How ‘Gay’ Came to Mean ‘Homosexual’

Contents:

• 12 SLANG WORDS FOR GAY – USE THE TERMS TO ADDRS THEM!
• WHAT WERE 1950'S SLANG WORDS FOR GAY?
• FILIPO GAY LGO EXPLAED FOR THE RT OF THE WORLD
• THE CURSE OF AN ATTRACTN TO OLR GAY MEN
• GAY DICTNARY SPANISH
• GOVERNMENT PERSECUTN OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNY IS WISPREADFRANK KAMENY APPEALED HIS 1957 FIRG BY THE U.S. ARMY THE FIRST KNOWN LEGAL PROCEEDGS THAT ED PRO-LGBTQ+ ARGUMENTS. THE 1950S WERE PERILO TIM FOR DIVIDUALS WHO FELL OUTSI OF SOCIETY’S LEGALLY ALLOWED NORMS RELATG TO GENR OR SEXUALY. THERE WERE MANY NAM FOR THE DIVIDUALS, CLUDG THE CLIL “HOMOSEXUAL,” A TERM POPULARIZED BY PNEERG GERMAN PSYCHIATRIST RICHARD VON KRAFFT-EBG. IN THE U.S., PROFSNALS OFTEN ED THE TERM “VERT.” IN THE MID-19TH CENTURY, MANY CI FORMED “VICE SQUADS” AND POLICE OFTEN LABELED THE PEOPLE THEY ARRTED “SEXUAL PERVERTS.” THE ERNMENT’S PREFERRED TERM WAS “VIANT,” WHICH ME WH LEGAL NSEQUENC FOR ANYONE SEEKG A REER PUBLIC SERVICE OR THE ARY. “HOMOPHILE” WAS THE TERM PREFERRED BY SOME EARLY ACTIVISTS, SMALL WORKS OF WOMEN AND MEN WHO YEARNED FOR MUNY AND FOUND CREATIVE WAYS TO RIST LEGAL AND SOCIETAL PERSECUTN. WH DRAFT ELIGIBILY OFFICIALLY LOWERED OM 21 TO 18 1942, WORLD WAR II BROUGHT TOGETHER LNS OF PEOPLE OM AROUND THE UNTRY–MANY OF WHOM WERE LEAVG THEIR HOME STAT FOR THE FIRST TIME–TO FILL THE RANKS OF THE ARY AND THE FERAL WORKFORCE. AMONG THEM WERE GAYS AND LBIANS, WHO QUIETLY FORMED KSHIPS ON ARY BAS AROUND THE WORLD. THEY SERVED SILENCE, ALWAYS FEARFUL THAT REVEALG THEIR INTY TO A POTENTIAL NEW PARTNER OR IEND ULD GET THEM DISHONORABLY DISCHARGED, IF NOT URT MARTIALLED. THE ARY FIRST VELOPED FORMAL PUNISHMENTS FOR HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR DURG WWI, AND OVER TIME VELOPED CREASGLY PROBG MEANS TO ROOT OUT “VIANTS” OM WH AND PREVENT THEM OM ENLISTG. IN 1953, PRINT DWIGHT EISENHOWER IMPLEMENTED NEW STANDARDS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS THAT BANNED HOMOSEXUALS OM SERVG MANY POSNS. THE LAVENR SRE THOANDS OF MEMBERS OF THE ARY AND CIVIL SERVANTS WOULD BE DISMISSED BEE OF L AGAST HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR. A FEW ANECDOT SEEMED TO SUPPORT THE ERNMENT’S REASONG HOMOSEXUALS WERE A GRAVE SECURY THREAT BEE THEY ULD BE BLACKMAILED BY FOREIGN ERNMENTS. THE IA WAS HARD TO UNTER AS FEW HOMOSEXUALS WERE A POSN TO PUBLICLY DISCS THEIR INTY.  IN THE YEARS FOLLOWG WWII, HOMOSEXUALS WERE MORE DIRECTLY TIED TO MUNISM. THE COLD WAR PERD GAVE RISE TO SENATOR JOSEPH MCCARTHY, WHO EXPLICLY TARGETED “VIANTS,” NOT ONLY ERNMENT SERVICE, BUT ALSO HOLLYWOOD AS PART OF A LARGER PROJECT TO RID AMERI OF S UNSIRABLE ELEMENTS. THE HIGHLY PUBLICIZED EFFORT TO RID THE U.S. OF MUNISTS ME TO BE KNOWN AS THE “RED SRE,” WHILE THE EFFORT TO DISMISS HOMOSEXUALS WOULD LATER BE TERMED THE “LAVENR SRE.”THERE WERE NO OUT LGBTQ+ ELECTED OFFICIALS THE ENTIRE UNTRY.PLI MURRAY PUBLISH BOOK OUTLG CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT STRATEGY
• THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN
• LGBPTTQQIIAA+: HOW WE GOT HERE OM GAY
• DICK LESCH’S GUI TO SEVENTI GAY SLANG
• THE HISTORY OF ‘G OUT,’ OM SECRET GAY TO POPULAR POLIL PROTT
• A HANDY GUI TO ALL GAY MEN
• THE GUYSEXUAL’S CY DICTNARY FOR GAY SLANG. WHAT’S THE SHELF LIFE OF A CLEARANCE SALE CLOTHG?THE GUYSEXUAL’S CY DICTNARY FOR GAY SLANG. WHAT’S THE SHELF LIFE OF A CLEARANCE SALE CLOTHG?
• THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY
• HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
• GAY

