Which pretty much ended the casual use of the word to mean "carefree. For decades the word "gay" had been used among homosexual men as a non-insulting euphemism, so in the mid-50's this word was adopted as a direct term of identity.Īfter Stonewall and the start of the modern gay rights movement in 1969, the use of the word "gay" to directly mean "homosexual man" (and later both men and women) became public knowledge. Within these groups, there was a desire for a new word to identify themselves with that was neither a slur ("sodomite" and etc), nor pathologizing ("homosexual" was a psychiatric diagnosis of mental illness). In the mid-50's, gay people had started to organize and develop a sense of group identity. There was no non-degrading term for homosexual at the time. To call a man "gay" to imply he was homosexual was a bit like saying he was "artistic" in the same manner, or to say a woman was "sporty" to imply she was lesbian. The ongoing association with "bright and showy" clothing also became associated with frivolity and femininity in men.īut at the same time, the word also continued to be used casually to just mean carefree or joyous. A promiscuous man might be euphemistically called a "gay lothario" a prostitute might be called a "gay woman," a brothel called a "gay house."īy the 1920's the euphemistic use of the word had started to shift from implying sexual promiscuity in general, to specifically gay sex when the word was applied to men. The word became associated with illicit sex and prostitution. Often euphemistically: Of loose and immoral life”. Once you experience the swiftness and ease-of-use SwordSearcher gives you right on your own computer, combined with the most powerful search features available, you will never want to use the web to do online study again. Adjective (of a person) Possessing sexual and/or romantic attraction towards people one perceives to be the same sex or gender as oneself. Oxford dictionary at the time changed its definition of the word to include "addicted to pleasures and dissipations. For a complete Scripture study system, try SwordSearcher Bible Software, which includes the unabridged version of this dictionary. Not until 1969 did that meaning begin to take over.
![gay definition happy gay definition happy](https://i.redd.it/3xva6zc4gt211.jpg)
In the world's earliest meanings, going back to the 12th centry, it meant joyful, carefree, uninhibited, bright and showy, etc.īy the early 1800's, the word's implication of uninhibited pleasure had become euphemistically associated with immorality and lack of sexual inhibitions. Gay to mean homosexual was first used in the late 19th century. Gay men had been using the word "gay" as a term of direct self identification since the 50's, but it only entered the common vernacular after Stonewall.
![gay definition happy gay definition happy](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dYVmGO-QjXc/hqdefault.jpg)
Short version: the Stonewall riots and the start of the modern gay rights movement.