Gay men

{{Main|LGBT history|Timeline of LGBT history|History of homosexuality}}

Some scholars argue that the terms "homosexual" and "gay" are problematic when applied to men in ancient cultures since, for example, neither Greeks or Romans possessed any one word covering the same semantic range as the modern concept of "homosexuality".{{cite book |last1=Hubbard |first1=Thomas K. |title=Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: a Sourcebook of Basic Documents |year=2003 |url=https://archive.org/details/homosexualitygre00hubb |url-access=limited |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0520234308 |page=[https://archive.org/details/homosexualitygre00hubb/page/n19 1] |chapter=Introduction |quote=The term "homosexuality" is itself problematic when applied to ancient cultures, inasmuch as neither Greek nor Latin possesses any one word covering the same semantic range as the modern concept. The term is adopted in this volume not out of any conviction that a fundamental identity exists between ancient and modern practices or self-conceptions, but as a convenient shorthand linking together a range of different phenomena involving same-gender love and/or sexual activity. To be sure, classical antiquity featured a variety of discrete practices in this regard, each of which enjoyed differing levels of acceptance depending on the time and place.}}{{cite book |last1=Larson |first1=Jennifer |title=Greek and Roman Sexualities: A Sourcebook |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1441196859 |page=15 |chapter=Introduction |date=6 September 2012 |quote=There is no Greek or Latin equivalent for the English word 'homosexual', although the ancients did not fail to notice men who preferred same-sex partners.}} Furthermore, there were diverse sexual practices that varied in acceptance depending on time and place. Other scholars argue that there are significant similarities between ancient and modern male homosexuals.{{cite book |last=Norton |first=Rictor |date=2016 |title=Myth of the Modern Homosexual |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DkTqDAAAQBAJ |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=9781474286923 |access-date=22 January 2021 |archive-date=11 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511080439/https://books.google.com/books?id=DkTqDAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }} The author has made adapted and expanded portions of this book available online as [http://rictornorton.co.uk/extracts.htm A Critique of Social Constructionism and Postmodern Queer Theory] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330132639/http://rictornorton.co.uk/extracts.htm |date=30 March 2019 }}.{{cite book |last=Boswell |first=John |chapter=Revolutions, Universals, and Sexual Categories |editor1-last=Duberman |editor1-first=Martin Bauml |editor2-last=Vicinus |editor2-first=Martha |editor3-last=Chauncey |editor3-first=George Jr. |date=1989 |title=Hidden From History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past |publisher=Penguin Books |pages=17–36 |s2cid=34904667 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190304002205/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d1f4/b4d6d8a37a3470c63ae83bf0d4a5101b08ce.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2019 |chapter-url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d1f4/b4d6d8a37a3470c63ae83bf0d4a5101b08ce.pdf}}

In cultures influenced by Abrahamic religions, the law and the church established sodomy as a transgression against divine law or a crime against nature. The condemnation of anal sex between males, however, predates Christian belief."sow illegitimate and bastard seed in courtesans, or sterile seed in males in defiance of nature." Plato in The Laws (Book VIII p.841 edition of Stephanus) or p.340, edition of Penguin Books, 1972. Throughout the majority of Christian history, most Christian theologians and denominations have considered homosexual behavior as immoral or sinful.{{cite journal |last=Gnuse |first=Robert K. |date=May 2015 |title=Seven Gay Texts: Biblical Passages Used to Condemn Homosexuality |journal=Biblical Theology Bulletin |publisher=SAGE Publications on behalf of Biblical Theology Bulletin Inc. |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=68–87 |doi=10.1177/0146107915577097 |issn=1945-7596 |s2cid=170127256}}{{cite book|last1=Koenig|first1=Harold G.|last2=Dykman|first2=Jackson|title=Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=9780521889520|pages=43|quote=the overwhelming majority of Christian churches have maintained their positions that homosexual behavior is sinful}} Condemnation existed in ancient Greece; for instance Plato, in his Laws, described male homosexuality as 'unnatural' and argued for its prohibition.{{cite book | author=Plato | last2=Saunders | first2=Trevor J. | title=The laws | publisher=Penguin | publication-place=Harmondsworth, Eng. | date=1970 | isbn=0-14-044222-7 | oclc=94283 | page=340 |quote=... sow illegitimate and bastard seed in courtesans, or sterile seed in males in defiance of nature.}} . Many historical figures, including Socrates, Lord Byron, Edward II, and Hadrian,Roman Homosexuality By Craig Arthur Williams, p.60 have had terms such as gay or bisexual applied to them. Some scholars, such as Michel Foucault, have regarded this as risking the anachronistic introduction of a contemporary construction of sexuality foreign to their times,{{cite journal |title=Of Other Spaces |last=Foucault |first=Michel |journal=Diacritics |volume=16 |issue=1 |date=1986 |pages=22–27 |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |doi=10.2307/464648 |jstor=464648 }} though other scholars challenge this.{{cite journal | author = Hubbard Thomas K | title = Review of David M. Halperin, How to Do the History of Homosexuality | journal = Bryn Mawr Classical Review | date=22 September 2003 }}

{{See also|Homosexuality in ancient Egypt|LGBT rights in Africa}}

File:Mastaba of Niankhkhum and Khnumhotep embrace.jpg nose-kissing]]

The first recorded possible homosexual male couple in history is commonly deemed to be Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum, an ancient Egyptian couple, who lived around 2400 BCE. The pair are portrayed in a nose-kissing position, the most intimate pose in Egyptian art, surrounded by what appear to be their heirs.Richard Parkinson: Homosexual Desire and Middle Kingdom Literature. In: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology (JEA), vol. 81, 1995, pp. 57–76. The 6th- or 7th-century Ashmolean Parchment AN 1981.940 provides the only example in the Coptic language of a love spell between men.{{cite web |url=https://papyrus-stories.com/2021/06/15/ancient-same-sex-love-spells/ |title=Ancient Same Sex Love Spells |last=Cromwell |first=Jennifer |date=15 June 2021 |website=papyrus-stories.com |access-date=9 April 2022}} More recently, the European colonization of Africa resulted in the introduction of anti-sodomy laws, and is generally regarded as the central reason why African nations have such stringent laws against gay men today.{{cite web |last1=Buckle |first1=Leah |title=African sexuality and the legacy of imported homophobia |url=https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/african-sexuality-and-legacy-imported-homophobia |website=Stonewall |date=October 2020 |access-date=8 February 2021 |archive-date=9 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609075039/https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/african-sexuality-and-legacy-imported-homophobia |url-status=live }} Three countries or jurisdictions have imposed the death penalty for gay men in Africa. These include Mauritania and several regions in Nigeria and Jubaland.{{cite web|first1=Aengus|last1=Carroll|author2=Lucas Paoli Itaborahy|title=State-Sponsored Homophobia: A World Survey of Laws: criminalisation, protection and recognition of same-sex love|url=https://ilga.org/downloads/2017/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2017_WEB.pdf|website=International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex association|access-date=5 April 2019|date=May 2015|archive-date=23 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423183404/https://ilga.org/downloads/2017/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2017_WEB.pdf|url-status=live}}{{Cite book|url=https://ilga.org/downloads/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2019.pdf|title=State-Sponsored Homophobia 2019|last=Mendos|first=Lucas Ramón|publisher=ILGA|year=2019|location=Geneva|pages=359|access-date=9 February 2021|archive-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222220100/https://ilga.org/downloads/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2019.pdf|url-status=live}}{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/13/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death-2/ |title=Here are the 10 countries where homosexuality may be punished by death |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=16 June 2016 |access-date=25 August 2017 |archive-date=29 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629212705/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/02/24/here-are-the-10-countries-where-homosexuality-may-be-punished-by-death/ |url-status=live }}

{{See also|Homosexuality in ancient Peru}}

File:Larco Museum Erotic Art V.jpg ceramic of two men engaging in oral sex]]

As is true of many other non-Western cultures, it is difficult to determine the extent to which Western notions of sexual orientation apply to Pre-Columbian cultures. Evidence of homoerotic sexual acts between men has been found in many pre-conquest civilizations in Latin America, such as the Aztecs, Mayas, Quechuas, Moches, Zapotecs, the Incas, and the Tupinambá of Brazil.{{citation|last=Pablo|first=Ben|title=Latin America: Colonial|url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/latin_america_colonial.html|year=2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211012339/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/latin_america_colonial.html|periodical=glbtq.com|access-date=1 August 2007|archive-date=11 December 2007|url-status=dead}}{{cite encyclopedia|last=Murray|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen O. Murray|editor-first=Claude J.|editor-last=Summers|encyclopedia=glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture|title=Mexico|url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/mexico.html|access-date=1 August 2007|year=2004|publisher=glbtq, Inc.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102132531/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/mexico.html|archive-date=2 November 2007}}{{Cite book|last=Sigal|first=Pete|title=Infamous Desire: Male Homosexuality in Colonial Latin America|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|year=2003|isbn=9780226757049}} In fact, in Aztec mythology, the deity Xochipilli was a symbol of gay men and male prostitutes.{{cite web |last1=Townsend |first1=Lynette |title=Aztecs and diversity; there was even a god for gay men and prostitutes |url=https://dailyreview.com.au/aztecs-and-diversity-there-was-even-a-god-for-gay-men-and-prostitutes/ |website=Daily Review |date=22 April 2014 |access-date=28 July 2023}}

