Gay Defn & Meang - Merriam-Webster

Contents:

• GAY
• THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”
• QUEER VS. GAY: HOW THE WORDS ARE DIFFERENT, AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
• GAY (ADJ.)
• MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH
• SYNONYMS OF GAY
• GAY (HOMOSEXUAL) AND GAY (HAPPY)
• THE ORIGS OF THE WORD ‘GAY’

GAY

That same year, Pieters beme a natnal spokperson for AIDS awarens and gay polil activism after his historic terview wh televangelist Tammy Faye on her broadst, which fied the work's homophobic tennci. Rapoe, who is gay, is an outspoken advote for LGBTQ+ rights and was a lear the natnal team’s fight for genr equaly, which paid off last year when U.

Biren, also known as JEB, were leadg figur gay and lbian movements the District and surroundg areas.

Jenna Lyons, the first openly gay hoewife, and Jsel Taank, the first Indian hoewife, jo the diverse st tend to better reprent all of the different kds of New Yorkers.

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”

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

QUEER VS. GAY: HOW THE WORDS ARE DIFFERENT, AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

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 (ADJ.)

“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. 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.

MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH

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.

Only sce the begng of the 20th century has queer been ed to refer to people who intify as gay or lbian. 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.

SYNONYMS OF GAY

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

GAY (HOMOSEXUAL) AND GAY (HAPPY)

The term homosexual agenda is ed by anti-gay extremists to create a climate of fear and mistst. It’s sometim ed as a disparagg way to scribe the recment of heterosexuals to a homosexual liftyle. 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. People aware of this former tegorizatn feel that the term homosexual still rri a negative nnotatn.

THE ORIGS OF THE WORD ‘GAY’

” 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. 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). They attempted to arrt the gay and trans bar patrons, which started a seri of protts agast the police.

Partially rponse to Stonewall, 1970, queer activists New York Cy anized a march to Central Park wh the theme “Gay Pri. 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.

Queer was seen as a way to refer to gays and lbians whout beg genr-sentialist or g divisns wh the muny. ? SummaryIn the ntext of LGBTQ+ inty, the word gay is typilly ed reference to a person who is sexually and/or romantilly attracted to people of their own sex or genr.

Some people may intify as both gay and queer, though others may e only one of the terms or a different term altogether. In this article, we will expla how the terms gay and queer are ed differently the ntext of sexualy and genr inty.