The rainbow flag is generally seen as a symbol for the entire LGBTQIA+ community.
īy the 1960s, gay men had taken to the term to refer to their own sexual identity, and by today's standards, it is the acceptable way to refer to homosexual people. This trend continued, as in the 1890s, the term "gey cat", which is a Scottish variant of gay, was used to refer to a "vagrant who offered sexual services to women or a young traveler who was new to the road and in the company of an older man." This marked one of the first times that "gay" was used to imply a same-gender relationship. By then, the "carefree" nature of the word became used to refer to people with unrestrained morals and prone to decadence and promiscuity as such, a prostitute became known as a "gay woman", a womanizer as a "gay man", and a brothel as a "gay house". It was not until the 1600s that the term took on a sexual meaning. Dating back to the 12th century, it came from the Old French word "gai", meaning "joyful, happy pleasant, agreeably charming forward, pert light-colored" and was a commonly used term within literature. The word "gay" has had many meanings over the years. The word "homosexuality" comes from the Greek homos, which means "the same".