signing "gay"

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tegumi

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how do you sign "gay"? Just wondering... Me and my friend have came up with out own sign for it, but we want to use the real one.

Teg
 
For the "gay" sign, the ASL sign is

Brush G on your chin.


My friend's gesture sign for "gay" is

your hand goes like this "greedy"
 
Technically, the most PC way to sign it is just to simply fingerspell it, G-A-Y but it doesn't bother me when people use "G" on chin (with the ends of thumb and forefinger touching the chin). For some reason, some people think that the "G" on chin is a derogative sign, but I don't see it that way. I have seen other older sign, start by using the sign "taste" then move it up across the head to back. It's an old sign and probably considered derogative.
 
kuifje75 said:
I have seen other older sign, start by using the sign "taste" then move it up across the head to back.
Click to expand...
That sign is also known as "homosexual". My hearing friend is getting good at ASL and he uses those signs for joking around.
 
cool..... thanks for the answers.... it is better than using the "home sign" me and my friend made by combining "man + penis + like".. we were wondering what the actual sign was... LoL

Teg
 
I've seen both ways to sign "gay" as:

1. G on the chin (thumb and index both touch on chin).
2. middle finger brush from temple to back of head (as rjr2006 said it was the sign for homosexual).

When I was in H.S., I've seen some of the deaf used this sign "flip the hand down as in a feminate fashion" for the degrading word for homosexual ("f--").
 
Nancy said:
I've seen both ways to sign "gay" as:

1. G on the chin (thumb and index both touch on chin).
2. middle finger brush from temple to back of head (as rjr2006 said it was the sign for homosexual).

When I was in H.S., I've seen some of the deaf used this sign "flip the hand down as in a feminate fashion" for the degrading word for homosexual ("f--").
Click to expand...

The first one you described is pretty much the standard sign for gay people around here. Lesbian has a "L" on the chin too, but rotated to the side.
 
Is the G on the chin with the fingers horizontal (side to side) or vertical (up and down)?

Also, about the other sign that looks like "taste" is it actually signing taste and then moving the finger over your head? Or is it just similar to taste?

I was also wondering if there is a difference between signing "gay" and "lesbian", because I was thinking about how mom and dad are the same hand shapes, but in different spots, like how above the cheekbones in considered male, and below is female.

Teg
 
tegumi said:
Is the G on the chin with the fingers horizontal (side to side) or vertical (up and down)?
Click to expand...

g sign on the chin is vertical.
 
I think what rjr2006 meant was that the fist was vertical... I figured it out anyway cause I found a cool site that shows you video clips of all these different signs.
 
Mexicans seem to have signs representing 'gay' which is poking at the side cheek on your face like imitating a mole on the face.

Richard
 
EyesBlueDeaf said:
Actually it is horizontal - end of thumb and index finger touch on side of chin - tap chin once or twice.
Click to expand...
In SC, we sign it vertically; that is, the fingertips of the "G" point up, and tap the center front of the chin.
 
Reba said:
In SC, we sign it vertically; that is, the fingertips of the "G" point up, and tap the center front of the chin.
Click to expand...

At some times, I've seen people signing the word gay diagonally, not vertically or horziontally.
 
kuifje75 said:
I have seen other older sign, start by using the sign "taste" then move it up across the head to back. It's an old sign and probably considered derogative.
Click to expand...
That sign you described, for me, is "queer" which the locals members of GLBT are using to take the power away from the degratory term of "queer". It was the same thing as the Hispanic people use "Chicano" or "Chicana" to take the power away (that term was considered as an offensive word in 30s and 40s).
So it is not derogative anymore-- at least not in San Diego.


Nesmuth said:
Mexicans seem to have signs representing 'gay' which is poking at the side cheek on your face like imitating a mole on the face.
Click to expand...

Are you sure it is Mexican's sign? I think that is Puerto Rican or Cuban's sign for homosexual (In addition to that sign, they gesture that sign with a "flair" to iminate a sterotyped flamboyant gay person).

