Gay Slang

Words and phrases

A

• A-gay: Short for "A-list gay". Describes an affluent, well-connected, upwardly mobile gay man or woman.
• Abercrombie bitch: An often self-absorbed gay male who dresses in Abercrombie & Fitch or similar fashions.
• Aberzombie; a clone-like gay man who is obsessed with looking like the stereotype of a gay man.
• Ambisextrous: Bisexual. (Occasionally ambisexual.)
• Aroma: Poppers, amyl nitrite.
• Assimilationist: A negative term used by radical queers on the far left end of the political spectrum to describe LGBTs who attempt to blend into hetero society, usually by adopting hetero standards and norms, such as marriage, child-rearing, dress, military service, religion, etc.

B

• Baby dyke: A young, inexperienced and/or boyish lesbian.
• Back room or backroom: A darkened room set aside for sex (sometimes group sex) in a club, bar or bathhouse.
• Bareback: Unprotected sex, especially anal sex.
• Baths: Gay bathhouses or saunas (see Tubs).
• Bear: A hairy, often overweight, man, frequently with facial hair.
• Beard: a spouse or signifigant other of the opposite sex with whom the person wearing said "beard" is not actually involved, but is pretending to be involved with to feign heterosexuality; i.e.: "Please, Mary, I've seen him at all the gay clubs; his wife is just a beard".
• Beer Bust: A long-standing tradition in the gay bar community in which a bar will dedicate a portion of it's operating hours, usually a Sunday afternoon, to let local charities and clubs raise money, by offering an all-you-can-drink price on draft beer. Food is usually served and the charity or club raising the money usually has a raffle in which they sell tickets for.
• Betty Badge: The police. Other phrases include Lilly Law and Our Lady of the Golden Broach.
• Bi-curious: A heterosexual who wishes to "experiment" with his or her sexuality.
• Blanche: A term of endearment; see also Mary. Often preceded by "But cha are! Blanche! You are!"
• Bona: A polari term meaning "good". This is one of the few polari terms that has survived its fall and remains popular in Britain and, as of late, America.
• Bottom: The receptive partner in anal or other penetrative sex (see Bottom (sex)); a partner who receives stimulation in BDSM (see Bottom (BDSM)).
• Boy bar: A gay bar, particularly one for men only.
• Breed: To purposely infect another with HIV.
• Breeder: Derogatory term for a heterosexual person.
• Brownie Queen: A gay man who enjoys anal sex, especially the receptive partner.
• Bug chaser: An HIV-negative individual who seeks to be infected with the HIV virus, generally through unprotected receptive anal sex. See also Bugchasing, gift.
• Bull: A large (muscular to overweight) dominant man who exhibits hypermasculinized traits in build, aggressiveness and crudeness.
• Bulldagger or Bulldyke: A butch lesbian who dresses and behaves in a masculine fashion.
• Butch: A gay male or lesbian evidencing (or affecting) highly masculine traits.