The Spanish conquistadors expressed horror at discovering sodomy openly practiced among native men and used it as evidence of their supposed inferiority.Mártir de Anglería, Pedro. (1530). [http://www.udel.edu/LAS/Vol3-2Coello.html#Introduction Décadas del Mundo Nuevo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529042703/http://www.udel.edu/LAS/Vol3-2Coello.html#Introduction |date=29 May 2010 }}. Quoted by Coello de la Rosa, Alexandre. "Good Indians", "Bad Indians", "What Christians?": The Dark Side of the New World in Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés (1478–1557), Delaware Review of Latin American Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2002. The conquistadors talked extensively of sodomy among the natives to depict them as savages and hence justify their conquest and forced conversion to Christianity. As a result of the growing influence and power of the conquistadors, many Native leaders started condemning homosexual acts themselves. During the period following European colonization, homosexuality was prosecuted by the Inquisition, sometimes leading to death sentences on the charges of sodomy, and the practices became clandestine. Many homosexual men went into heterosexual marriages to keep appearances, and some turned to the clergy to escape public scrutiny.{{cite book |title=Concise History of Mexico |last=Hamnett |first=Brian R. |year=1999 |publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press |location=Port Chester NY US |isbn=978-0-521-58120-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof0000hamn/page/63 63–95] |url=https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof0000hamn|url-access=registration }}

During the Mexican Inquisition, after a series of denunciations, authorities arrested 123 men in 1658 on suspicion of homosexuality. Although many escaped, the Royal Criminal Court sentenced fourteen men from different social and ethnic backgrounds to death by public burning, in accordance to the law passed by Isabella the Catholic in 1497. The sentences were carried out together on one day, 6 November 1658. The records of these trials and those that occurred in 1660, 1673 and 1687, suggest that Mexico City, like many other large cities at the time had an active underworld.{{cite encyclopedia |editor=Jose Rogelio Alvarez |encyclopedia=Enciclopedia de Mexico |title=Inquisicion |year=2000 |edition=2000 |language=Spanish |publisher=Sabeca International Investment Corp. |volume=VII |location=Mexico City |isbn=1-56409-034-5 }}

File:A youth about to penetrate a compliant boy, on an elegant terrace by moonlight V0047308.jpg, date unknown.]]

In East Asia, same-sex relations between men has been noted since the earliest recorded history. Homosexuality in China, known as the passions of the cut peach and various other euphemisms, has been recorded since approximately 600 BCE. Male homosexuality was mentioned in many famous works of Chinese literature. The instances of same-sex affection and sexual interactions described in the classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber seem as familiar to observers in the present as do equivalent stories of romances between heterosexual people during the same period. Confucianism, being primarily a social and political philosophy, focused little on sexuality, whether homosexual or heterosexual. Ming dynasty literature, such as Bian Er Chai (弁而釵/弁而钗), portray homosexual relationships between men as more enjoyable and more "harmonious" than heterosexual relationships.Kang, Wenqing. Obsession: male same-sex relations in China, 1900–1950, Hong Kong University Press. Page 2 Writings from the Liu Song dynasty by Wang Shunu claimed that homosexuality was as common as heterosexuality in the late 3rd century China.{{cite book|first=Song|last=Geng|title=The fragile scholar: power and masculinity in Chinese culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ei4PJ92qy6IC&pg=PA1443|year=2004|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|isbn=978-962-209-620-2|page=144|access-date=22 January 2021|archive-date=26 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226192831/https://books.google.com/books?id=ei4PJ92qy6IC&pg=PA1443|url-status=live}} Opposition to male homosexuality in China originates in the medieval Tang dynasty (618–907), attributed to the rising influence of Christian and Islamic values,Hinsch, Bret. (1990). Passions of the Cut Sleeve. University of California Press. p. 77-78. but did not become fully established until the Westernization efforts of the late Qing dynasty and the Republic of China.Kang, Wenqing. Obsession: male same-sex relations in China, 1900–1950, Hong Kong University Press. Page 3

{{further|Greek love|Homosexuality in ancient Greece|Homosexuality in ancient Rome|Timeline of LGBT history in the United Kingdom|Homosexuality in medieval Europe}}

File:The Death of Hyacinthos.jpg by Jean Broc (1801)]]

The earliest Western documents (in the form of literary works, art objects, and mythographic materials) concerning same-sex male relationships are derived from ancient Greece. City states varied in their legal approach to pederasty.{{Cite book |title=Law, Sexuality, and Society |url=https://www.cambridge.org/universitypress/subjects/classical-studies/ancient-history/law-sexuality-and-society-enforcement-morals-classical-athens |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=Cambridge University Press & Assessment |language=en}}{{Page needed|date=May 2025}} In Athens, laws were eventually enacted to curb pederasty and homosexuality in general, but not prohibit every instance of it. {{Cite book |title=Law, Sexuality, and Society |url=https://www.cambridge.org/universitypress/subjects/classical-studies/ancient-history/law-sexuality-and-society-enforcement-morals-classical-athens |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=Cambridge University Press & Assessment |language=en}}{{Page needed|date=May 2025}}

In Ancient Rome, male homosexuality is documented through pederasty, but male sexual passivity was criticized; pederastic attentions were considered legitimate only if it is directed towards current or former slaves.{{Citation |last=Hubbard |first=Thomas K. |title=Historical Views of Homosexuality: Roman Empire |date=2020-03-31 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics |url=https://oxfordre.com/politics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-1243 |access-date=2025-05-17 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1243 |isbn=978-0-19-022863-7}} The Hellenophile emperor Hadrian is renowned for his relationship with Antinous, but the Christian emperor Theodosius I decreed a law on 6 August 390, condemning passive males to be burned at the stake.{{cite book|first=Marilyn|last=Skinner|title=Sexuality in Greek and Roman Culture|series=Ancient Cultures|edition=2nd|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1-4443-4986-3|year=2013}}{{cite book |title=Ancient Rome: A Military and Political History |first=Christopher S. |last=Mackay |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 }} In 558 C.E., The Emperor Justinian expanded the proscription to the active partner as well, warning that such conduct can lead to the destruction of cities through the "wrath of God"{{Cite book |last=Bailey |first=Derrick Sherwin |url=https://archive.org/details/homosexualitywes0000bail/mode/2up |title=Homosexuality and the Western Christian tradition |date=1975 |publisher=Hamden, Conn. : Archon Books |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-208-01492-4}}

Some scholars argue that there are examples of male homosexual love in ancient literature, such as Achilles and Patroclus in the Iliad.{{cite journal |last1=Morales |first1=Manuel Sanz |last2=Mariscal |first2=Gabriel Laguna |title=The Relationship between Achilles and Patroclus according to Chariton of Aphrodisias |journal=The Classical Quarterly |date=2003 |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=292–295 |doi=10.1093/cq/53.1.292 |jstor=3556498 |issn=0009-8388 }}

File:Claude Marie Dubufe-Apollon et Cyparisse.jpgn et Cyparisse by Claude Marie Dubufe, 1821]]

During the Renaissance, wealthy cities in northern Italy—Florence and Venice in particular—were renowned for their widespread practice of same-sex love, engaged in by a considerable part of the male population and constructed along the classical pattern of Greece and Rome.Rocke, Michael, (1996), Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and male Culture in Renaissance Florence, {{ISBN|0-19-512292-5}}Ruggiero, Guido, (1985), The Boundaries of Eros, {{ISBN|0-19-503465-1}} But even as many of the male population were engaging in same-sex relationships, the authorities, under the aegis of the Officers of the Night court, were prosecuting, fining, and imprisoning a good portion of that population.

From the second half of the 13th century, death was the punishment for male homosexuality in most of Europe.{{Cite book

| first = Lester R.

| last = Kurtz

| title = Encyclopedia of violence, peace, & conflict

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TG2kN033mDkC&pg=PA140

| publisher = Academic Press

| year = 1999

| page = 140

| isbn = 0-12-227010-X

| access-date = 22 January 2021

| archive-date = 14 April 2021

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210414054812/https://books.google.com/books?id=TG2kN033mDkC&pg=PA140

| url-status = live

}}

The relationships of socially prominent figures, such as King James I and the Duke of Buckingham, served to highlight the issue,

{{cite book

| last1 = Bergeron

| first1 = David M.

| chapter = 4: George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham

| title = King James and Letters of Homoerotic Desire

| location = Iowa City

| publisher = University of Iowa Press

| date = 2002

| isbn = 9781587292729

| quote = By all sensible accounts, Buckingham became James's last and greatest lover.

}} including in anonymously authored street pamphlets: "The world is chang'd I know not how, For men Kiss Men, not Women now; ... Of J. the First and Buckingham: He, true it is, his Wives Embraces fled, To slabber his lov'd Ganimede" (Mundus Foppensis, or The Fop Display'd, 1691).

