Britpickers

[circ_bamboo]

What's a slang-but-not-derisive term for someone (male) who is gay, that would be commonly in use by, say, a London DI somewhere between 45 and 55?

I don't trust my googling and FSM only knows how long it's been since I've seen the British QaF.

Conversely, does 'queer' have the same variety of meanings in the UK as it does here in the US (old-fashioned derogatorily, just someone who's gay but as reclaimed, either 'gay' or 'somewhere in the QUILTBAG acronym, nonspecifically')?

If not, or if this word/phrase doesn't exist, I can write around it.

(If you want/need more info, email's cool: circ dot bamboo at gmail dot com.)

Comments

[fringedweller.livejournal.com]

My dad falls into the very top part of that age bracket, and he uses the word 'poof'or 'poofter'when he feels the need to comment on a gay man. It's not a judgement-free word, but it falls on the lesser side of derogetory, in my opinion. But then, as I'm not gay, I may well be wrong on this.

I can't comment on 'queer' with any authority. I've heard gay celebs on tv refer to themselves as queers, and in uni I studied queer theory as it relates to literature, but other than that I have no idea. Sorry.

[circ-bamboo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It occurs to me that I'm very much Not Qualified to write this story. I can write about being a Youngish Urban Queer Woman in the present-day US with relative accuracy* but these are a.) men, b.) military/police, c.) in the UK, and d.) half a generation (or more) older than I am, so.

Good plan, c.b.

Heh.

*I should disclaim here that I'm not actually queer, but I try to listen to those who are.

[imachar.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...I'm not sure there is a slang term that's completely judgement-free and since I assume you're talking about Lestrade, I'd hate to see him use a term that has derogatory connotations attached to it (and his Met training should have included plenty of community-sensitivity lectures about not using labeling-language - not that such things always take). Both my brother and my niece refer to themselves as queer which suggests to me that it's currently being used as a blanket term in the LGBTA community, but I can't swear to that. My brother will also occasionally call himself a "queen" when he's being deliberately provocative and there's kind of an in-family understanding that allows my other brothers to call him and his husband poofs without any hard feelings...but that wouldn't fly outside the family and, in fact, they only started doing to my BIL as a way of letting him know he was "family" (and I suspect he only tolerated it for that reason).

So tl;dr version...the only time I've ever seen slang terms for gay used in the UK, with no derogatory or judgemental overtones are a) within family settings and b) within the LGBTA communities themselves.

Now having said that, it's not a noun, but you can refer to someone as being "bent" without it being terribly offensive and in fact that's something I can see Lestrade saying. The old expression was "bent as a threepenny bit" but just "bent" works now...as in "that bloke over there; he a bit bent, is he?"

Still if you can get someone from within the LGBTA communities in the UK to give you an answer you're probably on safer ground. If you don't have any luck email me and I'll ask my niece what she thinks.

[circ-bamboo.livejournal.com]

You know what, I'm just going to send you an email because the question/scenario was getting too long in this comment box. :) short version: Thanks!