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Gay

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The term gay has come to refer to homosexual sexual orientation, replacing its former meaning of glad or joyous. Some people don't like this change of meaning, but the word gay has had a sexual meaning since at least the nineteenth century -- in Victorian England, female prostitutes were considered to be "gay".

Although applicable to male and female alike, it is often used for homosexual males; the term for homosexual females is lesbian. Whether bisexuals should be called "gay" is a matter of debate (see bisexuality).

See: lesbigay, LGB, political correctness.