Gay = homosexual?

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Context:
Sturgis also is gay and feels more comfortable in boys' clothes, her mother says. So Rodriguez supported her daughter's decision to wear a tuxedo, rather than the drape customary for girls, when she had her senior portrait made in July. Now she is battling officials at Wesson Attendance Center in the Copiah County (Miss.) School District. Rodriguez said she received a letter from the school in August stating that only boys could wear tuxedos and have since refused to include the photo in the school yearbook.

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-10-18-yearbook-photo-lesbian_N.htm

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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 117 • Replies: 7

@oristarA,

Yes, the word "gay" is commonly used to mean "homosexual".

I have no idea why.

2 Replies

@oristarA,

Yes, gay - as in homosexual.

My favorite line in the piece is: Ms. Rodgriguez says:
'She's not a troublemaker - she is gay'
Laughing

(I chuckled for about two minutes at that).....she should have that embroidered on her tux lapel for her senior picture....- heck I almost wish I were gay so I could use it for my signature.

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@George,

Why not say "she is a lesbian" since she is a girl? Is lesbian a disparaging term?

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@George,

I have a pretty good idea:

"a poet could not but be gay, in such a jocund company".

(Gay guys are gay).

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@oristarA,

No, lesbian is not a disparaging term (in my opinion - but I have nothing against lesbians). I guess some people who didn't like lesbians could say it with venom so it sounds disparaging.

I think the woman was just speaking very generally and colloquially and so she used gay - which tends to be the all-inclusive casual term for homosexuality.

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@aidan,

aidan wrote:

Yes, gay - as in homosexual.

My favorite line in the piece is: Ms. Rodgriguez says:
'She's not a troublemaker - she is gay'
(I chuckled for about two minutes at that).....she should have that embroidered on her tux lapel for her senior picture....- heck I almost wish I were gay so I could use it for my signature.

My favorite line from the movie "Tropic Thunder"...

"Everybody's gay sometimes."

It certainly does take the pressure off having to be non-gay all the time

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Why not say "she is a lesbian" since she is a girl? Is lesbian a disparaging term?

If it's a newspaper or magazine article, then the editor maybe worried about the literal length of the article. Gay being the shorter of the two words, though I guess not as accurate as lesbian just might be one factor in keeping the article from creeping over into another column.

And no, lesbian is not a disparaging term.

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Gay = homosexual?

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