{{further|LGBT people and Islam|Jewish views on homosexuality|LGBT history in Turkey}}

File:An ottoman miniature from the book Sawaqub al-Manaquib depicting Homosexuality.jpg between young men (see: Gender and sexual minorities in the Ottoman Empire)]]

In ancient Sumer, a set of priests known as gala worked in the temples of the goddess Inanna, where they performed elegies and lamentations.{{cite book|last=Leick|first=Gwendolyn|title=Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=978-1-134-92074-7|location=New York City, New York|orig-year=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKoWblE4pd0C&pg=PA64|access-date=22 January 2021|archive-date=14 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414055100/https://books.google.com/books?id=WKoWblE4pd0C&pg=PA64|url-status=live}}{{rp|285}} Gala took female names, spoke in the eme-sal dialect, which was traditionally reserved for women, and appear to have engaged in homosexual intercourse.{{cite book|last1=Roscoe|first1=Will|last2=Murray|first2=Stephen O.|date=1997|title=Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History, and Literature|location=New York City, New York|publisher=New York University Press|isbn=0-8147-7467-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Zw-AAAAQBAJ&q=Gordon+1959+gala&pg=PA65|pages=65–66|access-date=28 January 2021|archive-date=10 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310000906/https://books.google.com/books?id=6Zw-AAAAQBAJ&q=Gordon+1959+gala&pg=PA65|url-status=live}} The Sumerian sign for gala was a ligature of the signs for "penis" and "anus". One Sumerian proverb reads: "When the gala wiped off his ass [he said], 'I must not arouse that which belongs to my mistress [i.e., Inanna].{{'"}} In later Mesopotamian cultures, kurgarrū and assinnu were male servants of the goddess Ishtar (Inanna's East Semitic equivalent), who dressed in female clothing and performed war dances in Ishtar's temples. Several Akkadian proverbs seem to suggest that they may have also engaged in homosexual intercourse. In ancient Assyria, male homosexuality is documented. It is thought that ancient Assyria (2nd millennium BC to 1st millennium AD) viewed homosexuality as negative and at least criminal,{{Cite journal |last=Honeycutt |first=Kevin S. |date=2022-06-01 |title=Bertrand de Jouvenel's Philosophy of Individual Liberty |url=https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/jeeh-2022-0016/html |journal=Journal des Économistes et des Études Humaines |language=en |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=167–182 |doi=10.1515/jeeh-2022-0016 |issn=2153-1552}} with the religious codes of Zoroastrianism forbidding homosexuality.{{Cite web |last=Casey |date=2016-06-07 |title=Queer in the Age of the Queen: Gender and Sexuality of the Mid Modern Period in Victorian England and North America |url=https://mollybrown.org/queer-in-the-age-of-the-queen-gender-and-sexuality-of-the-mid-modern-period-in-victorian-england-and-north-america/ |access-date=2025-05-17 |website=Molly Brown House Museum |language=en-US}} Some religious texts contain prayers for divine blessings on homosexual relationships.Gay Rights Or Wrongs: A Christian's Guide to Homosexual Issues and Ministry, by Mike Mazzalonga, 1996, p.11 The Almanac of Incantations contained prayers favoring on an equal basis the love of a man for a woman, of a woman for a man, and of a man for man.Pritchard, p. 181.

The use of gay to mean a "homosexual" man was first used as an extension of its application to prostitution: a gay boy was a young man or adolescent serving male clients.{{Cite book|title=Gay and Lesbian Washington, D.C.|last=Muzzy|first=Frank|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2005|isbn=978-0738517537|pages=7}} Similarly, a gay cat was a young man apprenticed to an older hobo and commonly exchanging sex and other services for protection and tutelage. The application to homosexuality was also an extension of the word's sexualized connotation of "uninhibited", which implied a willingness to disregard conventional sexual mores. In court in 1889, the prostitute John Saul stated: "I occasionally do odd-jobs for different gay people."{{Cite journal|url = https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_lesbian_and_gay_studies/v005/5.3kaplan.html|title = Who's Afraid Of John Saul? Urban Culture and the Politics of Desire in Late Victorian London|last = Kaplan|first = Morris|date = 1999|journal = GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies|volume = 5|issue = 3|pages = 267–314|doi = 10.1215/10642684-5-3-267|s2cid = 140452093|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151112123013/http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_lesbian_and_gay_studies/v005/5.3kaplan.html|archive-date = 12 November 2015|url-status=live|url-access = subscription}}

Bringing Up Baby (1938) was the first film to use the word gay in an apparent reference to homosexuality. In a scene in which Cary Grant's character's clothes have been sent to the cleaners, he is forced to wear a woman's feather-trimmed robe. When another character asks about his robe, he responds, "Because I just went gay all of a sudden!" Since this was a mainstream film at a time, when the use of the word to refer to cross-dressing (and, by extension, homosexuality) would still be unfamiliar to most film-goers, the line can also be interpreted to mean, "I just decided to do something frivolous."{{cite web|url=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG03/comedy/bringingupbaby.html|title=Bringing Up Baby|access-date=24 November 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060630103200/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG03/comedy/bringingupbaby.html|archive-date=30 June 2006|url-status=dead}}

In 1950, the earliest reference found to date for the word gay as a self-described name for male homosexuals came from Alfred A. Gross, executive secretary for the George W. Henry Foundation, who said in the June 1950 issue of Sir magazine: "I have yet to meet a happy homosexual. They have a way of describing themselves as gay, but the term is a misnomer. Those who are habitues of the bars frequented by others of the kind, are about the saddest people I've ever seen.""The Truth About Homosexuals", Sir, June 1950, Sara H. Carleton, New York, p. 57.

{{Main article|Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany}}

File:Pink Triangle Sydney,.jpg was worn by gay men during the Holocaust.]]

Gay men were one of the primary victims of the Nazi Holocaust. Historically, the earliest legal step towards the Nazi persecution of male homosexuality was 1871's Paragraph 175, a law passed after the unification of the German Empire. Paragraph 175 read: "An unnatural sex act committed between persons of male sex ... is punishable by imprisonment; the loss of civil rights might also be imposed." The law was interpreted in varying ways in Germany until 23 April 1880, when the Reichsgericht ruled that criminal homosexual acts involved either anal, oral, or intercrural sex between two men. Anything less (such as kissing and cuddling) was deemed harmless play.{{cite book|last=Giles|first=Geoffrey J|title=Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany|date=2001|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|page=240}}

Franz Gürtner, the Reich Justice Minister amended Paragraph 175 to address "loopholes" in the law after the Night of the Long Knives. The 1935 version of Paragraph 175 declared "expressions" of homosexuality as prosecutable crimes. The most important change to the law was the definitional shift of male homosexuality from "An unnatural sex act committed between persons of male sex" to instead "A male who commits a sex offense with another male." This expanded the reach of the law to persecute gay men as a people group, rather than male homosexuality as a sexual act. Kissing, mutual masturbation and love-letters between men were now seen as legitimate reasons for the police to make arrests. The law never defined a "sex offence", leaving it to interpretation.{{cite book|last=Giles|first=Geoffrey J.|title=Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany|date=2001|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|pages=240–242}}

Between 1933 and 1945, an estimated 100,000 men were arrested as homosexuals under the Nazi regime, of whom some 50,000 were officially sentenced. Most of these men served time in prison, while an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 were incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps. Rüdiger Lautmann argued that the death rate of homosexuals in concentration camps may have been as high as 60%.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} Gay men in the camps suffered an unusual degree of cruelty by their captors and were regularly used as the subjects for Nazi medical experiments as scientists tried to find a "cure" for homosexuality.{{Cite web|date=27 January 2020|title=Remembering LGBT people murdered in the Holocaust|url=https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/monday-remembering-lgbt-people-murdered-holocaust|access-date=22 July 2020|website=Morning Star|language=en|archive-date=27 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127064438/https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/monday-remembering-lgbt-people-murdered-holocaust|url-status=live}}{{better source needed|better to use a scholarly source than an opinion piece in a weak source|date=May 2023}}

{{See also|HIV/AIDS in the United States}}

File:Act Up.jpg was founded by Larry Kramer to fight for medical funding and research on the HIV/AIDS crisis.]]

The HIV/AIDS epidemic is considered the deadliest period in modern history for gay men, and the generation of young gay men who died in the crisis is known as the "lost generation".{{cite web |last1=Rosenfeld |first1=Dana |title=The AIDS epidemic's lasting impact on gay men |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/aids-epidemic-lasting-impact-gay-men/ |website=The British Academy |access-date=6 February 2021 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126061642/https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/aids-epidemic-lasting-impact-gay-men/ |url-status=live }} At its start, the epidemic was particularly severe in the United States. In 1980, San Francisco resident Ken Horne was reported to the CDC with Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). He was retroactively identified as the first patient of the AIDS epidemic in the US.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070307005805/http://www.kqed.org/topics/history/heritage/lgbt/timeline.jsp KQED LGBT Timeline]. Kqed.org. Retrieved on 3 December 2011. In 1981, Lawrence Mass became the first journalist in the world to write about the epidemic in the New York Native.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/coveringplague00jame|url-access=registration|title=Covering the Plague: AIDS and the American Media|last=Kinsella|first=James|date=1989|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=9780813514826|language=en|page=[https://archive.org/details/coveringplague00jame/page/28 28]}} Later that year, the CDC reported a cluster of Pneumocystis pneumonia in five gay men in Los Angeles.{{cite journal | author = Centers for Disease Control | title = Pneumocystis pneumonia--Los Angeles | journal = MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report | volume = 30 | issue = 21 | pages = 250–2 | date = June 1981 | pmid = 6265753 | url = https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/reports/mmwr/pdf/mmwr05jun81.pdf | access-date = 7 February 2021 | archive-date = 13 April 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100413122105/http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/reports/mmwr/pdf/mmwr05jun81.pdf | url-status = live }} The next month, The New York Times ran the headline: "Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals".{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/03/us/rare-cancer-seen-in-41-homosexuals.html |title=Rare cancer seen in 41 homosexuals |date=3 July 1981 |first=Lawrence K. |last=Altman |work=The New York Times |access-date=20 February 2012 |archive-date=12 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112041503/http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/03/us/rare-cancer-seen-in-41-homosexuals.html |url-status=live }} The illness was soon termed Gay Related Immunodeficiency (G.R.I.D.), because it was believed to only affect gay men.{{cite news |last1=Altman |first1=Lawrence K. |title=New Homosexual Disorder Worries Health Officials |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/11/science/new-homosexual-disorder-worries-health-officials.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=11 May 1982 |access-date=7 February 2021 |archive-date=30 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430231803/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/11/science/new-homosexual-disorder-worries-health-officials.html |url-status=live }} In June 1982, Larry Kramer founded the Gay Men's Health Crisis to provide food and support to gay men dying in New York City. During the early years of the AIDS crisis, gay men were treated pitilessly in hospital quarantine wards, left alone without contact for weeks at a time.{{cite book |last1=Coker Burks |first1=Ruth |title=All The Young Men |date=December 2020 |publisher=Grove Press |location=New York City |isbn=9780802157249 |edition=1}}