C

• Camp: Ironic, affected, flamboyant, florid, bitchy, frequently effeminate behaviour; putative, stereotypical gay behaviour (with or without effeminate connotations); ironically bitchy. Also camping, camping it up.
• Catcher: The receptive partner in anal sex; the submissive partner. Contrast with pitcher.
• Chicken: A young, teenage, boyish, or young-looking gay male; an underage boy.
• Chicken hawk: An older man who prefers younger men; occasionally: a paedophile.
• Circuit party: One of several large parties for gay men held in various locations throughout North America each year (the circuit).
• Christina: Predominately gay reference to Methamphetamines.
• Circuit Queen: Someone who religiously attends the annual circuit parties.
• Clone: Originally called the Castro Clone, this particular fashion spread far beyond the Castro district of the late 1970's and established an "out" gay look that was proudly gay, highly sexualized, subversively camp (for it's time), yet ultimately conformist. The typical clone was a white gay man, with short hair and a mustache. The clone's sole attire consisted of tight faded blue jeans, a tight-fitting white t-shirt, construction boots, and a leather jacket. See Freddie Mercuryhttp://www.squirrelgames.com/logos/plates/freddiemercurywhole.jpg. Different manifestations of the Clone emerge as times and the culture change (see Bear), yet the original is still alive and well.
• The closet: The figurative hiding place of gays and lesbians who are not open about their homosexuality.
• Closet case: A gay person who is not "out."
• Coming out (of the closet): Revealing one's homosexuality.
• Cottage (British English) A public lavatory where sexual activity takes place.
• Cottaging (British English): Seeking or having sex in public lavatories (still widely practiced, but falling into disuse for reasons connected possibly with modern public toilet design and a lesser need for covert, furtive sexual outlets which have been supplanted principally by the Internet and openly gay venues).
• Cruise: to look for a sex partner in areas known for this activity; to stare at someone with the intention of attracting his or her attention; flirt.
• Cruisy: A place that is known as a cruising spot.
• Cub: A younger bear.
• Cut: Circumcised

D

• Daddy: An older, frequently larger, sometimes bearish man (or occasionally, woman) who takes a fatherly role in the relationship.
• Dirty Curve: A gay man. Referenced from the movie Some Like It Hot. Tony Curtis refers to his sexual impotency with women as nature throwing you a dirty curve.
• Denialist: Someone who believes HIV doesn't cause AIDS. Denialists refer to themselves as AIDS Dissidents.
• Dock: The act of placing the foreskin of an uncircumcised male over the (usually circumcised) glans penis of another as a form of sexual pleasure, often up to and including ejaculation; hence "docking".
• Do-Me Queen: A pushy bottom. Someone who expects to be sexually satisfied, without reciprocation; generally a selfish person.
• Down-Low: A term once used exclusively by the gay and bi black community to refer to working-class men who live as straight men, often who are married, and who secretly have affairs with gay men. The closest equivalent is the older phrase, rough trade.
• Dyke tyke: A man who prefers the company of gay women; the male best friend of a gay woman (a rarely-used term, analogous but the opposite of fag hag). Usually pejorative.
• Dykes on Bykes: The women's motorcycle contingent that usually leads a pride parade. Other contingents have popped up humorously as a result, calling themselves Dykes on Real Bykes (bicycles) and Mikes on Bikes (men on motorcycles or bicycles).
• Dykon: A gay icon that appeals primarily to lesbians.
• Drop a hair pin: As in, "He just dropped a hair pin". Someone who is gay.

E

• English: Caning for sexual pleasure. http://www.improvingsex.com/articles/dictionary.htm
• Eurofag: A sometimes derogatory description for a younger, trendy Continental European male (having the relevant European accent) (gay or metrosexual) who dresses in the latest European sportswear. This person might be identified by such things as wearing sunglasses even when not needed, brightly coloured/flamboyant clothes with designer labels.
• Ex-gay: A former lesbian or gay man who professes to be "cleansed" of their homosexuality, often due to a religious (ie, Christian) conversion.

