Origins of 'gay'

The Core RPGC Main Forum
1

Well, not the word, the connotation of homosexuality it has nowadays. All I’ve been able to dig up is it started sometime in the late nineteenth century, but for what, I’m not sure, and my source isn’t entirely reliable.

2

Long ago…in the mists of time…there was a great battle between man and god… the results of that battle…are shrouded in mist…but one thing is for certain… it was THE ORIGIN OF GAY! Coming soon to a PS2 near you, The Legacy of Cala: Origin of the Gay.

3

hahahahahahahaha… omg… you’re an asshole

4

lmao XD

5

“mind if i stick my penis in your anus and see what happens?”
“no”

and thus the gay was born

6

… Oh, fuck you all. Mods, just lock this since it won’t see anything remotely intelligent.

7

Something about the way gay people always seemed happy…

8

I am such an asshole :stuck_out_tongue:

9

Homosexuality was around way before the 19th century, many of the Greeks practiced it back in biblical times.

10

yeah, homosexuality is pretty old.

11

… Gee, thanks for reading. I want to know the origins of the connotation of homosexuality in the word ‘gay.’ Not when homosexuality started, but when it was first associated with ‘gay.’

12

Cala asked for the origin of the WORD gay when used to mean homosexual. I’ll keep this open for a while to see if someone comes up with anything, but if more crap keeps coming in, I’ll close it.

Orian, Pierson, don’t do this kinda shit. You guys are both warned.

13

One of the dictionary.com definitions said gay was first used to mean homosexual by homosexuals themselves.

14

Ah so it was the word, I was confused when he said it was not the word.

15

Now I don’t have anything to back it up, but it might be because people felt that a stereotypical homosexual acts is always gay, in the old sense of the word. Maybe they used it to describe themselves as a defense against their actions. Then, heterosexuals would not go near the word, in fear that someone might consider them a homosexual.

16

Taran, what do you mean ‘old sense of the word’? And why would they use ‘gay’ to defend themselves? What exactly does it do for them?

17
18

Y’know, for someone who uses Wikipedia quite often, you’d think I’d look there for this. >.>

Thanks Klez. But I still ask why. Why did it become associated with homosexuality? Was it just randomly chosen?

19

The wiki has an interesting article on the subject;

I think it’s one of those things that just, y’know, happen.

20

Read Cless’s post. It makes more sense, but mine says the same thing. Basically…