File:ACT UP Demonstration in front of Building 1 (14356036431).jpg radical direct action protesting the Bush Administration's slow pace of federal research for AIDS]]

During the early years of the epidemic, there was significant misinformation surrounding the illness. Rumors swirled that being in the same room or being touched by a gay man could lead one to contract HIV. It was not until April 1984 that the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler announced in a press conference that the American scientist Robert Gallo had discovered the probable cause of AIDS, the retrovirus which would be named human immunodeficiency virus or HIV. In September 1985, during his second term in office, US President Ronald Reagan publicly mentioned AIDS for the first time after being asked about his administration's lack of medical research funding for the crisis.{{Cite web|url=https://reaganlibrary.archives.gov/archives/speeches/1985/91785c.htm|title=The President's News Conference, September 17, 1985|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924105403/https://reaganlibrary.archives.gov/archives/speeches/1985/91785c.htm|archive-date=24 September 2016|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/18/us/reagan-defends-financing-for-aids.html|title=Reagan Defends Financing for AIDS|date=18 September 1985|newspaper=The New York Times|last1=Boffey|first1=Philip|access-date=7 February 2021|archive-date=18 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318010843/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/18/us/reagan-defends-financing-for-aids.html|url-status=live}} Four months later, Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stated, "One million Americans have already been infected with the virus and that this number will jump to at least 2 million or 3 million within 5 to 10 years."{{cite news|first=Philip|last=Boffey|title=AIDS In the Future: Experts Say Deaths Will Climb Sharply|date=14 January 1986|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9A0DE4D81338F937A25752C0A960948260&scp=31&sq=AIDS&st=nyt|work=The New York Times|access-date=4 May 2008|archive-date=28 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228044835/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9A0DE4D81338F937A25752C0A960948260&scp=31&sq=AIDS&st=nyt|url-status=live}} Gay men, trans women, and bisexual men faced the brunt of deaths during the first decade of the crisis. Activists claimed the government was responding to the epidemic with apathy because of the perceived "social undesirability" of these groups. To address this perceived apathy, activists such as Vito Russo, Larry Kramer, and others,{{cite web |author= |title=Queers Read This |url=http://www.qrd.org/qrd/misc/text/queers.read.this |website=QRD |access-date=14 February 2021 |archive-date=17 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180117171534/http://www.qrd.org/qrd/misc/text/queers.read.this |url-status=live }} took more militant approaches to AIDS activism, organizing direct action through organizations like ACT UP in order to force pharmaceutical corporations and government agencies to respond to the epidemic with more urgency. ACT UP eventually grew into a transnational organization, with 140 chapters around the world,{{cite web |title=ACT UP 1987-2012 |url=https://actupny.com/actions/ |website=ACT UP NY |access-date=8 February 2021 |archive-date=5 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205162908/https://actupny.com/actions/ |url-status=live }} while the AIDS crisis ultimately became a global epidemic. By 2019, complications related to AIDS had taken 32.7 million lives worldwide.{{cite web |title=Global HIV & AIDS statistics — 2020 fact sheet |url=https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet |website=UN AID |publisher=United Nations |access-date=8 February 2021 |archive-date=4 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204021652/https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet |url-status=live }}

File:KamauWainaina2008.jpg (right), a Kenyan writer, who came out in 2014 in response to a wave of anti-gay laws in Africa]]

There are 54 nations in Africa recognized by the United Nations and/or African Union. In 34 of these states, male homosexuality is explicitly outlawed.{{cite web|title=State Sponsored Homophobia 2016: A world survey of sexual orientation laws: criminalisation, protection and recognition|url=http://ilga.org/downloads/02_ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2016_ENG_WEB_150516.pdf|work=International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association|access-date=19 May 2016|date=17 May 2016|archive-date=2 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902183618/http://ilga.org/downloads/02_ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2016_ENG_WEB_150516.pdf|url-status=live}} In a 2015 report, Human Rights Watch noted that in Benin and the Central African Republic, male homosexuality is not explicitly outlawed, but both have laws which are applied differently for gay men than for straight men.{{cite web |url=https://africacheck.org/reports/same-sex-relations-illegal-in-34-african-states-likely-35/ |title=How many African states outlaw same-sex relations? (At least 34) |last=Ferreira |first=Louise |date=28 July 2015 |access-date=28 August 2015 |archive-date=22 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422182321/https://africacheck.org/reports/same-sex-relations-illegal-in-34-african-states-likely-35/ |url-status=live }} In Mauritania, northern Nigeria, Somaliland, and Somalia, male homosexuality is punishable by death.{{Cite web|last=Boni|first=di Federico|title=Sudan, cancellata la pena di morte per le persone omosessuali - Gay.it|url=https://www.gay.it/sudan-cancellata-pena-morte-persone-omosessuali|access-date=26 January 2021|website=www.gay.it|date=16 July 2020 |language=it-IT|archive-date=16 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716141717/https://www.gay.it/sudan-cancellata-pena-morte-persone-omosessuali|url-status=live}} In Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Uganda, gay men receive life imprisonment for homosexual acts, though the law is not regularly enforced in Sierra Leone. In Nigeria, legislation has also made it illegal for family members, allies, and friends of gay men to openly express support for homosexuality, and the country is generally recognized for its "cold-blooded" attitudes toward gay men.{{cite web |last1=Akuson |first1=Richard |title=Nigeria is a cold-blooded country for gay men – I have the scars to prove it |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/17/opinions/nigeria-opinion-lgbt-attack/index.html |website=CNN |date=17 April 2019 |access-date=13 February 2021 |archive-date=21 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321183007/https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/17/opinions/nigeria-opinion-lgbt-attack/index.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Adebayo |first1=Bukola |title=Nigeria is trying 47 men arrested in a hotel under its anti-gay laws |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/12/africa/nigeria-men-trial-anti-gay-law-intl/index.html |website=CNN |date=12 December 2019 |access-date=13 February 2021 |archive-date=24 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224211509/https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/12/africa/nigeria-men-trial-anti-gay-law-intl/index.html |url-status=live }} Nigerian law states that any heterosexual person "who administers, witnesses, abets or aids" male homosexual activity should receive a 10-year jail sentence.{{cite web |url=http://www.laprogressive.com/african-anti-gay-laws/ |title=African Anti-Gay Laws |publisher=Laprogressive.com |date=20 February 2014 |access-date=24 February 2015 |archive-date=5 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105200514/https://www.laprogressive.com/african-anti-gay-laws/ |url-status=live }} In Uganda, Christian fundamentalist organizations from the United States funded the introduction of Kill the Gays legislation to impose the death penalty for gay men.{{cite web |last1=Wu |first1=Tim |title=Evangelizing Hatred |url=https://slate.com/culture/2013/01/god-loves-uganda-shows-how-american-christians-export-homophobia-video.html |website=Slate |date=21 January 2013 |access-date=14 February 2021 |archive-date=3 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203174545/https://slate.com/culture/2013/01/god-loves-uganda-shows-how-american-christians-export-homophobia-video.html |url-status=live }} The bill was ruled unconstitutional by the Ugandan Supreme Court in 2014, but retains support in the country and has been reconsidered for implementation.{{cite news |last1=Bhalla |first1=Nita |title=Uganda plans bill imposing death penalty for gay sex |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uganda-lgbt-rights/uganda-plans-bill-imposing-death-penalty-for-gay-sex-idUSKBN1WP1GN |website=Reuters |date=10 October 2019 |access-date=14 February 2021 |archive-date=2 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202214546/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-uganda-lgbt-rights/uganda-plans-bill-imposing-death-penalty-for-gay-sex-idUSKBN1WP1GN |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Fitzsimons |first1=Tim |title=Amid 'Kill the Gays' bill uproar, Ugandan LGBTQ activist is killed |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/amid-kill-gays-bill-uproar-ugandan-lgbtq-activist-killed-n1067336 |website=NBC News |date=16 October 2019 |access-date=14 February 2021 |archive-date=2 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202194746/https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/amid-kill-gays-bill-uproar-ugandan-lgbtq-activist-killed-n1067336 |url-status=live }} Of all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa has the most liberal attitudes toward gay men. In 2006, South Africa became the fifth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, and the Constitution of South Africa guarantees gay men and lesbians full equal rights and protections. South Africa is the only country in Africa where LGBT discrimination is constitutionally forbidden; however, social discrimination against South African gay men persists in rural parts of the country, where high levels of religious tradition continue to fuel prejudice and violence.{{cite journal |last1=Daniels |first1=Joseph |title=Rural school experiences of South African gay and transgender youth |journal=Journal of LGBT Youth |date=5 March 2019 |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=355–379 |doi=10.1080/19361653.2019.1578323 |s2cid=151030057 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2019.1578323 |access-date=14 February 2021 |archive-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309213124/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19361653.2019.1578323 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}