F

• F2M or FTM: A transgender or transsexual person who is transitioning or has transitioned from female to male. See Transman
• Fag hag: A woman who prefers the company of gay men; the female best friend of a gay man (sometimes considered pejorative).
• Fag Stag: A man who prefers the company of gay men; the male counterpart to the fag hag.
• Family: Gay, as in, "Do you think he's family?"
• Fats and Fems: A derogatory lumping together of all gay men who don't fit into a strict body and behavioral paradigm. This prejudicehttp://gaytoday.badpuppy.com/garchive/interview/082597in.htm stems from a hyper-male currenthttp://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20010618&s=kim20010605 throughout gay male culture that devalues femininity, being chubby, and any other deviations from a Herrenvolk-like body/attitude structure. Reaction against it has been the birth of the Bear, Chub, and Gender Blender subcultures, among others.
• Fay or fey: Effeminate
• Fem or femme: Feminine; effeminate
• Female nouns and pronouns: In which trans and non-transgendered gay men will refer to one another, derisively or affectionately, as "she", "her", "Miz Thang", "bitch", etc.
• Fence Sitter: A bisexual person. The Fence Sitter's Ball is an annual party for bisexuals in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• Fierce: Great, awesome, fabulous.
• Fish: Derogatory word for a woman
• Flame: To behave in an extremely effeminate, campy manner. Also Flamer, Flaming
• Friend of Dorothy: Gay (refers to Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, in refernce to its star, Judy Garland who is said to have preferred gay males as friends.
• Frot: frottage.
• Fruit fly: A heterosexual who frequents gay bars, variation of barfly.
• Fuck buddy: Someone with whom one has sex but with whom one is not involved in a relationship.
• Fur: Body hair

G

• Gaily Forward: The physical act of moving in a straight line. Used humorously to prevent uttering the word "straight".
• GAM: Gay Asian Male.
• Gaydar: The supposed ability to detect another peron's homosexuality by just observing. Also Doppler Gaydar (from the character Jack in the TV show Will & Grace). There is also a dating website of the same name.
• Gayspeak: Gay slang; Polari.
• Gay-for-Pay: Straight actors who star in gay porno movies.
• Gay-Until-Graduation (GUG): Sarcastic phrase to refer to individuals who have exclusive same-sex relationships in college, but who form heterosexual partnerships after graduating.
• Gayteenth and Castro: World-famous intersection in the heart of San Francisco's Castro District.
• GBM: Gay Black Male.
• Gift: an STD, usually HIV. Used by a particular subset of barebackers who actively seek HIV infection; see bug chaser.
• Gift giver: someone who passes on an STD, usually HIV. Used by a particular subset of barebackers who actively seek HIV infection; see bug chaser.
• GLBT: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered. This sequence is predominant on the American East Coast, whereas LGBT is predominant on the West Coast.
• The Glass Coffin: Derogatively refers to the Twin Peaks bar in San Francisco, the first gay bar in the country which had full, open windows for anyone to see in. Is mainly frequented by older men.
• Glory hole: A hole, in a wall, partition or similar, through which the penis is inserted for oral or anal sex. Often in a public lavatory.
• GM: Gay Male.
• Greek: Anal sex.
• GWM: Gay White Male.
• Gym Bunny or Gym Queen: A gay man who works out in a gym for reasons (primarily) unconnected with health - eg to enhance his physical appeal to other gay men. Also gym mouse or "gymbot". Usually pejorative.

H

• Handballing: Fisting.
• Hasbian: A woman who has identified as a lesbian in the past but now identifies at heterosexual. Popularized by the Showtime TV Series The L Word.
• Het or Hetero: Heterosexual.
• Her: (In gay male argot): Him (also: she). See: Gender transposition
• Heteroflexible: Bisexual with a heterosexual dominance; see bicurious
• Homocon: A conservative, right-wing lesbian or gay. Some famous homocons are Andrew Sullivan, Dale Carpenter, and Norah Vincent.
• Homo-Hop and Homocore: Music genres with musicians who identify as queer, and who play to predominantly queer audiences. Also Queercore, Queer Punk.
• Homothug: A gay man who associates with Hip-hop, Rap, or a gangster lifestyle.
• Hung: Well endowed. Often well hung.
• Husbear: One of two gay men who identify as "bears" and who are in a committed relationship.

I

• Imperial Court: A throw-back to an earlier era when a guild of gay bar owners and patrons would host a pageant and then crown two contestants, a drag queen and (usually) a leather daddy, to be Empress and Emperor. These persons would then be goodwill ambassadors, hosting charity events and raising money for community causes. The Imperial Court System, as it is known in San Francisco, is still very much alive, though the prestige and influence the Empress and Emperor once had has diminished as traditions have been lost due to lack of interest and/or the effect of AIDS on the community.

