May
In one of my studies in Sociology, I discovered that homosexuality is still not fully understood here in the Philippines. Many people wonder what do really the words “gay” and “lesbian” mean. According to wikipedia, in contemporary colloquial usage, the adjective gay usually refers to homosexuality.
In earlier and in literary usage, the word means “carefree”, “happy”, or “bright and showy”. From the 1890s, it had begun to carry a connotation of promiscuity, as in a “gay house” referring to a brothel. It began to be used in reference to homosexuality in particular from the early 20th century, from the 1920s at the latest.
The word gay is sometimes used to refer to same-sex relationships more generally, as in “gay marriage”, although this usage is discouraged by some LGBT supporters: the rationale is that this usage is exclusive of not only bisexual and transgender people but also lesbians who generally reject labels of being a subset of men, even gay men. While gay applies in some contexts to all homosexual people, the term lesbian is sex-specific: it is used exclusively to describe gay women. Sometimes gay is used to refer only to men.
In contemporary culture, the word ‘gay’ also has pejorative non-sexualized usage (especially among younger generations) to mean ‘rubbish’; for something not considered good. The use of the term in this manner is contentious.
On the other hand, a lesbian is a woman who is romantically and sexually attracted only to other women. Women who are attracted to both women and men are more often referred to as bisexual. An individual’s self-identification might not correspond with her behavior, and may be expressed with either, both, or neither of these words.
In more recent events, I found on the internet a website (gay Romania) where gays and lesbians celebrate Gay Fest 2008, and award the title Miss Travesti to the winner of the competition. This means that communities of “third sex” individuals are becoming more and more accepted by more people anywhere on the planet which in my view is a good news because I do not have a personal bias against them. In fact I have many gays and lesbians for friends here in my home town, although I’m a straight guy. There’s nothing wrong in my view to befriend them.
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Tags: business, homosexuality, personal