File:Buju Banton (Apollo theater, 2007).jpg has been criticized for violently homophobic messages in his music (see: Stop Murder Music).{{cite web |last=Nelson |first=Leah |url=http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/winter/harmonies-of-hate |title=Jamaica's Anti-Gay 'Murder Music' Carries Violent Message |publisher= Southern Poverty Law Center |access-date=19 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302024307/http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/winter/harmonies-of-hate |archive-date=2 March 2013 |url-status=live }}]]

In the mainland Americas (both North and South), male homosexuality is legal in every country (except Guyana). In the Caribbean, however, nine nations have criminal punishment for "buggery" on their statute books. These countries include Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, and Jamaica. In Jamaica, sexual intercourse between men is legally punishable by imprisonment, though the law's repeal is pending. Sexual intercourse between women is already legal,{{cite web |title=LGBT Vacations in Jamaica |url=https://www.responsiblevacation.com/vacations/lgbt/travel-guide/lgbt-jamaica |website=Responsible Travel |publisher=Association of British Travel Agents |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=15 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210315182106/https://www.responsiblevacation.com/vacations/lgbt/travel-guide/lgbt-jamaica |url-status=live }} though lesbians in Jamaica still experience a high level of social stigma.{{cite web |title=Human Rights Violations of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people in Jamaica |url=https://www.law.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2351/f/downloads/Shadow%20Report%20Jamaica%20Final.pdf |website=The George Washington University Law School |publisher=United Nations Human Rights Committee |access-date=22 February 2021 |archive-date=18 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518084736/https://www.law.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2351/f/downloads/Shadow%20Report%20Jamaica%20Final.pdf |url-status=live }}

In Jamaica, reports of vigilante violence and torture against gay men have been reported by the Jamaican police. In 2013, Amnesty International reported that "Gay men and lesbian women have been beaten, cut, burned, raped and shot on account of their sexuality. ... We are concerned that these reports are just the tip of the iceberg. Many gay men and women in Jamaica are too afraid to go to the authorities and seek help".{{Cite web |url=http://gaytoday.com/events/060104ev.asp |title=Jamaica's Gays: Protection from Homophobes Urgently Needed|publisher= Amnesty International, compiled by GayToday.com |access-date=14 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924155136/http://gaytoday.com/events/060104ev.asp |archive-date=24 September 2015 |url-status=live }} As a result of this violence, hundreds of gay men from Jamaica sought to emigrate to countries with better human rights records.{{Cite web |url=http://goqnotes.com/top2007/top03_120107.html |title=Gay Jamaican wins U.S. asylum| work= Qnotes Online |access-date=14 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419041348/http://goqnotes.com/top2007/top03_120107.html |archive-date=19 April 2015 |url-status=live }} A 2016 poll from J-Flag showed that 88 percent of those polled disapprove of homosexuality,{{Cite web|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8d24bfa.html|title=Freedom in the World 2018 - Jamaica|date=27 August 2018|website=Refworld|language=en|access-date=2 January 2020|archive-date=15 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015014004/https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8d24bfa.html|url-status=live}} though since 2018, discriminatory attitudes have decreased slightly.{{cite web |last1=Faber |first1=Tom |title=Welcome to Jamaica – no longer 'the most homophobic place on Earth' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/dec/06/jamaica-lgbt-rights-activists-pride-two-decades-of-progress-j-flag |website=The Guardian |date=6 December 2018 |access-date=13 February 2021 |archive-date=6 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181206105251/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/dec/06/jamaica-lgbt-rights-activists-pride-two-decades-of-progress-j-flag |url-status=live }}

In the Caribbean, like in other developing countries around the world, homosexual identity is often associated with Westernization,{{Cite web

| title = Dangerous Living

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| url = http://www.firstrunfeatures.com/dangerousliving.html

| access-date = 5 February 2010

| archive-date = 11 November 2009

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091111172340/http://firstrunfeatures.com/dangerousliving.html

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}} and as a result, homophobia is believed to be an anti-colonial tool. Wayne Marshall wrote that gay men are believed to be "decadent products of the West" and "are thus to be resisted alongside other forms of colonization, cultural or political".{{cite journal |last1=Marshall |first1=Wayne |title=Dem Bow, Dembow, Dembo: Translation and Transnation in Reggaetón |journal=Song and Popular Culture |date=2008 |volume=53 |pages=131–151 |jstor=20685604 }} Wayne cites the example of the Jamaican dancehall hit "Dem Bow" by Shabba Ranks, which calls for the violent murder of gay men alongside a call for the "freedom for Black people". Marshall notes the irony of this ideological position, considering the historical evidence that homophobia was introduced to colonies by European colonists.{{cite news |last1=Evaristo |first1=Bernardine |author-link=Bernardine Evaristo|title=The idea that African homosexuality was a colonial import is a myth |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/08/african-homosexuality-colonial-import-myth |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=14 December 2018 |date=8 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915001710/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/08/african-homosexuality-colonial-import-myth |archive-date=15 September 2018 |url-status=live }} Nevertheless, Caribbean scholars have noted the importance of opposition to gay men for Jamaican male gender construction. Kingsley Ragashanti Stewart, a professor of anthropology at the University of the West Indies, writes, "A lot of Jamaican men, if you call them a homosexual, ... will immediately get violent. It's the worst insult you could give to a Jamaican man."{{cite news | last=Fink | first=Micah | title=How AIDS Became a Caribbean Crisis | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/09/how-aids-became-a-caribbean-crisis/7699 | newspaper=The Atlantic | date=September 2009 | access-date=8 March 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110809103824/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/09/how-aids-became-a-caribbean-crisis/7699/ | archive-date=9 August 2011 | url-status=live }} Stewart writes that homophobia influences Caribbean society even at the micro level of language. He writes of urban youth vernacular, "It's like if you say, 'Come back here,' they will say, 'No, no, no don't say "come back".' You have to say, 'come forward,' because come back is implying that you're 'coming in the back,' which is how gay men have sex."

File:LGBT in Chechnya.jpg mothers mourning their disappeared sons, draped in LGBT and Chechen flags]]

In Eastern Europe, there has been a steady erosion of rights for gay men over the course of the last decade. In the Russian republic of Chechnya, gay men have been subjected to forced disappearances—secret abductions, imprisonment, torture—and extrajudicial killing by authorities. An unknown number of men, detained due to suspicion of them being gay or bisexual, have died while held in concentration camps.{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Lydia |title=Chechnya detains 100 gay men in first concentration camps since the Holocaust |url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/chechnya-detains-100-gay-men-first-concentration-camps-since-holocaust-1616363 |access-date=16 April 2017 |work=International Business Times UK |date=10 April 2017 |archive-date=7 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107082617/https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/chechnya-detains-100-gay-men-first-concentration-camps-since-holocaust-1616363 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Reynolds |first1=Daniel |title=Report: Chechnya Is Torturing Gay Men in Concentration Camps |url=http://www.advocate.com/world/2017/4/10/report-chechyna-torturing-gay-men-concentration-camps |access-date=16 April 2017 |work=The Advocate |date=10 April 2017 |archive-date=16 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616042354/https://www.advocate.com/world/2017/4/10/report-chechyna-torturing-gay-men-concentration-camps |url-status=live }} Independent media and human rights groups have reported that gay men are being sent to clandestine camps in Chechnya, described by one eyewitness as "closed prison, the existence of which no one officially knows".{{cite web|url=https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/04/04/72027-raspravy-nad-chechenskimi-geyami-publikuem-svidetelstva|title=Расправы над чеченскими геями (18+)|date=4 April 2017|website=Новая газета - Novayagazeta.ru|access-date=14 January 2019|archive-date=4 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170404195042/https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2017/04/04/72027-raspravy-nad-chechenskimi-geyami-publikuem-svidetelstva|url-status=live}} Some gay men have attempted to flee the region, but have been detained by Russian police and sent back to Chechnya.{{cite news |title=Chechnya: Escaped gay men sent back by Russian police |work=BBC News |date=6 February 2021 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55963898 |access-date=13 February 2021 |archive-date=9 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209071608/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55963898 |url-status=live }} Reports have emerged of prison officials releasing accused gay men from the camps after securing assurances from their families that their families will kill them (at least one man was reported by a witness as having died after returning to his family). These imprisoned men are kept in extremely cramped conditions, with 30 to 40 people detained in one room (two to three metres big), and few are afforded a trial. Witnesses have also reported that the gay men are regularly beaten (with polypropylene pipes below the waist), tortured with electricity, and spat in the face by prison guards. In some cases the process of torture has resulted in the death of the person being tortured.{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/chechnya-gay-men-concentration-camps-torture-detain-nazi-ramzan-kadyrov-chechen-russia-region-a7677901.html|title=People are being beaten and forced to 'sit on bottles' in anti-gay 'camps' in Chechnya|date=11 April 2017|work=The Independent|access-date=13 April 2017|archive-date=14 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414001747/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/chechnya-gay-men-concentration-camps-torture-detain-nazi-ramzan-kadyrov-chechen-russia-region-a7677901.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/04/10/chechnya-has-opened-concentration-camps-for-gay-men/|title=Chechnya has opened concentration camps for gay men|work=PinkNews|access-date=13 April 2017|archive-date=4 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191004111037/https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/04/10/chechnya-has-opened-concentration-camps-for-gay-men/|url-status=live}} As of 2021, the situation in Chechnya continues to worsen for gay men.{{cite web |title=Two Gay Men Returned to Chechnya Face 'Mortal Danger,' Rights Group Says |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/europe_two-gay-men-returned-chechnya-face-mortal-danger-rights-group-says/6201757.html |website=VOA |date=8 February 2021 |publisher=Agence France-Presse |access-date=13 February 2021 |archive-date=8 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208150500/https://www.voanews.com/europe/two-gay-men-returned-chechnya-face-mortal-danger-rights-group-says |url-status=live }} In other countries in Eastern Europe, rights for gay men continue to deteriorate. Polish President Andrzej Duda has pledged to ban teaching about gay men in schools, forbid same-sex marriage and adoption, and establish "LGBT-free zones".{{cite news |last1=Ash |first1=Lucy |title=Inside Poland's 'LGBT-free zones' |work=BBC News |date=20 September 2020 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-54191344 |access-date=13 February 2021 |archive-date=8 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208214030/https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-54191344 |url-status=live }}