J

• Jockey or Jocker: The inserter in the act of anal sex; see Top (sex).
• Judy: A woman or gay man prone to mood swings ("Moody Judy"); reference to gay icon, Judy Garland.

K

• Kept Man: Generally, a younger male who financially depends on an older male (see Sugar Daddy), in return, providing friendship, sexual, and other personal services.

L

• Label queen: a gay man who prefers designer clothing.
• Leather Scene: A once substantial presence in the gay community, this subculture consists of individuals into uniforms, leather, denim, motorcycles and often Sado-Masochism. The pinnacle of the leather scene is the annual Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco, where hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts gather to play and intermingle.
• Lesbigay or LesBiGay: Lesbian, Bisexual and Gay.
• Lesploitation: The use of lesbian imagery or themes in advertising or popular media to titilate heterosexual males.
• Lezbrarian: A lesbian librarian, strangely, a common occurrance.
• Limp wrist: (adj.) An effeminate gay male; a gay male; said of gay males; an effeminate heterosexual male; hence: limp-wristed. Usually pejorative. Also the name of an openly, all-gay hardcore punk band.
• Lincoln Logs: Derogative term, used to describe the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group.
• Lipstick lesbian: A feminine lesbian.
• Lovers: Before the use of "Partners" arrived, this pertained to a same-sex couple who were in a long-term relationship. The hierarchy of committment usually went: trick, fuck buddy, boyfriend/girlfriend, lovers.

M

• M2F or MTF: A transgender or transsexual person who is transitioning or has transitioned from male to female. See Transwoman
• M2M: Male to male (sex)
• Mangina: The anus of a gay man who bottoms in anal sex; i.e., the male counterpart to a female's vagina.
• Mantique: A term sometimes used to refer to an attractive gay man over the age of 50. (from: "man" and "antique")
• Mary: An effeminate gay man; a term of endearment (often used in a similar way to fag). See also Blanche.
• Meat: Penis.
• Metrosexual: An urban heterosexual male with a strong, stereotypically gay aesthetic as to appearance and lifestyle.
• Mince: To walk (usually affectedly) in short steps in the manner of an effeminate gay male; (British 1950's journalist's comments about Liberace, a middle to late C20th US entertainer) :"...deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavored, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother-love". Usually pejorative. Derived from Polari and no longer confined solely to gay usage.
• Muscle Mary: A gay man who works out in a gym (see Gym Bunny, Gym Queen); a muscular yet effeminate gay man. Also Gym Mouse. Usually pejorative.
• Muscle queen: A gay man who prefers muscular men, gay or straight. Often pejorative.

N

• Nancy Boy: A gay man.
• Neg: HIV negative.
• Nelly: The act of being effeminate.
• Nelly Name: Identifying oneself with a female name. Once used widely by non-transgendered gay men, now mostly used by drag queens and transgenders.

O

• Oopsy-la: (Imitative) see camp. (Originally coined, but with no apparent gay connotation) by British politician, Government Minister, Privy Counsellor and historian, the Rt. Hon. Alan Clark MP http://politics.guardian.co.uk/politicsobituaries/story/0,1441,563455,00.htmlin his "Diaries"). Obtained currency in British gay argot latterly; i.e.: "Mark is soooo oopsy-la he should trade his trousers for a frock and be done with the pretence".
• Otter: A gay or bisexual man who meets the description of a bear, except being of lean or average build.
• Our Church: Someone who is queer. Example, "I think she goes to our church." This expression predates the MCC and other queer-friendly religious organizations.
• Out (of the closet): Originally, a person who acknowledges, embraces, and projects their comfort in being a homosexual. The term is now used by the dominant culture as a non-gay specific phrase to mean anyone who is open about a once hidden feeling or idea.
• To out or outing: Publicly disclosing another person's homosexuality, usually against their will or without their knowledge.

