Can the word gay be used for women
What Does "Gay" Mean?
There is not one right answer
Many educators are unsure how to respond when a student asks you what does same-sex attracted mean. It is better to attempt to answer than to respond with silence or evade the question.
Practice diverse responses with colleagues, just as you practice other things that you long for to learn. Figure out what you feel comfortable saying.
Responses will vary by age and developmental stage of the student. Your comfort in answering these questions will position a welcoming tone in your class and school community.
Keep it simple
An respond can be as simple as: “‘Gay’ means two people of the alike gender who admire each other – two women or two men.” Experiment to answer the question honestly without overloading a learner with information. Throughout elementary school a student’s ability to understand what “gay” means and what your explanation means may increase with development.
Focus on care for and relationships
A discussion with elementary-age students about the meanings of “gay” or “lesbian” is a discussion about cherish and relationships. You can just clarify that people affectionate each other in different ways. Some women love and want to be partners
Glossary of Terms: LGBTQ
Definitions were drafted in collaboration with other U.S.-based LGBTQ society organizations and leaders. Observe acknowledgements section.
Additional terms and definitions about gender identity and gender statement, transgender people, and nonbinary people are available in the Transgender Glossary.
Are we missing a term or is a definition outdated? Email press@glaad.org
*NOTE: Ask people what terms they exploit to describe their sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression before assigning them a label. Outside of acronyms, these terms should only be capitalized when used at the beginning of a sentence.
LGBTQ
Acronym for woman loving woman, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. The Q generally stands for queer when LGBTQ organizations, leaders, and media use the acronym. In settings offering assist for youth, it can also stand for questioning. LGBT and LGBTQ+ are also used, with the + added in recognition of all non-straight, non-cisgender identities. (See Transgender Glossary ) Both are acceptable, as are other versions of this acronym. The term “gay community” should be avoided, as it does not accuratel
by Jordan Redman
Staff Writer
Do you understand what the synonyms gay really means?
The word gay dates back to the 12th century and comes from the Old French “gai,” meaning “full of joy or mirth.” It may also relate to the Old High German “gahi,” meaning impulsive.
For centuries, gay was used commonly in speech and literature to mean joyful, carefree, bright and showy, and did not take on any sexual essence until the 1600s.
At that time the meaning of homosexual as carefree evolved to imply that a person was unrestrained by morals and prone to decadence and promiscuity. A prostitute might have been described as a “gay woman” and a womanizer as a “gay man.”
“Gay house” was commonly used to refer to a brothel and, later, “gaiety” was used as a common name for certain places of entertainment.
In the 1890s, the term “gey cat” (a Scottish variant of gay) was used to describe a vagrant who offered sexual services to women or a adolescent traveler who was new to the road and in the company of an older man.
This latter use suggests that the younger man was in a sexually following role and may be among the first times that gay was used implying a gay relationship.
In 1951, same-sex attracted appeared in the
(Image credit: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
If you're a member of a stigmatized group, such as a person of color or a lgbtq+ man or woman, even the smallest of chat can be fraught with small discomforts, slights, and aggressions.
Such casual offenses call for not be intentional. Indeed, they often aren't.
For example, consider the word "homosexual," which Jeremy Peters writes "probably sounds inoffensive" to most people. I am a straight man who considers myself to be politically aligned with the struggles of gay men and women, and I frequently use the word (including just last night). I was surprised then to learn that the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) listed it as an disgusting term back in 2006.
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LGBTQIA+ Slurs and Slang
bog queen
Synonyms: Bathsheba (composition between bathroom and Sheba to create a name reminiscent of the Queen of Sheba), Ghost (50s, ghost, because they wander the corridors of the bathroom).