Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site decwrl.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!prls!amdimage!amdcad!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-vaxuum!dyer From: dyer@vaxuum.DEC (This did not happen to/Pablo Picasso) Newsgroups: net.motss Subject: Nomenclature - Gay/Homosexual/Lesbian Message-ID: <3486@decwrl.UUCP> Date: Tue, 6-Aug-85 16:13:09 EDT Article-I.D.: decwrl.3486 Posted: Tue Aug 6 16:13:09 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 10-Aug-85 20:31:18 EDT Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Lines: 29 Nomenclature - Gay/Homosexual/Lesbian___________________________________________ > By the way, don't call me "homosexual." I'm Gay. It's impolite to call a > Black person a "Negro," it's just as impolite to call us "homosexual." This gets really complicated. Just as some people object to using the word "man" to mean "person," there are those who object to using the word "gay" to mean "homosexual person." "Gay" is usually taken to mean "homosexual male" and "Lesbian," of course, means "homosexual female." Thus there are those who consider it sexist to use "Gay" to refer to both. On the other hand, "Gay" is much more ambiguous than "man," since it's not intrinsically male, but just used that way sometimes. There are some homo- sexual women who don't want to be called "Lesbian" because they feel it means being a subset of "Gay." To get into further shades of grey, there are those who differentiate between "Gay" and "Lesbian" as verbs, but use "Gay" as an adjective for both! And there are those who don't mind "homosexual" as an adjective, but despise it as a noun. Chaos. What will humankind do about it? <_Jym_> :::::::::::::::: Jym Dyer ::::' :: `:::: Dracut, Massachusetts ::' :: `:: :: :: :: DYER%VAXUUM.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA :: .::::. :: {allegra|decvax|ihnp4|ucbvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-vaxuum!dyer ::..:' :: `:..:: ::::. :: .:::: Statements made in this article are my own; they might not :::::::::::::::: reflect the views of |d|i|g|i|t|a|l| Equipment Corporation.