P

• Package: A man's groin area. Also referred to as Basket.
• Pass or passing: To appear correctly as something; for example, a gay man can "pass" as heterosexual or a transwoman can "pass" as a woman.
• Pig: a person, usually a gay male, who engages in particular sexual activities, including watersports, scat and the like.
• Pink money: The disposable income or overall financial clout of the gay community.
• Pink Saturday: Always the day before the Pride Parade in which a host of activities occur, most notably the Dyke March.
• Pitcher: the insertive partner in anal sex; the dominant partner. Contrast with catcher.
• PLU: Acronym meaning "People Like Us". Refers to other gay people.
• Pocket gay: A petite, gay man.
• Polari: British gay argot or slang, in currency especially prior to the legalisation of male homosexuality in the UK in 1967. Though various Polari words have entered the common lexicon, the language is largely obsolete.
• Pos, poz: HIV positive.
• Potato queen: coined as the opposite of rice queen: an Asian man who prefers white men (sometimes considered pejorative).
• PnP or Party and Play; used in personal ads and online chat rooms to indicate an interest for casual sex that includes hard drugs such as ecstacy.
• Pre-Op: Refers to a transsexual person who has practically achieved gender reassignment minus genital surgery.
• Pride: Usually short for the events that surround the "Pride Parade" (ie., "What are you doing for Pride?"), which in days past was called the Gay Freedom Day parade. The word "pride" has also been coopted by marketing agencies to sell products to the gay community. For example, "pride rings", "pride wear", "pride credit cards", etc.

Q

• Queen: An effeminate gay man; a drag queen. Is also a suffix in a compound noun to overemphasize a point, such as "leather queen", "drama queen", and "size queen". Also: Quean, which has older linguistic roots and provenance. See also: camp.
• Queen's Tank: In many American jails, a section of the jail where gay men, trannies, and hustlers are segregated from the general population.
• Queer: Note: Not of LGBT origin. Once, and in many parts still, a derogatory term for anyone perceived as "not straight", this word has been reclaimed by the modern LGBT community as a self-describing blanket term, meant to be as inclusive as possible while theories and identities within the developing community shift, change, and emerge. Many people in the LGBT community still find this an offensive word, with younger, urban, and/or progressive LGBTs generally accepting it, and older, rural, and/or conservative LGBTs not. The use of the word "queer" is also frowned upon by LGBTs who come from more religious cultures. Even further, the term itself as a method of inclusivity is opposed by some who dislike or are uncomfortable with being associated with other identities/persons included under the term. For example, some gay men dislike it because it associates them with drag queens, while some African-Americans believe it is Caucasian-centric term.

R

• Rent or Rent boy: A male prostitute (i.e., "working to pay the rent" or a boy for rent); noun and verb.
• Rice queen: a non-Asian man who prefers Asians (sometimes considered pejorative). See also potato queen.
• Rimming: Licking the anus of a sex partner.
• Rough Trade: Before the common use of "down-low", this refered to working-class straight men who had secret sexual rendevous with gay men, often in public settings.

S

• S&M: Normally Sado-Masochism. In many gay bars, could mean Stand and Model.
• Santorum: The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.
• Scene queen: A gay man who loves to party.
• The Scene: A meeting place for gay people in a social sense; the gay club circuit; the gay pubs, clubs, bars, cafes and so on in a particular location.
• Seeker: A man who seeks infection with an STD (usually HIV). See also gay slang, gift giver, bugchaser.
• She: (in gay male argot): He. See her). See: Gender transposition
• Silence=Death: Also, Silence Equals Death. Galvanizing phrase, originating in the mid-1980s, by the radical AIDS activist group, ACT-UP, to bring attention to the AIDS epidemic.
• Size queen: a man who prefers large penises.
• Sister: a term of endearment between gay men and drag queens. See also Blanche, Mary.
• The Sisters: Refers to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an international group of gay, drag queen, "nuns" who raise money for charity.
• Smooth: Hairless; often used to refer to a gay man lacking chest hair.
• Straight: Heterosexual.
• Straight-Acting: A gay man who passes as a stereotypical straight man; often used to describe oneself in a personal ad.
• Stud: A gay male considered by his peers to be extremely attractive physically; a promiscuous gay man; a butch lesbian.
• Sugar daddy: An older, affluent male whose personal and sexual relationship to a younger male is bought. See also Kept Man.
• Sweater Queen: 1950's slang for an effeminate, well-to-do gay man obsessed with conventional looks and a conservative social scene. See movie Boys in The Band.
• Switch: Someone who is both a bottom and a top.