In LSM (Mexican Sign Language), that gesture means "puta" which translate in English to "slut." Believe me, I know all LSM obscenities given my high school background in a strong hispanic community.
 
tegumi said:
Also, about the other sign that looks like "taste" is it actually signing taste and then moving the finger over your head? Or is it just similar to taste?
Click to expand...

It is the latter one. You use the sign "taste" but you first put it on your lips/mouth then move it upward across the side of your head.

kuifje, I think the degoratry sign for "gay/queer" is the sign which I oft saw my interperter signing in my course about gay/lesbian issues which I found offensive because it resembles the sign for "idiot/ignorant"... he uses the manual "C" and positions it on the side of head near the temple of head and twist the "C"... the manual "C" may be replaced with the manual "Q" to indicate "QUEER" term.

An interesting variation of "queer" available at http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/Q/W3140.htm


http://www.stevefriess.com/archive/theadvocate/seen.htm said:
The commonly used shorthands regarding homosexuality immediately betray a historic bias among the deaf that is only now starting to fade. It could be the letter "f" against the chin, signifying "faggot." Or touching the middle finger to the tip of the nose, then swooping it dramatically up over the head, for "fairy."

Or, perhaps most offensive of all, to describe a lesbian one might make a gun formation with the thumb and index finger, then put the crux of that formation to the edge of the mouth to indicate "cunnilingus."

Thus, in a rare inconvenience for a mode of communication that's all about shortcuts, more progressive folks literally spell it out. Some deaf youths and activists have embraced those offensive signs to remove their sting, using them among themselves much the same way many of the non-deaf have modernized the term "queer" from a slur to a salute. And some have taken to holding the letter "g" (for "gay") next to the chin as a recent linguistic innovation.

But most are reduced, at that crucial and frightening moment of coming out to someone, to letting their fingers do the cumbersome talking. If hearing people find the words "I am gay" to be the three hardest words to utter, just picture a deaf person with not only three tough words but three even harder letters: "I am G-A-Y."
Click to expand...
 
gnarlydorkette said:
snip, snip..

kuifje, I think the degoratry sign for "gay/queer" is the sign which I oft saw my interperter signing in my course about gay/lesbian issues which I found offensive because it resembles the sign for "idiot/ignorant"... he uses the manual "C" and positions it on the side of head near the temple of head and twist the "C"... the manual "C" may be replaced with the manual "Q" to indicate "QUEER" term.

An interesting variation of "queer" available at http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/Q/W3140.htm
Click to expand...

the link above and the hanshape 'C' ...That's not the definition of gay/lesbian as queer. Those signs are described as 'odd / strange'

We Queers are not odd / strange :crazy: :)
 
EyesBlueDeaf said:
the link above and the hanshape 'C' ...That's not the definition of gay/lesbian as queer. Those signs are described as 'odd / strange'

We Queers are not odd / strange :crazy: :)
Click to expand...


I know. I do not use that sign. I was just referring to variations in signing a word. Some people sign it.. you can guess what kind of people they are-- narrow-minded. I also posted the Minnesotan sign which they sign "strange" for "queer" as well. Just to show how some people use politically-incorrect signs for "gay/queer/homosexual"
 
I used that sign with the C handshape the other day, and my friend looked at me all puzzled, and told me it didnt mean gay, and that it did mean strange or odd. So, I blamed it on the internet, and he just laughed. I will stick to the other ones I know.

Teg
 
gnarlydorkette said:
...An interesting variation of "queer" available at http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/Q/W3140.htm
Click to expand...
I have never seen anyone use that sign for "queer" as meaning a homosexual person. I see it used for meaning something is queer as in strange, unusual, or odd. For example, the English sentence, "My goodness, what a queer little lamp that is."

Maybe most of you are too young to remember, but when I was growing up, the word "queer" was commonly used for something that was unusual; it had nothing to do with homosexuality. It became a word to refer to effeminate men because it used to be unusual for men to act that way. Also, the word "gay" just meant happy or cheerful. "Our gay apparel" meant party clothes. It had nothing to do with homosexuality. The meaning of those two English words have been totally twisted. Now everyone thinks they only refer to homosexuals. :roll:
 
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