A 2017 Pew Research Center poll found that the majority of Orthodox Christians in the Eastern European and former USSR states surveyed believe that homosexuality "should not be accepted by society"; 45% of Orthodox Christians in Greece and 31% in the United States answered the same way.{{cite web |url=https://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/08/orthodox-take-socially-conservative-views-on-gender-issues-homosexuality/ |title=4. Orthodox take socially conservative views on gender issues, homosexuality |date=8 November 2017 |website=Pew Research Center |access-date=18 March 2021}}

{{See also|LGBT rights in the Middle East}}

File:Abdellah Taïa (21e Maghreb des Livres, Paris, 7 et 8 février 2015).jpg has written about the abuse he suffered as a gay child in Morocco.{{cite news |last1=Taïa |first1=Abdellah |title=A Boy to Be Sacrificed |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/opinion/sunday/a-boy-to-be-sacrificed.html |website=The New York Times |date=24 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106175201/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/opinion/sunday/a-boy-to-be-sacrificed.html |access-date=27 February 2021|archive-date=6 January 2021 }}]]

In Southwest Asia and North Africa, gay men face some of the harshest and most hostile laws anywhere in the world. Sex between men is explicitly outlawed in 10 of the 18 "Middle Eastern" countries and is punishable by death in six. According to scholars, recent popular turns toward Islamic fundamentalism has strongly influenced the extreme violence against gay men. While all same-sex activity is legal in Bahrain, Cyprus, the West Bank, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Iraq, male homosexuality is illegal and punishable by imprisonment in Syria, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, and Egypt. Israel is the most progressive concerning LGBT rights and recognizing unregistered cohabitation; however, it has faced criticism from academics such as Sarah Schulman and Jason Ritchie for "pinkwashing."{{Cite web|date=22 December 2019|title=Israel: The Mythical Safe Space For Palestinian LGBTQ Community Members|url=https://raseef22.com/article/1076522-israel-the-mythical-safe-space-for-palestinian-lgbt-community-members|access-date=27 June 2020|website=رصيف 22|archive-date=29 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629165658/https://raseef22.com/article/1076522-israel-the-mythical-safe-space-for-palestinian-lgbt-community-members|url-status=live}}{{cite journal |last1=Ritchie |first1=Jason |title=Pinkwashing, Homonationalism, and Israel-Palestine: The Conceits of Queer Theory and the Politics of the Ordinary: Pinkwashing, Homonationalism, and Israel-Palestine |journal=Antipode |date=2015 |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=616–634 |doi=10.1111/anti.12100|doi-access=free }} And although same-sex marriage is not legal in the country, there is public support for recognizing and registering same-sex marriages performed in other countries."Three-in-Five Israelis Back Same-Sex Marriage". Angus Reid Public Opinion. Retrieved 1 June 2011

Male same-sex activity is also punishable by death in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Qatar. In the Gaza Strip and Yemen, punishment for male homosexuality varies between death and imprisonment depending on the act committed. In 2018, a transnational survey conducted in the region by Pew Research Center found that 80% of people polled believed homosexuality was "morally unacceptable",{{Cite journal|last=El Feki|first=Shereen|date=2015|title=The Arab Bed Spring? Sexual Rights in Troubled times across the Middle East and North Africa.|journal=Reproductive Health Matters|volume=23|issue=46|pages=38–44|doi=10.1016/j.rhm.2015.11.010|jstor=26495864|pmid=26718995|doi-access=free}} though others argue that the true number of people who support rights for gay men is unclear due to fear of backlash and punishment.{{Cite journal|last=Tomen|first=Bihter|date=2018|title=Pembe Caretta: LGBT Rights Claiming in Antalya, Turkey|url=https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/701194|journal=Journal of Middle East Women's Studies |volume= 14|issue=2 |pages=255–258|doi=10.1215/15525864-6680400|s2cid=149701166|via=Project MUSE|url-access=subscription}}

{{See also|LGBT culture}}

File:The Girl Who Lived In The Tree - Look 42.png, Fall 2008]]

Since the early 20th century, gay men, both out and closeted, have worked as some of the world's most influential fashion designers and started some of the most important fashion houses. Cristóbal Balenciaga (b. 1895), who started the Balenciaga brand, was gay{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Be39AQAAQBAJ|title=Encyclopedia of Gay Histories and Cultures|last=Haggerty|first=George|date=5 November 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135585068|language=en|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=21 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062337/https://books.google.com/books?id=Be39AQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}} but remained private about his sexuality for his entire life.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=maQYAAAAQBAJ|title=Fashion and Cultural Studies|last=Kaiser|first=Susan B.|date=1 August 2013|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9780857854315|language=en|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=21 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062335/https://books.google.com/books?id=maQYAAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}} His long-time partner, Franco-Polish millionaire Władzio Jaworowski d'Attainville, set up the fund for him to start the house. After d'Attainville died, Balenciaga's following collection was designed entirely in black to mourn his loss.{{Cite web|title=Balenciaga and Spain by Hamish Bowles, Vogue|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPYUiFNNWtQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/rPYUiFNNWtQ |archive-date=21 December 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=2 January 2021|website=YouTube| date=20 November 2018 }}{{cbignore}} The French fashion designer Christian Dior (b. 1905) was another hugely influential fashion designer of the 20th century.{{cite web |last1=Les Fabian |first1=Brathwaite |title=The 15 Greatest Gay Designers |date=13 February 2015 |url=https://www.queerty.com/the-15-greatest-gay-designers-20150213 |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=11 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211032724/http://www.queerty.com/the-15-greatest-gay-designers-20150213 |url-status=live }} Dior never married nor openly identified as a gay man, however, he was known to frequent the gay cultural scene in Paris and was infamously described by Coco Chanel as never having intimately "known" a woman.{{cite news |last1=Blanks |first1=Tim |title=The Last Temptation Of Christian |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/18/magazine/the-last-temptation-of-christian.html |website=The New York Times Magazine|date=18 August 2002 |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=8 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008130451/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/18/magazine/the-last-temptation-of-christian.html |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Baker |first1=Lindsay |title=The formidable women behind the legendary Christian Dior |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190129-the-formidable-women-behind-the-legendary-christian-dior |website=BBC |date=29 January 2019 |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062406/https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190129-the-formidable-women-behind-the-legendary-christian-dior |url-status=live }} Yves Saint Laurent (b. 1935), also regarded as being among the foremost fashion designers in the twentieth century,{{Cite news |title=Yves Saint Laurent, Who Has Died Aged 71, was, with Coco Chanel, regarded as the Greatest Figure in French Fashion in the 20th Century, and could be said to have Created the Modern Woman's Wardrobe |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2063264/Yves-Saint-Laurent.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080604051842/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2063264/Yves-Saint-Laurent.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 June 2008 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=UK |date=1 June 2008 |access-date=24 July 2010}} was openly gay; his long-time partner was Pierre Berge.{{cite news |last1=Goodwin |first1=Christopher |title=Inside the world of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/inside-the-world-of-yves-saint-laurent-and-pierre-berge-k6mrx5w6v |website=The Times |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=20 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220022822/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/inside-the-world-of-yves-saint-laurent-and-pierre-berge-k6mrx5w6v |url-status=live }} Gianni Versace (b. 1946), an Italian fashion designer and founder of Versace, publicly came out in an interview with The Advocate in July 1995.{{cite magazine |last1=Miller |first1=Julie |title=The Moment Gianni Versace Opened Up About His Sexuality to Press |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/02/versace-american-crime-story-interview-coming-out |magazine=Vanity Fair |date=14 February 2018 |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225054309/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/02/versace-american-crime-story-interview-coming-out |url-status=live }} Versace was murdered in 1997.{{cite magazine |title=The Real Story Behind The Assassination of Gianni Versace and Serial Killer Andrew Cunanan |url=https://time.com/5092574/gianni-versace-andrew-cunanan/ |magazine=Time |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=22 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122101808/https://time.com/5092574/gianni-versace-andrew-cunanan/ |url-status=live }}

