I know it used to mean happy and such.
But, did it come from a 'rainbow' coloured flag?
How 'gay' the colours are?
Hmm?
2007-12-27 03:56:26 · 19 answers · asked by Traci, yo. 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
The word gay was associated with flamboyance and style, hence "Don we now our gay apparel" (from the song "Deck the Halls"), "gay nineties" (1890s) and "gay Paris" in the late 1800s.
Oscar Wilde was the epitome of gay. After it became publicly known that Wilde was homosexual in 1895, the word began to have a sexual undertone.
By the 1920s it was being used to describe homosexuals, mostly among homosexuals themselves or those sympathetic to homosexuals.
In the 1960s, the word became more commonly used among the general population and by the 1970s was the term was widely used to refer to homosexual people.
2007-12-27 04:25:47 · answer #1 · answered by χριστοφορος ▽ 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The first Rainbow Flag was designed in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco artist, who created the flag in response to a local activist’s call for the need of a community symbol. (This was before the pink triangle was popularly used as a symbol of pride.) Using the five-striped “Flag of the Race” as his inspiration, Baker designed a flag with eight stripes. Baker dyed and sewed the material for the first flag himself — in the true spirit of Betsy Ross.
2007-12-27 12:32:33 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
The rainbow flag is a very modern invention. The word originated from the Old French 'gai' which meant carefree, happy or uninhibited.
2007-12-27 12:01:53 · answer #3 · answered by Nine 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
he first name Gay is still occasionally encountered, usually as a female name although the spelling is often altered to Gaye. (795th most common in the United States, according to the 1990 US census). It was also used as a male first name. The first name of the popular male Irish television presenter Gabriel Byrne was always abbreviated as "Gay", as in the title of his radio show The Gay Byrne Show. It can also be used as a short form of the female name Gaynell and as a short form of the male names Gaylen and Gaylord. The "Gaiety" was also a common name for places of entertainment. One of Oscar Wilde's favourite venues in Dublin was the Gaiety Theatre.
2007-12-27 12:28:02 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because a long time ago, gay was sterotyped as too happy. Gay people were always "happy happy people"
2007-12-27 11:59:07 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Well, according to my history teacher;
The word "gay" used to mean light hearted.
It then changed by people that are "gay" calling themselves it.
Then through "street" it evolved its meaning to a deregitory meaning.
2007-12-27 12:01:12 · answer #6 · answered by Matt K 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Happy.
2007-12-27 11:59:40 · answer #7 · answered by ♥HAZEL♥F♥BABii♥ 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It came from the word "gai" in the Provencal language.
2007-12-27 11:58:40 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
OMG, the other answers are so funny. I don't know where it came from, but of all the other words in the dictionary to discribe, homosexuals, gays fits pretty good...
2007-12-27 12:19:16 · answer #9 · answered by Lupe S 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
In the fifties, they refered to homosexuals as "funny"
(meaning funny sex preferences) then it evolved to Gay.
2007-12-27 12:00:27 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