12 SLANG WORDS FOR GAY – USE THE TERMS TO ADDRS THEM!

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 for those who embrace their queer inty wh open arms, ’s jt one more way to celebrate who we whether you’re a Lola yourself or jt love someone who is, let’s all take a moment to raise a glass to our beloved feme gays. Get ready to meet the Flamg Queen – an over-the-top flamboyant gay man who knows how to turn on the charm and steal the his larger-than-life personaly and lorful wardrobe, the Flamg Queen is the life of the party and a te in the LGBTQ+ muny. However, ’s worth notg that slang words for gay folks have changed over the years and ntue to evolve “u” to “flamer” to “queer, ” the words we e to scribe ourselv and others n be a powerful tool for self-exprsn and let’s embrace the diversy of human sexualy and genr exprsn and leave the bread-based idms behd.

WHAT WERE 1950'S SLANG WORDS FOR GAY?

Many gay men sought refuge and muny wh the Wizard of Oz fanbase, as they intified wh the story’s them of beg an outsir and fdg, to all my iends of Dorothy out there, keep shg like the emerald cy and livg your bt rabow-filled liv! The word “swish” might not sound faiar to some, but ’s a slang term that has been ed for s to scribe a flamboyant man, often wh a gay someone says a man is “swishy, ” means he’s effemate, theatril, and perhaps a b over-the-top his mannerisms.

Instead, when ed wh rpect, embrace, and support, gay slang words n be powerful forms of self-exprsn and the words ntue to evolve along wh the meangs we give them – so keep your ear to the ground if you want to stay the know! Although is not a well-known word and prciple seemed a lolism (sce seems to be ed by the heterosexual men Andalia to refer to a homosexual the closet), the first reference was found the 50s Mexi, the 70s Colombia and Spa the e of flower nam as a phemism or as an sult is also found other languag such as English, wh terms like Daisy, Pansy and Buttercup, whereas Spa the e of generic word “flor” (flower) and s variatns is more equent to pot homosexuals.

Keep md that the Roman Empire the Greek homosexual nstctn system, teacher-pupil, beme the master-slave system, which socially allows men sodomize his slav, and generally, homosexual behavr whenever was active (top anal terurse).

