Cover Story: The queen’s English
A gay glossary for straight folks
Baby dyke — Inexperienced young lesbian
Banana hammock — Tight thong designed to show off man-junk. Synonym for “posing pouch.”
Bear — Beefy, hirsute gay man
Beard — Opposite-sex friend who poses as a gay person’s date
Boi — Boyish lesbian or immature young gay man
Bottom — The partner who prefers to, um, catch. Opposite of “top.”
Breeders — Derogatory gay term for heteros
Brokeback Mountain — The film that should’ve won the 2005 Oscar for Best Picture, dammit!
Butch — Adjective applied to a masculine gay person of either sex, although more common among lesbians. Opposite of “femme.”
Chickenhawk — Gay man who seeks much younger partners
Circuit party — Elaborately produced, all-night gay dance events typically held in large cities
Circuit queen — Gay man who lives for circuit parties
Civil union — Quasi-marriage legally recognized by some states, although not Georgia
Commitment ceremony — Ritualized observance of gay partnership. Has no legal standing but participants still register at Crate & Barrel.
Cruisy — Adjective applied to hardware store, coffeehouse, gym, etc., where gay men go to hook up
Diesel dyke — Aggressive, masculine lesbian
Domestic partner -- Gay person who receives workplace benefits through cohabitating partner
“Don’t ask, don’t tell” — Clinton-era policy that forces gay military personnel to conceal their sexuality
Drag king — Female entertainer with a cross-dressing act
Fag hag — Straight woman who enjoys company of gay men
Friend of Dorothy — Gay man; a reference to The Wizard of Oz
Gayborhood — Part of town where a high percentage of residents are gay; e.g. Jefferson Park in East Point.
Gaydar — Intuition for sensing another’s gayness
G.D.S. — Stands for “gay doppelganger syndrome,” a phenomenon in which gay or lesbian partners look frighteningly alike
Gender fuck — Deliberate effort to disrupt or obscure gender identity, usually to freak out straight people
Guppies — Gay urban professionals
Gym bunny — Gay man obsessed with working out
Heteroflexible — Adjective applied to straight person with gay social circle or queer sensibility
Lesbro — Straight man who enjoys company of lesbians
Lipstick lesbian — Femme lesbian who looks and acts like a straight girl
L.U.G. — Stands for “lesbian until graduation,” denoting a girl who experiments with other women during college
M.T.F. — Stands for “male-to-female”; a pre- or post-operative transsexual born as a man but who self-identifies as a woman. Reverse of “F.T.M.”
Miss Thang — Affectionate nickname for a drag queen
Nelly — Very effeminate gay man. Synonym for “swish.”
“On the DL” — Stands for “on the down-low”; applied to a gay man who hides his sexuality. Most commonly used by African-Americans. Synonym for “closeted.”
Outing — Drawing public attention to a closeted gay person’s sexuality
Perez Hilton — Bitchy gay blogger and TV personality popular for ragging amusingly on celebrities
Queer — Formerly derogatory term repurposed as an all-purpose description for nonstraight lifestyle or sensibility
Rice queen — Gay man who seeks Asian partners
Rough trade — Man, usually muscular and working-class, sought for furtive gay one-night stand, then discarded
Size queen — Gay man obsessed with large penises
Stonewall — Shorthand reference to the 1969 riots in Greenwich Village that gave birth to the gay rights movement
Tearoom — Public bathroom often cruised by gay men
Tom of Finland — Artist famed for raunchy erotic drawings of square-jawed, impossibly muscular men often dressed as sailors, bikers or policemen
Twink — Young, slender gay man with little or no body hair. Synonym for “chicken.”
U-Haul — What a lesbian brings on the second date
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Gay Pride events guide
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The lowdown on what’s going on around town
?By Thomas Wheatley, Kelli Goldman and Patrick Saunders ? ?
The queen’s English
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A gay glossary for straight folks
?By Scott Henry ? ?
Know your drag queens
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A collection of Pride’s favorite entertainers
?By Scott Henry ? ?
Crossdressing 101
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Just in time for Halloween!
?By Thomas Wheatley ?
Jonathan Escobar, gender-bender
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‘Why be called “gay” or “cross-dresser”? Why label? I’m only 16. I wanna have fun.’
?By Benjamin Fisher ?
Profile: Maria Rivers, founder of lesbian social-networking site
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‘We didn’t quit publishing Labrys because we went broke. We quit publishing because we evolved. LabrysATL.com is a social media now. It’s like a Facebook for lesbians.’
?By Kelli Goldman ?
Streetalk: Should Gay Pride be held on Halloween?
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Thanks to the drought, one of the city’s biggest — and best — festivals had to be pushed back from its usual summer date
?By Jeff Slate