Dick Lesch’s Gui to Seventi Gay Slang | The New Yorker

Contents:

• POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE
• HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
• THE 200-YEAR-OLD DIARY THAT'S REWRG GAY HISTORY
• 12 SLANG WORDS FOR GAY – USE THE TERMS TO ADDRS THEM!
• GAY SLANG 101
• GAY SLANG: A SECRET LANGUAGE THAT BEGAN AS AN ACT OF DEFIANCE
• DICK LESCH’S GUI TO SEVENTI GAY SLANG
• GAY BRA GLOSSARY
• GAY (ADJ.)

POLARI: THE LANGUAGE GAY MEN ED TO SURVIVE

”That may seem like a strg of nonsense words om Dr Sss’s The Cat the Hat or Anthony Burgs’s A Clockwork Orange but ’s a real-life greetg gay men the UK would say to each other the 1950s and 60s. To avoid imprisonment, gay men ed Polari, a language that the Oxford English Dictnary says is “ma up of Italianate phras, rhymg slang and nt terms.

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.

” 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).

HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI

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. By the mid-1920s, at the height of the Prohibn era, they were attractg as many as 7, 000 people of var rac and social class—gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr and straight alike. 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.

By the 1920s, gay men had tablished a prence Harlem and the bohemian mec of Greenwich Village (as well as the seedier environs of Tim Square), and the cy’s first lbian enclav had appeared Harlem and the Village. Each gay enclave, wrote Gee Chncey his book Gay New York: Genr, Urban Culture, and the Makg of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940, had a different class and ethnic character, cultural style and public reputatn. Gay Life the Jazz AgeAs the Uned Stat entered an era of unprecented enomic growth and prospery the years after World War I, cultural mor loosened and a new spir of sexual eedom reigned.

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

Though New York Cy may have been the epicenter of the so-lled "Pansy Craze, " gay, lbian and transgenr performers graced the stag of nightspots ci all over the untry.

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

”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. ” The sale of liquor was legal aga, but newly enforced laws and regulatns prohibed rtrants and bars om hirg gay employe or even servg gay patrons.

In the mid- to late ‘30s, Heap pots out, a wave of sensatnalized sex crim “provoked hysteria about sex crimals, who were often— the md of the public and the md of thori—equated wh gay men.

” 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. 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.

GAY SLANG 101

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. "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.

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

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. Don’t worry; you’re not help you keep up wh the nstantly evolvg language, we have piled a list of mon slang words for scribg homosexualy.

Whether you’re g them ironilly or scerely, slang words for gay dividuals are a way to exprs sir knowledge and bsh up on your termology and get ready to add some flavor to your nversatns.

DICK LESCH’S GUI TO SEVENTI GAY SLANG

Referrg to a feme gay person, Lola is a term that feels both affectnate and ’s a name that njur up imag of fabulons, wh sparkly drs and high heels that uld kill. 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.

So next time you hear someone g slang words for gay people, remember that language is fluid and has the power to hurt or ’s choose our words wisely and aim for clivy for all.

The e of rogatory slang words for gay people has been a dark cloud over the LGBTQ+ muny for such term that olr generatns have ed is “basket.

GAY BRA GLOSSARY

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.

Its name has taken on a new meang morn-day ed by gay men to refer to themselv, the term u fly is an tertg addn to the expandg vobulary of slang words for 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.

GAY (ADJ.)

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.

Slang words for gay vary om culture to culture, but one thg they all have mon is their slang allows LGBTQ+ people to show pri who they are. 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! To expand the rults, click one of the above tegori.homosexual, homosexual personThere are no tegori unrneath this one.This tegory is also filed unr:Thgs → sexualy (related to).