2006-11-19 23:57:29 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
I don't know I am homosexual but I do not identify as gay.
2006-11-19 23:59:33 · answer #1 · answered by ♂ Randy W. ♂ 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
The word is from the OF "gai" meaning "happy or "carefree", in time the "carefree" acquired a connotation of meaning "not caring about morality" and acquired a sexual meaning. By the 1890s it was a common euphemism for heterosexual extra-marital behavior, hence "Gay Lothario", "Gay Paris", or "Gay 90s". "Gay Woman" was a common term for prostitute. It was first used to refer to homosexual people in the 1920s by Alice B. Toklas and Noel Coward. In the 50s, with the start of the Gay Civil Rights Movement, a word was needed other than "homosexual" since that was still considered medically to be a form of mental illness. Other terms, like f*gg*t or qu**r, were considered offensive so they went with "gay". By the mid 60s it had become mainstream, though as an adjective, not a noun, as in "A gay man or woman" rather than simply "A gay". Due to the common tendency of many people to define someones sexuality as the whole of their being, it later became a noun, just as "homosexual" had. In 1975 the American Psychological & Psychiatric Associations removed homosexuality from their list of mental disorders, establishing it as a normal and healthy form of sexuality, something they also did with BDSM in '87, but by then the term was well established and in common use. Trying to change it then would have been a waste of time and effort.
2006-11-20 13:41:28 · answer #2 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When homosexual became happy with themselves, (they except such a word and used it, as it was not always a preferred word through out history, now it is)
search the internet it was used for many centuries. As early as 1637 the Oxford English Dictionary, In the 1800s the term was used to refer to female prostitutes, By 1935 the word "geycat," meaning a homosexual boy, by 1955 "gay" had acquired its present meaning
2006-11-20 08:07:06 · answer #3 · answered by southernboy 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
By the early 1960's "Gay" was commonluy used and well established in literary circles as an adjective for homesexuals and homosexual behavior.
2006-11-20 08:24:29 · answer #4 · answered by Mike 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Interesting question. I don't know the answer, but with the word "gay" meaning happy is contrary to what I have heard from homosexuals. Over the years (20+), I have heard many express their unhappiness with being homosexual. That is if a person believes they are born that way; I do.
2006-11-20 08:12:00 · answer #5 · answered by candace b 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
When heterosexuals started calling themselves straight.
2006-11-20 07:59:47 · answer #6 · answered by DS 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When they got "happy" about their preference?
2006-11-20 09:32:23 · answer #7 · answered by Republican!!! 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When we got happy. :)
2006-11-21 07:48:36 · answer #8 · answered by spiritcavegrl 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