What Do We Mean By "Gay"Anyway?

[+ quoththeraven]

I have always taken it to mean of or pertaining to men who are exclusively attracted to men sexually and or romantically. Those who aren't exclusively attracted to men are bi or pansexual. It also doesn't mean "lesbian" to me unless used as an adjective, as in "gay women." This seems to be the general public's understanding of the term.

 

I've seen it used and interpreted here in a manner that more closely resembles what's covered by the term "queer" -- the whole panoply of gender and sex-variant (or to put it another way, non-heteronormative) folks covered by LGBTQIA. Can anyone explain why this is?

[body2body]

The term gay in the 17th century was associated with female prostitutes, and men who frequented female prostitutes. It was associated with licentious immoral behavior. In the 1920s and 30s same sex attracted men began referring to themselves as gay. It was our term for ourselves as opposed to queer, pansy, faggot, etc. which were all used as pregorative descriptions of us by the dominant heterosexual culture. Sexual orientation is an always has been fluid. Kinsey used a 1 -6 scale. 1 exclusively hetero, 6 exclusively homo. I consider myself gay. One of my best friends describes me as " gay as pink gingham", but I have had sex with women on 3 occasions during my adult life. I think there a few absolutes where sexuality is concerned. I do think that gay is now used to describe same sex attraction whether m-m, or w-w, although I know one Lesbian who detests the term gay woman because it is a term with its origins in male homosexual culture.

[+ honcho]

I've seen it used and interpreted here in a manner that more closely resembles what's covered by the term "queer" -- the whole panoply of gender and sex-variant (or to put it another way, non-heteronormative) folks covered by LGBTQIA. Can anyone explain why this is?

 

My impression is that's historical usage; a number of us are of "a certain age" and may be reverting

to the practice of our youths.

 

When I was coming out in the early 70's, the use of "Queer" for "non-heteronormative" was primarily

by hyper-activist folks, in much the same way that activist blacks re-appropriated the term "nigger".