FILIPO GAY LGO EXPLAED FOR THE RT OF THE WORLD

There are two possible explanatns for the orig of the slang, on the one hand there are those who say that om the u bris peach or aprit, which is very easy to open, related to the alleged ease wh which gay men put their butts to be fucked. Although generally appli to the ic, grotque, absurd, funny, etc., relat to homosexualy by the issue we discsed the term Maricón, about the stereotype of sissy, an effemate man, harmls and wh which make fun at his expense.

recent term ed Pe belongg to the LGBT slang, to refer to a kd of gay that a certa sector nsirs “more morn”, discreet, mascule, who n be active (top) anal terurse, as opposed to the feme homosexual, transvte, borrg transsexualy, always passive (bottom) sex, crazy, and probably lookg for mostaceros. the word Can appears the poem by Feri García Lor “Oda a Walt Whman” endg wh a seri of words, or rather sults, we supposed ed to pot gay men of the time: “Faeri Norteaméri, pájaros la Habana, jotos Méji, sarasas Cádiz, aps Sevilla, ns Madrid, floras Alinte, alaidas Portugal”.

THE CURSE OF AN ATTRACTN TO OLR GAY MEN

term for gay men ed Bolivia, probably related to karaoke bars, but we do not know if is related wh homosexualy for beg a ls mascule activy for a particular sector of the untry, or for the karaoke bars type of dience Bolivia, full of gay people. Beg Cásra amarga, is a rogatory idm ed to pot homosexual or effemate man, probably bee is generally applied, faiar form, to people of very advanced ias or nghty and brave, makg a semantic leap to homosexual man pecially if he is an activist. By the time there was a semantic leap and the word Chongo acquired the meang of lover Paraguay, brothel Pe and Ecuador, where also has the meang of meetg or funny and sndalo act (as an y), as well as the top/active man homosexual relatnship, as we have already said, Argenta.

GAY DICTNARY SPANISH

In addn, the two untri and nowadays, Cola is slang for the ass, however, another explanatn, such as the relatnship of the tail wh the penis, should not be disrd sce other languag such as the Danish, the word Svan means tail and is a slang for the penis and is also slang for homosexual man. Word of Mapuche orig, giv s name to a type of th reed and which is also ed wh the sense of agile, skny, wimpy, weak, etc., so is possible that there has been the ual semantic leap om negative characteristics of some men to all gay people, by the mere fact of beg. But whout neglectg the tradnal relatnship of flowers wh the feme and the e of flower nam as slang for homosexual men, such as “Amapolo” Spanish or “Pansy” the English language, is possible that this slang had s orig meangs and of the word flora that go back, at least, to the prev century.

