across the Uned Stat the mid-twentieth century – that is, until Illois beme the first state to crimalize same-sex relatns 1962. In the 60s and 70s, gay men even had a “hanky ” – a system that volved wearg bandanas wh lors that signified whether you were a top, bottom, to BDSM, etc.

Judy Garland, who played Dorothy the film, was also a queer in who patronized gay bars and often surround herself wh queer iends. In the 60s, Lesch was the print of a gay rights anizatn lled the Mattache Society and me up wh the “Sip-In” – a monstratn held at New York Cy bars that banned service to out gay people.

Lesch scribed nti as “agg or middle-aged homosexuals, offtim effemate character” and people of “settled meanor who utns agast temperate acts”.

Another siar term, “light the loafers”, is a somewhat rogatory phrase that is ed to scribe someone who acts or appears to be gay. The drag fai beme a refuge for gay, trans, and genr non-nformg youth who were turned away by their own fai or experienced homelsns due to poverty.

Wh words like "sha, " "tea, " and "kiki" proment queer culture, sometim feels like 's impossible for straights to unrstand gays... The "secret language" was ed heavily by gays the circ, navy, and theater, and arose out of the need to discs gay matters unr a clever guise, due to homosexual acts beg illegal Bra until the passage of the Sexual Offens Act 1967.