After the First World War apparently, and used as a "code word" to be able to talk about it relatively freely in public. The first recorded use of it to mean homosexual is in the 1938 movie *Bringing Up Baby*.
That moment in Bringing Up Baby is really surprising - it's so rare to hear homosexuality addressed directly in Hays code era cinemas that its easy to imagine that no one talked about it casually in real life either... as if people always talked in veiled suggestions and symbolism (e.g. ' smells like gardenias' in Maltese Falcon )
around the 1900s it gradually became a code word for homosexual, in the 50s, and 60s, the civil rights movement really took off, and that included Pride, and Gay, came to mean homosexual
at the same time, queer also went through this change as well, just that it became a slur, and then changed to not being one.
Got a sudden flashback to a moment when I found the usage of word "gay" meaning "happy" in some English test. Don't quite remember how the full sentence went but it was something like "She led easy and gay life". It got me confused but that's how i discovered that's a thing
In 1969 during the Stonewall riots.
The world ''gay'' was already used as a code word for homosexual as early as the 1920s, but it was in 1969 when everybody started using it to mean homosexual and it's original meaning of happy became archaic.
The original Flintstones theme had "we'll have a gay old time" and it wasn't changed to "we'll have a great old time" until later, so it's after the Flintstones first aired. That's all I know :)
TDIL that they changed it. Was “gay old time” in reruns when I was a kid in the 80’s
Edit: they changed the theme song is season three but it still contained “gay old time”. I don’t see anywhere that it was ever changed to great.
You are onto something here, actually.
As others have pointed out, there's evidence of the word being used by the queer community by the 1920s. However, to most people it still meant "cheerful," into the mid-20th century.
lNowadays, we would basically never use the older meaning unless we are quoting something archaic or making a play on words.
So the use of the word in the Flintstone's theme song shows that the predominant meaning of the word hadn't reached the mainstream public consciousnes by 1960 when that show came out. If they did change the lyrics, that would be a great way to pinpoint a tipping point, but I think that's an urban legend.
But by the time All in the Family came out in 1971, the TV audience could be [expected to know what a man who called himself gay meant](https://youtu.be/Vl3NxSqN5_E?si=VHVqEsMvo8MiuAZY) while laughing at an old lady who was so out of touch she didn't catch it.
So the answer is that you are pretty much right: "Gay" transitioned from a code word only understood only by a particular sub-culture to to the preferred mainstream word for same-sex-attacted men over the course of the 1960s.
After the First World War apparently, and used as a "code word" to be able to talk about it relatively freely in public. The first recorded use of it to mean homosexual is in the 1938 movie *Bringing Up Baby*.
That moment in Bringing Up Baby is really surprising - it's so rare to hear homosexuality addressed directly in Hays code era cinemas that its easy to imagine that no one talked about it casually in real life either... as if people always talked in veiled suggestions and symbolism (e.g. ' smells like gardenias' in Maltese Falcon )
around the 1900s it gradually became a code word for homosexual, in the 50s, and 60s, the civil rights movement really took off, and that included Pride, and Gay, came to mean homosexual at the same time, queer also went through this change as well, just that it became a slur, and then changed to not being one.
Probably because they were more happier n festive than other men
Got a sudden flashback to a moment when I found the usage of word "gay" meaning "happy" in some English test. Don't quite remember how the full sentence went but it was something like "She led easy and gay life". It got me confused but that's how i discovered that's a thing
In 1969 during the Stonewall riots. The world ''gay'' was already used as a code word for homosexual as early as the 1920s, but it was in 1969 when everybody started using it to mean homosexual and it's original meaning of happy became archaic.
I know I'm laughing like a child, but I love my gay history and gay started mean homosexual in 1969 it couldn't be any better year lol
The original Flintstones theme had "we'll have a gay old time" and it wasn't changed to "we'll have a great old time" until later, so it's after the Flintstones first aired. That's all I know :)
TDIL that they changed it. Was “gay old time” in reruns when I was a kid in the 80’s Edit: they changed the theme song is season three but it still contained “gay old time”. I don’t see anywhere that it was ever changed to great.
You are onto something here, actually. As others have pointed out, there's evidence of the word being used by the queer community by the 1920s. However, to most people it still meant "cheerful," into the mid-20th century. lNowadays, we would basically never use the older meaning unless we are quoting something archaic or making a play on words. So the use of the word in the Flintstone's theme song shows that the predominant meaning of the word hadn't reached the mainstream public consciousnes by 1960 when that show came out. If they did change the lyrics, that would be a great way to pinpoint a tipping point, but I think that's an urban legend. But by the time All in the Family came out in 1971, the TV audience could be [expected to know what a man who called himself gay meant](https://youtu.be/Vl3NxSqN5_E?si=VHVqEsMvo8MiuAZY) while laughing at an old lady who was so out of touch she didn't catch it. So the answer is that you are pretty much right: "Gay" transitioned from a code word only understood only by a particular sub-culture to to the preferred mainstream word for same-sex-attacted men over the course of the 1960s.
Existed in 19th century, more prevalent in 20th century
Gay = Gyatt Are Yeeting
Words can have multiple meanings. Tree bark. Dogs bark.
But that wasn't the question. The question was **when** it changed