Origin of gay = homosexual?

Question

I'm singing a Christian hymn and came across stanza 3: "Do you know how many children Rise each morning blithe and gay?" Wilhelm Hey (1789 - 1854). My dictionary tells me that the primary application of 'gay' is happy. Does that mean that only homosexuals are happy since today, the word gay is equated with homosexuality? I resent that. There are others who are happy, too. When and how did gay start to mean homosexuals?

Answer 1

What about:

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
And the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

Does this mean that all people born on a Sunday are happy or homosexual? Maybe both!

The etymology is explained here:

"GAY"
1178, "full of joy or mirth," from O.Fr. gai "gay, merry," perhaps from Frank. *gahi (cf. O.H.G. wahi "pretty"). Meaning "brilliant, showy" is from c.1300. OED gives 1951 as earliest date for slang meaning "homosexual" (adj.), but this is certainly too late; gey cat "homosexual boy" is attested in N. Erskine's 1933 dictionary of "Underworld & Prison Slang;" the term gey cat (gey is a Scot. variant of gay) was used as far back as 1893 in Amer.Eng. for "young hobo," one who is new on the road and usually in the company of an older tramp, with catamite connotations. But Josiah Flynt ["Tramping With Tramps," 1905] defines gay cat as, "An amateur tramp who works when his begging courage fails him." Gey cats also were said to be tramps who offered sexual services to women. The "Dictionary of American Slang" reports that gay (adj.) was used by homosexuals, among themselves, in this sense since at least 1920. Rawson ["Wicked Words"] notes a male prostitute using gay in reference to male homosexuals (but also to female prostitutes) in London's notorious Cleveland Street Scandal of 1889. Ayto ["20th Century Words"] calls attention to the ambiguous use of the word in the 1868 song "The Gay Young Clerk in the Dry Goods Store," by U.S. female impersonator Will S. Hays. The word gay in the 1890s had an overall tinge of promiscuity -- a gay house was a brothel. The suggestion of immorality in the word can be traced back to 1637. Gay as a noun meaning "a (usually male) homosexual" is attested from 1971

Answer 2

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RE:
Origin of gay = homosexual?
I'm singing a Christian hymn and came across stanza 3: "Do you know how many children Rise each morning blithe and gay?" Wilhelm Hey (1789 - 1854). My dictionary tells me that the primary application of 'gay' is happy. Does that mean that only homosexuals are happy since...

Answer 3

Ok here is the problem! There was atime where you could say someone was gay and that just meant very happy! Now taking mens role in history lets look at at. Ok in the caveman era where the men would go out and bum rush a huge *** animal and then kill it with spears and then skin it and gut it all within a day and then they sliced up the meat to feed the family. Now if there was a caveman on the side who was just jumping up and down and cheering for the cavemen who were slicing the raw meat off of the animal he would be seen as LESS OF A GUY and more towards a woman just because he is cheering and all happy like hooray yes guys c,mon guys you can do it" Well that's kind of what the women do so your problem is not the word gay your problem is during time MEN and probably only MEN determined that a man was gay if he could not handle the manly things that a non gay man handles. It basically just sucks. HOWEVER DO THIS you said you were singing a christian hymn go up to the father at the church and say "father your a great and and you are so gay we really like coming here" and see his reaction :)

Answer 4

Why worry - be happy (gay)!
We are all people, humans first.
Once sexual inclination is of NO interest
to me. Gay (homosexual) or not, why
would it matter as long as you and
they are happy!
I am happy just being me!

Answer 5

Gay means happy. Homo means same so homosexuality means samesex.

Answer 6

It was a 1960s public relation ploy by homosexuals. I guess they got tired of being called ******* and queers, so they wanted to reshape their image to something positive. The word gay was picked. In reality, homosexuals have a higher suicide and drug abuse rate than other groups. It's sad to say but we lost the true meaning of the word.

Answer 7

You have a point.Using the word gay for happy just dont seem right anymore does it

Answer 8

I agree with person above, they chose something positive to cover up the negative act of homosexuality. That's not the only thing they've done. Look at the rainbow, God's sign for peace and a reminder that he'll never flood the earth again....well the queers/homos have taken that sign and applied it to themselves. Once again they push their problems and issues in the public eye with marriage even though marriage is a christian unity between a man and a woman for the sole purpose of pro-creation. And they say we're offensive and discriminating, no its the other way around. I'm not worried though, God will commence his judgement upon the whole world and I know where I'm going.

Answer 9

"GAY" is about the craziest term in the world to equate with homosexuality. I've known many in that category and not a single one is truly happy. They are a miserable people with their lives all messed up and their heads on "tilt" .

Answer 10

You are GAY