UK Gay Glossary
See an A-Z glossary of words and phrases relating to gay life in Britain.
The glossary includes Acts of Parliament, gay villages in Britain, history, people, and current and archaic gay slang.
Further information on many of the listed terms is available via accompanying links.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
AC/DC - slang for bisexual (slur).
Ace - a shortened term for asexual.
Albany Trust - a registered charity set up in 1958 to complement the Homosexual Law Reform Society (see below).
Ally - (typically) straight supporter of the gay movement.
Asexual - a person who feels little or no sexual attraction.
B
Bear - gay term for a large hairy male.
BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival - Europe's largest LGBTIQ+ film festival held in spring.
Biphobia - fear or dislike of someone who identifies as bisexual (bi).
Bisexual - (bi) a person who feels sexual attraction across genders.
Boi - a boyish lesbian.
Buggery Act - introduced in 1533 during the reign of Henry VIII. Men having sex with men was punishable by death in Britain until 1861. It was the country's first civil sodomy law; previously, cases were administered by ecclesiastical courts. The last executions under the Act were in 1835.
Butch - term used in the gay community for typically masculine looks or behaviour.
C
Canal Street - near Piccadilly Station and Manchester University, Canal Street is the focus of the gay community in Manchester. The city's Gay Village is packed with gay bars, clubs and cafes. The street runs parallel to the Rochdale Canal and came into its own as an established gay district in the 1990's with the onset of greater tolerance for gay life and businesses, especially in Manchester. Before the 1990's, gay people and gay meeting places in the area were often subject to police harassment.
CHE - Campaign for Homosexual Equality.
Cisgender (Cis) - a person whose gender identity is the same as the sex they were assigned at birth. Also "non-trans."
Closeted - (in the closet) metaphor for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, LGBTQ+ people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation.
Coming Out - when a person first tells others about their sexual or romantic orientation.
Cottaging - slang term for anonymous sex between men in a public lavatory.
D
Deadnaming - calling a person by their birth name after they have changed their name.
E
Edwardian - historical period spanning the reign of King Edward VII: 1901 to 1910.
F
Fagging - the historic practice at public schools of younger boys required to act as personal servants for older boys and which could involve physical/sexual abuse.
Femme - term used in the LGBT community to describe a person who expresses themselves in a typically feminine way.
Fifty Pound Note - the present £50 note introduced on June 23, 2021 features Alan Turing (see below).
G
Gay - a person whose feels enduring sexual and emotional attraction to people of the same gender.
Gay Men's Press - gay publisher founded in 1979 and active until 2006.
Gay's The Word - for a time Britain's only gay bookshop it opened in Bloomsbury, London in 1979. The name comes from the musical Gay's the Word by Ivor Novello. It is Britain's oldest LGBT bookshop.
GRC - acronym for Gender Recognition Certificate.
H
Heterosexual - (straight) refers to a man who is sexually or romantically oriented towards women, or to a woman who is sexually or romantically oriented towards men.
History - before around 1700, sexuality defined what you did rather than what you were - in other words your actions rather than your identity. In the pre-modern world it was assumed most men were attracted to both beautiful women and beautiful young boys.
Homophobia - dislike of or prejudice against gay people.
Homosexual - term first coined in 19th century Germany and taken up in the UK by Havelock Ellis in the early 20th century to describe same sex attraction. Considered offensive to many LGBT+ activists.
Homosexual Law Reform Society - (HLRS) an organisation that campaigned in the UK for changes in the laws that criminalised homosexual relations between men.
Hurst Street - Birmingham's Gay Village, close to the Chinese Quarter in Birmingham city centre.
I
Intersex - describes a wide range of natural bodily variations.
J
Jack Saul - pseudonym of the author of The Sins of the Cities of the Plain - one of the first pornographic, homoerotic novels published in England in 1881. It is loosely based on the activities of Jack Saul, a London rentboy of Irish descent.
K
Kiki - gay social gathering, a term originating in the US.
L
Lesbian - a woman who feels enduring sexual and emotional attraction for other women.
Lesbian Discussion Group - long-established lesbian community group.
LGBT+ - acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and others.
LGBT+ History Month - an annual event in the UK held in February. The event began following the abolition of Section 28.
LGBTQ+ - acronym for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning and ace.
Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) - was a an alliance of lesbians and gay men who supported the National Union of Mineworkers during the 1984-1985 miner's strike. It features in the 2014 movie Pride, directed by Matthew Warchus.
London Friend - the UK's oldest LGBT charity
M
Molly House - a term used in 18th- and 19th-century Britain for a meeting place for gay men.
MSM - acronym for men having sex with men.
N
Naff - in bad taste, originally gay slang for heterosexual.
National Coming Out Day - annual LGBT awareness day observed on October 11.
O
Old Compton Street - London street in Soho that is the main focal point for London's gay community with numerous gay bars, restaurants and clubs.
Old Market - the centre of the gay scene in Bristol, southwest England.
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit - coming-of-age novel about a lesbian girl growing up in the north of England, by Jeanette Winterson.
Outed - when a lesbian, gay, bi or trans person's sexual orientation is revealed to someone else without their consent.
P
Pansexual - describes persons with a romantic or sexual attraction towards people of all genders.
Pansy - slang for gay men.
Pink Triangle - name for the main Gay Village in Edinburgh along Leith Street and Broughton Street.
Polari - secret language used by gay men to avoid detection before homosexuality was decriminalized in 1967.
Policing and Crime Act 2017 - homosexuality was finally decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967. The 2017 Policing and Crime Act implements what is known informally as the "Alan Turing Law" which pardoned 50,000 men who for homosexual acts that were no longer considered offences. Among these men was Oscar Wilde.
Pride - the biggest gay festival held in the UK since the first Pride in 1972. Pride events and parades are held in various cities across the UK including Brighton, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, and Nottingham. The 2019 London Pride attracted over 1.5 million people.
Public Schools - 19th century public schools in Britain tolerated homoerotic relationships between boys and in some cases teachers and boys.
Q
Queer - once pejorative term reclaimed by the gay community.
Queer Britain - charity campaigning to establish the UK's first national LGTBQ+ museum.
Queer British Art 1861-1967 - ground-breaking exhibition at the Tate in 2017 featuring the work of such artists as Simeon Solomon, Dora Carrington, John Singer Sargent, Duncan Grant and David Hockney.
R
Rainbow Flag - symbol of LGBT pride and LGBT social movements.
S
Schools OUT UK - The LGBT+ Education Charity - is a registered charity and the founding organiser of LGBT+ History Month UK.
Section 28 - was a law that prohibited the "promotion of homosexuality" by local authorities. Introduced by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in 1988, it was repealed in 2000 in Scotland and 2003 in England and Wales.
Stonewall - a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights charity in the UK. It is named after the 1969 Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village, New York.
Switchboard - formerly the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard, is an LGBT+ telephone helpline launched in 1974.
T
Terrence Higgins Trust - a British charity that campaigns about and provides services relating to HIV and sexual health.
The Calls and Lower Briggate - the main gay area in Leeds and home to the New Penny pub and Charlie's, iconic and long-standing gay venues in the city.
Tower of London - the Tower of London features a LGBT+ royal histories section with information on King Edward II, King James I and Queen Anne.
Transgender - (trans) persons whose gender is not the same as, or does not emotionally align with, the sex they were assigned at birth.
Alan Turing Statue - a statue of Alan Turing in Sackville Park near the Gay Village in Manchester honours the mathematical genius who helped to crack the German Enigma codes in World War II. He is thought of as a progenitor of computer science and artificial intelligence. In 1952 Turing "admitted" his homosexuality, which was in those days a crime in the UK, and underwent chemical castration, i.e., the injection of the female hormone oestrogen.
U
University - most universities in the UK will have an LGBTQ+ society.
V
V&A - the Victoria and Albert Museum runs a popular LGBTQ Tour featuring the work of such artists as Simeon Solomon, David Hockney and others.
Victorian - period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 1837-1901.
Virginia Street - the centre of Glasgow's gaybourhood.
W
Wolfenden Report - aka the Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution published in 1957 after a number of prominent individuals including John Gielgud, Alan Turing, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Michael Pitt-Rivers and Peter Wildeblood were tried and convicted of homosexual offences. The report recommended that "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence."
X
Y
Z
Mohsin Zaidi - a barrister in London and the author of A Dutiful Boy about growing up gay in a Muslim household in Britain.
Related
British Acronyms and Abbreviations
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