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In contemporary usage, the
adjective gay usually refers to
homosexual people. In earlier
usage, the word meant "carefree", "happy", or "bright and
showy", though this usage is infrequent today. Gay
sometimes also refers to the culture of homosexual individuals,
as in "gay history", or to things perceived by others to be
typical of gay people, as in "gay music". 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
bisexual and transgendered people. While gay applies in
some contexts to all homosexual people, the term
lesbian is gender-specific:
it is used exclusively to describe homosexual women. There is no
corresponding word for men, although sometimes "gay" can be used
to refer only to men.
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