A younger generation of gay men gained prominence in the fashion world during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Tom Ford (b. 1961) founded his eponymous brand Tom Ford in 2005 and has stated that he realized he was gay as a young man visiting Studio 54 in the 1980s."Tom Ford: the hard-driven Texan behind the rebirth of Gucci". Agence France-Presse (12 April 2005).Frankel, Susannah. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090419105009/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19990116/ai_n9654111/ "A Bigger Splash"]. The Independent (16 January 1999). Alexander McQueen (b. 1969), who was also openly gay, founded his own label Alexander McQueen in 1992 and was recognized as a fashion prodigy for his revolutionary designs.{{cite web|url=http://alexandermcqueen.com/int/en/servicePages/aboutMcQueen.aspx |title=Biography: Sarah Burton |publisher=alexandermcqueen.com |access-date=24 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108212550/http://alexandermcqueen.com/int/en/servicePages/aboutMcQueen.aspx |archive-date=8 January 2012 }} McQueen said he realized his sexual orientation when he was six years old.{{cite web |url=http://www.glbtq.com/arts/mcqueen_a.html |title=Alexander McQueen Biography |publisher=Glbtq.com |access-date=11 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215194353/http://www.glbtq.com/arts/mcqueen_a.html |archive-date=15 February 2010 }} In 2000, McQueen had a marriage ceremony with his partner George Forsyth, a documentary filmmaker, on a yacht in Ibiza.{{cite news |url=http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article7023593.ece |title=British fashion designer Alexander McQueen found dead at home |work=The Times |first=Philippe |last=Naughton |date=11 February 2010 |access-date=11 February 2010 |location=London |archive-date=15 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615153310/http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article7023593.ece |url-status=dead }} McQueen died by suicide in 2010, shortly after the death of his mother. In recent years, gay men have continued to produce some of the most influential fashion in the world, including by designers such as Jeremy Scott (b. 1975), Jason Wu (b. 1982), and Alexander Wang (b. 1983).{{cite web |last1=Friedman |first1=Vanessa |title=Is Alexander Wang Really the Most Influential Designer in the World? |url=https://runway.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/is-alexander-wang-really-the-most-influential-designer-in-the-world/ |website=The New York Times |date=17 April 2015 |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=26 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226014601/https://runway.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/is-alexander-wang-really-the-most-influential-designer-in-the-world/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Fashion Icon Jason Wu to Take the Stage at CES Asia 2019 |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190609005019/en/Fashion-Icon-Jason-Wu-to-Take-the-Stage-at-CES-Asia-2019 |website=Business Wire |date=10 June 2019 |publisher=CES Asia |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062345/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190609005019/en/Fashion-Icon-Jason-Wu-to-Take-the-Stage-at-CES-Asia-2019 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Van Meter |first1=William |title=Jeremy Scott, Fashion's Last Rebel |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/fashion/jeremy-scott-fashions-last-rebel.html |website=The New York Times |date=30 November 2011 |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062406/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/fashion/jeremy-scott-fashions-last-rebel.html |url-status=live }}

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In the 20th century, gay men were amongst the Western world's most influential and prolific artists, writers, and dancers. In the United States by mid-century, James Baldwin (b. 1924) was considered one of the best writers of his generation.{{cite journal |last1=Nkosi |first1=Lewis |title=Review: The Mountain |journal=Transition |date=1999 |volume=79 |pages=102–125 |doi=10.2307/2903189 |jstor=2903189 }} His work, including Giovanni's Room (1956) dealt openly with homosexuality and bisexuality at a time when sex between men was still illegal throughout much of the Western world.{{cite book |last1=Abdel Fattah |first1=Nadia |title=James Baldwin's Search for a Homosexual Identity in his Novels |date=27 September 1996 |publisher=Portland State University |location=Portland, Oregon |edition=Dissertation |url=https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6302&context=open_access_etds |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062336/https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6302&context=open_access_etds |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last1=Weinmeyer |first1=Richard |title=The Decriminalization of Sodomy in the United States |journal=AMA Journal of Ethics |date=November 2014 |volume=16 |issue=11 |pages=916–22 |doi=10.1001/virtualmentor.2014.16.11.hlaw1-1411 |pmid=25397652 |url=https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/decriminalization-sodomy-united-states/2014-11 |access-date=20 February 2021 |doi-access=free |archive-date=26 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226050239/https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/decriminalization-sodomy-united-states/2014-11 |url-status=live }} Other major artists of Baldwin's generation, including Robert Rauschenberg (b. 1925) and Jasper Johns (b. 1930), were less open about their sexuality,{{cite web |last1=Meyer |first1=Richard |title=Rauschenberg, with Affection |url=https://www.sfmoma.org/essay/rauschenberg-affection/ |website=San Francisco Museum of Modern Art |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=11 July 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200711130005/https://www.sfmoma.org/essay/rauschenberg-affection/ |url-status=live }} and even made fun of other young gay artists of their generation, such as Andy Warhol, for being too feminine.{{Cite book|first=Gavin |last=Butt |title=Between You and Me: Queer Disclosures in the New York Art World, 1948–1963 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham, North Carolina|date=2005 |isbn=978-0-8223-3486-6 |oclc=57285910 |page=113}} In the world of New York dance, Alvin Ailey (b. 1931) fused theater, modern dance, ballet, and jazz with black vernacular, and his choreographic magnum opus Revelations is recognized as one of the most popular and most performed ballets in the world.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-11-17-bk-65405-story.html|title='Dancing the Night Away: Alvin Ailey: A Life in Dance'. By Jennifer Dunning (Addison-Wesley): 'The Joffrey Ballet: Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Dance Company'. By Sasha Anawalt (Scribner's) [book reviews]|date=17 November 1996|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=29 July 2019|archive-date=29 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729150427/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-11-17-bk-65405-story.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/10/arts/dance-view-alvin-ailey-believer-in-the-power-of-dance.html|title=Alvin Ailey: Believer in the Power of Dance|last=Dunning|first=Jennifer|date=10 December 1989|work=The New York Times|access-date=29 July 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=29 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729150426/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/10/arts/dance-view-alvin-ailey-believer-in-the-power-of-dance.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/2019/01/30/alvin-ailey-dance-theater-offers-a-performance-that-is-a-tribute-to-its-founder-and-to-perseverance-and-strength-in-the-black-community.html|title=For Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, the themes that inspired its founder are as relevant as ever|website=thestar.com The Star|language=en|access-date=29 July 2019|date=30 January 2019|archive-date=29 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729150426/https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/2019/01/30/alvin-ailey-dance-theater-offers-a-performance-that-is-a-tribute-to-its-founder-and-to-perseverance-and-strength-in-the-black-community.html|url-status=live}} Ailey remained closeted for much of his life, and he passed from an AIDS related illness at the age of 58.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/arts/dance/rennie-harris-alvin-ailey-sixtieth-anniversary.html|title=A Dance Homage to Alvin Ailey as His Company Turns 60|last=Kourlas|first=Gia|date=27 November 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=29 July 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=29 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729055427/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/arts/dance/rennie-harris-alvin-ailey-sixtieth-anniversary.html|url-status=live}} David Hockney (b. 1937), another major artist of the Silent Generation, was an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s and is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century.J. Paul Getty Museum. [http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=3283 David Hockney.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100713223152/http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=3283 |date=13 July 2010 }} Retrieved 13 September 2008.{{cite web|url=http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/hockney/about-the-exhibition/|title=David Hockney A Bigger Picture|publisher=Royal Academy of Arts|access-date=18 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118003522/http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/hockney/about-the-exhibition/|archive-date=18 January 2012}} He has been openly gay for much of his life.{{cite news|url=http://www.thecnj.com/islington/2009/032709/inews032709_12.html|title=Your chance to own an 'exceptional' Hockney|newspaper=Islington Tribune|date=27 March 2009|first=Emma|last=Reynolds|access-date=16 July 2014|archive-date=22 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140322001437/http://www.thecnj.com/islington/2009/032709/inews032709_12.html|url-status=live}}

