See, a lot of my experience has been that both of these monikers usually refer to men, though not always. YMMV

Looking on Wikipedia (that definitive fount of accurate knowledge :rolleyes:) under Homosexuality, echos the sentiment that "Gay' is often used for men:So, it looks like I have stumbled across an interesting topic. I am tempted to start a new thread on this, but shall refrain. However, I am interested in further discussion on the topic.

I would be afraid of starting a movement to 'create' a new, male specific moniker for it would surely create a horrible 'safe' word that would be repulsive and nobody would use it.




ETA: another one that should be gender neutral but tends to be applied to men is 'queer'. Is that considered a potentially derogatory term - sort of like it is okay for one homosexual to use when talking to another, but not for breeders to use to describe dem gays? Kind of like a rainbow version of the "N" word?

Queer seems to often be applied also to trans folks, so no, I'm not sure that's entirely a gay male thing

Actually, queer is quickly picking up steam amongst not-strictly-straight youngsters of all genders and persuasions. I like it.



Not more than Gay. I really like Gay. Absolutely, wiki is right - it's mostly referring to men. But it technically applies to anyone who is homosexual. Too bad I never hear gay girls refer to themselves that way.

And, ycch, Lesbian. What an ugly word.
(Quoting from something, but I forget what.)

I think it's really just the fact that no one was really paying much mind to female homosexuality. While the idea of same sex female marriage and relationships shares similar status as between males, it's well established that same sex female sexual encounters do not share the same stigma (and are supported by the same bible that fuels the stigma against same sex male relations). So for most of the history of the words, "gay" and "homosexual" referred to male homosexuality by default, with a cursory nod towards, "Oh, well, yeah, there can be female homos too I guess". "Lesbians" arose because there was a need to specifically distinguish that you weren't JUST talking about males.

Do you suppose girl on girl was nearly universally hot, even in antiquity?

All the lesbians I know call themselves gay.

Read the bible. Girl on girl in harems was de rigueur.

The Sydney Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, Seeking & Othered Mardi Gras started it's life simply as: The Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. I've been in it several times, but I've never been to Lesbos. (yet)

I wonder if Lesbos has an award for "Lesbian Of The Year" ?

Oh, and a lot of queer folk here now refer to themselves as "Queer" as an inclusive term rather than GLBT. I like it because it strips the power of it being a derogatory slur.

When I was a kid, queer was a derogatory insult on the same par as faggot. I think it's cool that kids today are adopting it at a quick pace - - but then again, I'm a guy who thinks we should use "fag" as an affectionate term, to disarm it in the same way blacks have done with (note that as a white guy I must still refer to it as) the "N"WORD.



JW - Long Beach Lesbians are a breed apart. Of course they call themselves Gay. :D