GOVERNMENT PERSECUTN OF THE LGBTQ COMMUNY IS WISPREADFRANK KAMENY APPEALED HIS 1957 FIRG BY THE U.S. ARMY THE FIRST KNOWN LEGAL PROCEEDGS THAT ED PRO-LGBTQ+ ARGUMENTS. THE 1950S WERE PERILO TIM FOR DIVIDUALS WHO FELL OUTSI OF SOCIETY’S LEGALLY ALLOWED NORMS RELATG TO GENR OR SEXUALY. THERE WERE MANY NAM FOR THE DIVIDUALS, CLUDG THE CLIL “HOMOSEXUAL,” A TERM POPULARIZED BY PNEERG GERMAN PSYCHIATRIST RICHARD VON KRAFFT-EBG. IN THE U.S., PROFSNALS OFTEN ED THE TERM “VERT.” IN THE MID-19TH CENTURY, MANY CI FORMED “VICE SQUADS” AND POLICE OFTEN LABELED THE PEOPLE THEY ARRTED “SEXUAL PERVERTS.” THE ERNMENT’S PREFERRED TERM WAS “VIANT,” WHICH ME WH LEGAL NSEQUENC FOR ANYONE SEEKG A REER PUBLIC SERVICE OR THE ARY. “HOMOPHILE” WAS THE TERM PREFERRED BY SOME EARLY ACTIVISTS, SMALL WORKS OF WOMEN AND MEN WHO YEARNED FOR MUNY AND FOUND CREATIVE WAYS TO RIST LEGAL AND SOCIETAL PERSECUTN. WH DRAFT ELIGIBILY OFFICIALLY LOWERED OM 21 TO 18 1942, WORLD WAR II BROUGHT TOGETHER LNS OF PEOPLE OM AROUND THE UNTRY–MANY OF WHOM WERE LEAVG THEIR HOME STAT FOR THE FIRST TIME–TO FILL THE RANKS OF THE ARY AND THE FERAL WORKFORCE. AMONG THEM WERE GAYS AND LBIANS, WHO QUIETLY FORMED KSHIPS ON ARY BAS AROUND THE WORLD. THEY SERVED SILENCE, ALWAYS FEARFUL THAT REVEALG THEIR INTY TO A POTENTIAL NEW PARTNER OR IEND ULD GET THEM DISHONORABLY DISCHARGED, IF NOT URT MARTIALLED. THE ARY FIRST VELOPED FORMAL PUNISHMENTS FOR HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR DURG WWI, AND OVER TIME VELOPED CREASGLY PROBG MEANS TO ROOT OUT “VIANTS” OM WH AND PREVENT THEM OM ENLISTG. IN 1953, PRINT DWIGHT EISENHOWER IMPLEMENTED NEW STANDARDS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS THAT BANNED HOMOSEXUALS OM SERVG MANY POSNS. THE LAVENR SRE THOANDS OF MEMBERS OF THE ARY AND CIVIL SERVANTS WOULD BE DISMISSED BEE OF L AGAST HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVR. A FEW ANECDOT SEEMED TO SUPPORT THE ERNMENT’S REASONG HOMOSEXUALS WERE A GRAVE SECURY THREAT BEE THEY ULD BE BLACKMAILED BY FOREIGN ERNMENTS. THE IA WAS HARD TO UNTER AS FEW HOMOSEXUALS WERE A POSN TO PUBLICLY DISCS THEIR INTY.  IN THE YEARS FOLLOWG WWII, HOMOSEXUALS WERE MORE DIRECTLY TIED TO MUNISM. THE COLD WAR PERD GAVE RISE TO SENATOR JOSEPH MCCARTHY, WHO EXPLICLY TARGETED “VIANTS,” NOT ONLY ERNMENT SERVICE, BUT ALSO HOLLYWOOD AS PART OF A LARGER PROJECT TO RID AMERI OF S UNSIRABLE ELEMENTS. THE HIGHLY PUBLICIZED EFFORT TO RID THE U.S. OF MUNISTS ME TO BE KNOWN AS THE “RED SRE,” WHILE THE EFFORT TO DISMISS HOMOSEXUALS WOULD LATER BE TERMED THE “LAVENR SRE.”THERE WERE NO OUT LGBTQ+ ELECTED OFFICIALS THE ENTIRE UNTRY.PLI MURRAY PUBLISH BOOK OUTLG CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT STRATEGY

Flora, bis referrg to the plant world and the poetic work of a wrer, has also been synonymo wh tenr, soft, etc., and so we fd a publitn of 1868-1869 entled “Los Borbon en Pelota” (Naked Bourbons) a satiril and pornographic work signed by the psdonym SEM and attributed, not whout discsn, to the Bécquer brothers, which was clud a popular song that suated the homosexualy of the Kg nsort Francis Asís Borbón that said th:.

Tenrns, softns, smoothns, general, are characteristics socially attributed to women sce ancient tim and that turn to sults directed agast the men we would today ll homosexuals, agast those who uld be for their effemacy or agast any man you want to sult highlightg his ltle manhood.

THE FOTTEN SECRET LANGUAGE OF GAY MEN

· The most mon theory is that which refers to the Mexin prison the cy of Lecumberry, acrdg to which homosexuals were locked the “J” sectn, although there are also those who say that was bee that sectn were locked the imprisoned by the famo “Dance of the 41”. As on other ocsns, to homosexual man is supposed all sorts of fects so is possible that there has been a semantic leap and has end up beg ed as rogative slang for gay people, as happens for example wh the word Duck. K’ewsa is a term of Quechua / Aymara orig ed Bolivia today wh the pejorative meang of homosexual or effemate man, although we have found translated as a ward, ward who beats women, chue (twisted) and other ems that dite appropriate behavr.