T

• Tearoom: A public lavatory where men (including men who do not identify as gay) meet for sex.
• Teabagging: Usually done by male go-go boys to club patrons, popularized in the John Waters movie where the dancer will place his scrotum on the forehead of the bar patron. Originally it was a practice practiced at the Bottoms up bar in Kings Cross, Sydney where the stripper would place his scrotum in the glass of the patron.
• Transgender: An all-encompassing term to refer to people who defy convential gender norms. This includes pre-op and post-op transsexual, transvestite, two-spirit, drag queens, butch dykes, intersex, and gender variant persons.
• Tranny, trannie: Transgender or transsexual person (considered offensive by some).
• Tranny Chaser: Normally a heterosexual male who seeks exclusive relationships with pre-op or post-op transgender women.
• Trannyfag: A gay transman.
• Trade: A heterosexual or bisexual male looking for oral sex (blow job).
• Top: The insertive partner in anal or other penetrative sex (see Top (sex)); a partner who inflicts stimulation in BDSM (see top (BDSM)).
• Tourist: A (usually heterosexual) person who visits known gay areas to "look".
• Trick: A prostitute's customer (a John); a sex partner; a sexual act for money; to have sex
• Troll: To walk around looking for sex (cruise); an older, or physically unattractive man; a man in a bathhouse or cruising area who continues to make advances even when rebuffed.
• Tuna: A perjorative word used by some U.S. gay men to refer to women.
• Twink, twinky, twinkie: A young or young-looking man, especially those who are slender, clean cut and without facial or chest hair.

U

• UDC: Short for "universal dyke cut," a term referring to a hairstyle common among lesbians active in sports (similar to the mullet) with hair cut shorter on the front and sides and longer in the back.
• Uncut: Uncircumcised

V

• Vagina business: Heterosexual sex; ("I'm not in the vagina business").
• Versatile: A person who will take either top or bottom positions in sex

W

• Wank-buddy: (Chiefly British/Australian/NZ English) Gay male non-romantic relationship for the sole purpose of mutual masturbation (and perhaps other forms of sexual activity). From: wank (slang): to masturbate with the penis. Related terms: fuck buddy; jerk-buddy; j/o-buddy.
• Water sports or Watersports: Urine fetish
• Well hung: See Hung
• We're Here, We're Queer, Get Used To It!: Famous 1990s slogan of the once in-your-face queer liberation group, Queer Nation.
• Woof!: A come-on, which gay men, but especially bears will often say as a sign of sexual interest.

Y

• Yestergay: A person who identified as gay in the past, but who no longer does so.

Z

• Zegers: A new word, possibly of Belgian or Eastern European origin, meaning pretentious and/or pompous and/or overly egocentric homosexual. i.e. "That man is *so* Zegers!!!". Considered mildly offensive.

External links

• Dictionary of Gay Slang and Historical Terms
• Gay Slang Dictionary
• GLTB Slang Dictionary
• Language Gaymes
• Lavender Linguistics, from Guardian Unlimited
• Polari: British Gay Slang
• Queer Slang in the Gay 90's
• qWords — names for queers
• Sexuality as Identity: Gay and Lesbian Language

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