It is a term that has bee the center of the bate on homosexual behavr pre-Columbian societi, between those who argue that homosexualy is imported and therefore ny that the word meant somethg like “homosexual” orig, and those who see the existence of this term, a clear evince to the ntrary. So Macha is an exprsn of 70’s, belongg to the gay slang, to ironilly refer to homosexual man who boasts of excsively virile attus, or durg sex, tak a role of straight man (“suck my ck, give me your ass, nothg more”). Sce the Spanish dictatorship Maricón also was ed, to a greater extent, to refer to homosexual men wh mascule attu, and this greater visibily was precisely that mak the Maricón had ls social acceptance that the Mariqua, more feme, wh whom make fun (cludg sex) and therefore ls dangero.

LGBPTTQQIIAA+: HOW WE GOT HERE OM GAY

Although currently the DRAE retas the meang of effemate man and do not clu the meang of sult to homosexual men, is a fairly mon sult ed agast any man, gay or not, effemate or not, and even as an affectnate joke between macho-man iends.

DICK LESCH’S GUI TO SEVENTI GAY SLANG

There are those who affirm that the relatnship wh the beetle is that mak perforatns (peratns) the rnfields, even that has to do wh the bright lors of the sect relatn to the bright and strint lors of homosexual men, a relatnship that we disrd sce this slang is clearly ed to refer to mascule men. The first wrten reference we have found of the word mayate related to homosexualy is found 1904 a text by Carlos Roumagnac “Crimals Mexi: say of crimal psychology” which talks about mayat and hors as slang exprsns of the prison environment, beg Mayate the men who perform the top role and the hors the men who played the bottom role. In addn to the animal, duck also means a clumsy person, whout grace, that not learns, dumb and teased, and as happens so many sults, the negative characteristics of some men are transferred to homosexual men simply bee they are so.

THE HISTORY OF ‘G OUT,’ OM SECRET GAY TO POPULAR POLIL PROTT

Popularly, homosexualy wh Greek perasty is related, so also, this 1899 edn, the DRAE clus sodome (who ms sodomy) as meang of perast, and f sodomy as “ncúbo between same sex, or agast the natural orr”, to add 2001 “practice of anal terurse “. Fortunately, the 23th edn of the DRAE no longer sets wh their fns the lk between the crimal perast and homosexual man, important issue if we nsir that many untri the word perast, any variant and any word that sounds phoilly siar, are ed to sult and crimalize homosexual men. In any se, the relatnship tablished among birds, female prostutn and male homosexualy has led to a multu of words and exprsns many languag, as Palomo, Palomo Cojo and Mari the se of Spanish language, Petuh the se of Rsian and Feygele Yiddish.

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. For stance, 1978, his mpaign to feat a California iative that would have banned gay teachers om workg state public schools, openly gay elected ernment official Harvey Milk urged people to “Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are. As ttimony of this shift, today, marriage equaly is the law of the land, the popular TV edy “Morn Fay” featur a gay uple and one of the leadg ndidat for the Democratic printial ticket, Pete Buttigieg, is a gay man.

A HANDY GUI TO ALL GAY MEN

Gerard Koskovich, a curator at the The GLBT History Mm  San Francis, remembers when the term LGBT first me about (the 1990s), and has seen spread around the world to scribe lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people. Bee of this, trans activists such as Lou Sullivan, the gay founr of FTM Internatnal, sought out doctors who wouldn’t refe to prcribe hormon or perform genr-reassignment surgery bee of a patient’s sexual orientatn, and today the U. Amy Sueyoshi, associate an of ethnic studi at San Francis State Universy, and Rich Wanl, archivist and historian at the Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr Communy Center NYC, also provid valuable sights for this story.

From the Tony Award wng mil Cabaret, wrten by openly gay lyricist Fred Ebb and openly gay poser John Kanr, based on a book by openly gay wrer Christopher Isherwood, this number, performed by Joel Grey, who publicly me out 2015 at age 82.

THE GUYSEXUAL’S CY DICTNARY FOR GAY SLANG. WHAT’S THE SHELF LIFE OF A CLEARANCE SALE CLOTHG?THE GUYSEXUAL’S CY DICTNARY FOR GAY SLANG. WHAT’S THE SHELF LIFE OF A CLEARANCE SALE CLOTHG?

”In 1959, when Lesch was twenty-four, he left his fay home, Kentucky, for New York Cy, where he found work as a pater, a bartenr, a rator, a journalist, and as the unpaid print of the Mattache Society, one of the first gay-rights anizatns. Photograph by Rebec FudalaNext up was Lesch’s llectn of magaz and newsletters, cludg After Dark (“Oh, bls you—they’re real llector’s ems, ” Bmann said); Christopher Street (“We have the archiv”); Female Mimics (“That’s fabulo”); the 1969 Time issue on homosexualy (“Cute”); and the monthly bullet for the Mattache Society.

Ntie – bear – benr – bottom – bum band – bum chum – bumr – bummer – butch – butt hugger – rpet muncher – tcher – chaser – chickenhawk – chicken hawk – cub – drag kg – dyke – fag – faggot – Fairy – femme – flamer – u – fudge packer – gay – gaylord – girliend – GLBT – hasbian – homo – homo thug – the closet – jobby jabber – lemon – lez – lipstick lbian – mge muncher – mo – nellie – nelly – Peter Puffer – pole smoker – poof – Poofter – power top – puff – queer – shirt lifter – sister – versatile – wasbian.

While you are gay people, you’ll be chock-full of quiri (while you are not full of self-doubt, that is) — but this really is 2018, and a few quiri, while fundamental, — will always be more cril than the take some of the for not unrstand regardls if you are a top or a bottom? Therefore the next time some body rms you they know ‘jt suable twk for sudy logowanie the father charms, ’ right here’s a ltle glossary of gay slang to assist you unrstand what they really a mature, broar hairier man whom unlike his namake, don’t need to hibernate.

THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY

Beefke: a gay man who nearly all of his time at the gym, addnally the remar of they sopg spoonfuls of necsary prote health supplement to his post-workout A bl*wjob, or an dividual really wants to renr a bl*wjob d The receptive sexual mate; often referred to as ‘someone jt who lov g ’ backsi or when someone would like to be lovely regardg the Chaser: a homosexual guy jt who enjoys their sexual upl jt like the guy enjoys his pads – smooth and cuddly. Or an dividual attempts to generate a bl*wjob sound also oler, but fails to fd sual gay sex enunters — ually rtrooms, bars or sometim, actually of the rner streetlight, orr to regret them the day a young type of the Bear, more substantial pared to Otter.

Don’t have anythg regardg the base: a base that acts like he’s a An out-and-proud HIV great man who’s rryg out jt what plenty of men out there aren’t — advisg about his an dividual would like to snort MDMA off your own abdomen a homosexual guy exactly who lov gettg bossed around durg terurse. This means, a gay people who has perhaps not advised any dividual he’s Hockey: If you’re kissg someone th creasgly, maybe ’s a petive The sertg sexual pann; often referred to as ‘someone jt who wants to place ’ a young, smoother, ckier homosexual people.

Image ptn, Claire Pickerg Wakefield library imag the diary wrer speakg a Yorkshire accentA diary wrten by a Yorkshire farmer more than 200 years ago is beg hailed as providg remarkable evince of tolerance towards homosexualy Bra much earlier than prevly imaged. Historians om Oxford Universy have been taken aback to disver that Matthew Tomlson's diary om 1810 ntas such open-md views about same-sex attractn beg a "natural" human diary challeng prenceptns about what "ordary people" thought about homosexualy - showg there was a bate about whether someone really should be discrimated agast for their sexualy.

HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

"In this excg new disvery, we see a Yorkshire farmer argug that homosexualy is nate and somethg that shouldn't be punished by ath, " says Oxford rearcher Eamonn O' ptn, The diari were handwrten by Tomlson the farmhoe where he lived and workedThe historian had been examg Tomlson's handwrten diari, which have been stored Wakefield Library sce the thoands of pag of the private journals have never been transcribed and prevly ed by rearchers terted Tomlson's eye-wns acunts of electns Yorkshire and the Ludd smashg up O'Keeffe me across what seemed, for the era of Gee III, to be a rather startlg set of arguments about same-sex relatnships. Tomlson had been prompted by what had been a big sex sndal of the day - which a well-rpected naval surgeon had been found to be engagg homosexual ptn, Historian Eamonn O'Keeffe says the diari provi a rare sight to the views of "ordary people" the early 1800sA urt martial had orred him to be hanged - but Tomlson seemed unnvced by the cisn, qutng whether what the papers lled an "unnatural act" was really that unnatural. "It mt seem strange ed that God Almighty should make a beg wh such a nature, or such a fect nature; and at the same time make a cree that if that beg whom he had formed, should at any time follow the dictat of that Nature, wh which he was formed, he should be punished wh ath, " he wrote on January 14 there was an "clatn and propensy" for someone to be homosexual om an early age, he wrote, " mt then be nsired as natural, otherwise as a fect nature - and if natural, or a fect nature; seems cel to punish that fect wh ath" diarist mak reference to beg rmed by others that homosexualy is apparent om an early age - suggtg that Tomlson and his social circle had been talkg about this se and discsg somethg that was not unknown to this time, and also Wt Yorkshire, a lol landowner, Anne Lister, was wrg a d diary about her lbian relatnships - wh her story told the televisn seri, Gentleman knowg what "ordary people" really thought about such behavur is always difficult - not least bee the loust survivg voic are ually the wealthy and has exced amics is the chance to eavdrop on an everyday farmer thkg aloud his source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Tomlson was appalled by the levels of rptn durg electns"What's strikg is that he's an ordary guy, he's not a member of the bohemian circl or an tellectual, " says O'Keeffe, a doctoral stunt Oxford's history acceptance of homosexualy might have been exprsed privately aristocratic or philosophilly radil circl - but this was beg discsed by a ral worker.

O'Keeffe says shows ias were "perlatg through Brish society much earlier and more wily than we'd expect" - wh the diary workg through the bat that Tomlson might have been havg wh his the were still far om morn liberal views - and O'Keeffe says they n be extremely "jarrg" someone was homosexual by choice, rather than by nature, Tomlson was ready to nsir that they should still be punished - proposg stratn as a more morate optn than the ath ptn, Tomlson's former home was still there the 1930s (bottom left), but has sce disappeared beneath hog and a golf urseO'Keeffe says disverg evince of the kds of bate has both "enriched and plited" what we know about public opn this pre-Victorian diary is raisg ternatnal Fara Dabhoiwala, om Prceton Universy the US, an expert the history of attus towards sexualy, scrib as "vivid proof" that "historil attus to same-sex behavur uld be more sympathetic than is ually prumed". Instead of seeg homosexualy as a "horrible perversn", Prof Dabholwala says the rerd showed a farmer 1810 uld see as a "natural, dively ordaed human qualy" Norton, an expert gay history, said there had been earlier arguments fendg homosexualy as natural - but the were more likely to be om philosophers than farmers.

GAY

The Begngs of a New Gay World“In the late 19th century, there was an creasgly visible prence of genr-non-nformg men who were engaged sexual relatnships wh other men major Amerin ci, ” says Chad Heap, a profsor of Amerin Studi at Gee Washgton Universy and the thor of Slummg: Sexual and Racial Enunters Amerin Nightlife, 1885-1940. ”At the same time, lbian and gay characters were beg featured a slew of popular “pulp” novels, songs and on Broadway stag (cludg the ntroversial 1926 play The Captive) and Hollywood—at least prr to 1934, when the motn picture dtry began enforcg censorship guil, known as the Hays Co.

” By the post-World War II era, a larger cultural shift toward earlier marriage and suburban livg, the advent of TV and the anti-homosexualy csas champned by Joseph McCarthy would help ph the flowerg of gay culture reprented by the Pansy Craze firmly to the natn’s rear-view mirror.

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.