Many of the most influential gay and bisexual artists of the Boomer and X generations died at very early ages during the AIDS crises, including Carlos Almaraz (b. 1941), Robert Mapplethorpe (b. 1946), Félix González-Torres (b. 1957), and Keith Haring (b. 1958). Much of the Art of the AIDS Crisis was highly political and critical of the U.S. government and has been described as "afraid, angry, fearful, and defiant".{{Cite news|url=https://www.widewalls.ch/art-aids-hiv-america/|title=Art in America: Before and After AIDS Crisis|work=Widewalls|access-date=4 November 2017|archive-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107021013/https://www.widewalls.ch/art-aids-hiv-america/|url-status=live}} In the aftermath of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, gay men and other queer artists pioneered a new form of experimental filmmaking called New Queer Cinema.{{cite book |last1=Aaron |first1=Michele |title=New Queer Cinema |date=2004 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick, NJ |isbn=9780813534862 |edition=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PGd4-qtfyzIC |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309213106/https://www.google.com/books/edition/New_Queer_Cinema/PGd4-qtfyzIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Moore |first1=Sam |title=Where to begin with New Queer Cinema |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-with-new-queer-cinema |website=British Film Institute |date=22 June 2020 |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=1 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301073356/https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-with-new-queer-cinema |url-status=live }} Today, gay men such as Mark Bradford, Julio Salgado, and Kehinde Wiley are amongst the most influential artists of their generation.{{cite web |last1=Valentine |first1=Victoria L. |title=Kehinde Wiley, the Portrait Artist Who is 'Transforming the Way African Americans are Seen,' Makes Time 100 List |url=https://www.culturetype.com/2018/04/20/kehinde-wiley-the-portrait-artist-who-is-transforming-the-way-african-americans-are-seen-makes-time-100-list/ |website=Culture Type |date=20 April 2018 |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=18 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218190836/https://www.culturetype.com/2018/04/20/kehinde-wiley-the-portrait-artist-who-is-transforming-the-way-african-americans-are-seen-makes-time-100-list/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Mexican-American artist and activist Julio Salgado to present convocation |url=https://www.carleton.edu/news/stories/mexican-american-artist-and-activist-julio-salgado-to-present-convocation/ |website=Carleton University |access-date=3 March 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062408/https://www.carleton.edu/news/stories/mexican-american-artist-and-activist-julio-salgado-to-present-convocation/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Valentine |first1=Victoria |title='60 Minutes' Profiled Mark Bradford, Introducing Him as One of America's 'Most Important and Influential Artists' |url=https://www.culturetype.com/2019/05/13/60-minutes-profiled-mark-bradford-introducing-him-as-one-of-americas-most-important-and-influential-artists/ |website=Culture Type |date=13 May 2019 |access-date=3 March 2021 |archive-date=15 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115151738/https://www.culturetype.com/2019/05/13/60-minutes-profiled-mark-bradford-introducing-him-as-one-of-americas-most-important-and-influential-artists/ |url-status=live }} Much of contemporary Western gay art today deals with themes of body, identity, and experience.{{cite web |last1=Hill |first1=Eli |title=15 Young LGBTQ Artists Driving Contemporary Art Forward |url=https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-15-young-lgbtq-artists-driving-contemporary-art-forward |website=Artsy |date=7 June 2019 |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062408/https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-15-young-lgbtq-artists-driving-contemporary-art-forward |url-status=live }}

Outside of the West, art containing themes of gay male sexuality is still considered subversive and taboo. In Singapore, which criminalized all sexual acts between men through Section 377A of the Penal Code until 2022,{{Cite news|last=Sarkar|first=Sonia|date=16 October 2019|title=Bans, censors, jail: perfect storm for gay arts in Singapore?|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-lgbt-entertainment/bans-censors-jail-perfect-storm-for-gay-arts-in-singapore-idUSKBN1WV1EO|url-status=live|access-date=9 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200709152832/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-lgbt-entertainment/bans-censors-jail-perfect-storm-for-gay-arts-in-singapore-idUSKBN1WV1EO|archive-date=9 July 2020}} art by gay men is considered countercultural. Gay men in Singapore historically have been depicted negatively in local mainstream media, and efforts to counter this discrimination from wider Singaporean society has been made difficult because of the risk of jail, bans, and censorship by the state.{{cite book|last1=Lee|first1=Weng Choy|url=https://www.academia.edu/1330638|title=Looking at Culture|date=1996|publisher=Artres Design & Communications|isbn=9810067143|editor1-last=Krishnan|editor1-first=S.K. Sanjay|location=Singapore|chapter=Chronology of a Controversy|editor2-last=Lee|editor2-first=Weng Choy|editor3-last=Perera|editor3-first=Leon|editor4-last=Yap|editor4-first=Jimmy|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608200204/https://www.academia.edu/1330638/Chronology_of_a_Controversy|archive-date=8 June 2020}}{{cite journal|last1=Lingham|first1=Susie|date=November 2011|title=Art and Censorship in Singapore: Catch 22?|url=http://artasiapacific.com/Magazine/76/ArtAndCensorshipInSingaporeCatch22|journal=ArtAsiaPacific|issue=76|access-date=8 June 2020|archive-date=15 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140915073253/http://artasiapacific.com/Magazine/76/ArtAndCensorshipInSingaporeCatch22|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|last=Lee|first=Jian Xuan|date=16 February 2016|title=Sex objects removed from art show|work=The Straits Times|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/sex-objects-removed-from-art-show|url-status=live|access-date=10 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200709164545/https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/sex-objects-removed-from-art-show|archive-date=9 July 2020}}

{{Main article|New Queer Cinema}}

In the United States, Andy Warhol made underground films with queer themes and actors. His work had an international influence in queer film art.{{cite journal |last1=King |first1=Homay |title=Girl Interrupted: The Queer Time of Warhol's Cinema |journal=Discourse |date=2006 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=98–120 |doi=10.1353/dis.2008.0009 |jstor=41389742|s2cid=143760172 |url=https://repository.brynmawr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=hart_pubs |url-access=subscription }} The avant-garde director Rosa von Praunheim has made more than 100 films on queer topics since the late 1960s, some of them have been evaluated internationally. Some films are considered milestones in queer cinema. Von Praunheim is internationally recognized as an icon of queer cinema.{{cite web |title=Germany's most famous gay rights activist: Rosa von Praunheim |url=http://www.dw.com/en/germanys-most-famous-gay-rights-activist-filmmaker-rosa-von-praunheim-at-75/a-41514818 |work=Deutsche Welle |access-date=14 June 2018 |archive-date=23 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723132748/https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-most-famous-gay-rights-activist-filmmaker-rosa-von-praunheim-at-75/a-41514818 |url-status=live }} The director Rainer Werner Fassbinder had an early influence on queer cinema with films like Querelle (1982).{{cite web|title=Queer Legacies: The Art of Rainer Werner Fassbinder|url=https://thequeerqueue.com/queer-legacies-the-art-of-rainer-werner-fassbinder/|date=31 March 2021|access-date=31 December 2021|archive-date=31 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211231135611/https://thequeerqueue.com/queer-legacies-the-art-of-rainer-werner-fassbinder/|url-status=usurped}} These filmmakers and others pioneered queer Hollywood productions like Brokeback Mountain (2005), which reached an audience of millions.{{cite magazine|title=Brokeback Mountain|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/10/13/brokeback-mountain|magazine=The New Yorker|date=6 October 1997|access-date=31 December 2021|archive-date=27 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527003533/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/10/13/brokeback-mountain|url-status=live}}

{{Main article|Drag queen}}

File:Fox Drag Queen.jpg

Drag queens are a significant part of the popular culture of gay men and are regularly featured in gay bars. Drag queens use drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles as part of a performance used for artistic or entertainment purposes. Drag shows often include lip-syncing, dancing, and live singing. They occur at events like drag pageants and gay pride parades and in nightclubs and cabarets, as well as in local gay bars. Drag queens vary by dedication, type, and culture, and range from professionals who star in films and on Broadway, such as Gene Malin, Divine, or Rupaul, to people who do drag only occasionally.

Drag balls themselves have a long history for gay men in the United States.{{cite web |last1=Stabbe |first1=Oliver |title=Queens and queers: The rise of drag ball culture in the 1920s |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/queens-and-queers-rise-drag-ball-culture-1920s |website=Smithsonian Institution |date=30 March 2016 |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=8 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208000542/https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/queens-and-queers-rise-drag-ball-culture-1920s |url-status=live }} In 1869 at the Hamilton Lodge in Harlem, the first drag balls were held. These balls were held in secret, but news grew of their existence as a safe place for gay men to congregate. The balls were deemed immoral and illegal, and a moral reform organization known as the Committee of Fourteen investigated alleged "immoral" activities. In 1916, the committee released a report describing "'phenomenal ... male perverts' in expensive frocks and wigs, looking like women". By the 1920s, the balls grew in public visibility. In New York, the events, once called Masquerade and Civic Balls, were called "Faggots Balls" by the general public. The balls, however, also attracted some of the city's top artists and writers, including Charles Henri Ford and Parker Tyler. The men, who co-authored The Young and Evil, described the drag ball as "a scene whose celestial flavor and cerulean coloring no angelic painter or nectarish poet has ever conceived ... lit up like high mass."{{cite book |last1=Ford |first1=Charles Henri |url=https://archive.org/details/youngevil0000ford |title=The Young and Evil |last2=Tyler |first2=Parker |date=1933 |publisher=Olympia Press |isbn=9781596541351 |url-access=registration}} This flourishing of gay life in the 1920s and 30s was part of a period known as the Pansy Craze.{{cite web |last1=Fleeson |first1=Lucinda |title=The Gay '30s |url=https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/November-2005/The-Gay-30S/ |website=Chicago |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=11 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211004954/https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/november-2005/the-gay-30s/ |url-status=live }}

More recently, the film Paris is Burning (1990) detailed the drag ball scene of New York City and showcased the lives and experiences of a group of young "butch queens" (cisgender gay men), transgender women, drag queens, and butch women. Since its release, the film has become a cult classic and has served as an organizing and academic tool for the gay and trans communities (though it has been subject to significant criticism).{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/26/obituaries/26LEBE.html |title=Pepper LaBeija, Queen of Harlem Drag Balls, Is Dead at 53 |last=Martin |first=Douglas |date=26 May 2003 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=4 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140607004149/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/26/obituaries/26LEBE.html |archive-date=7 June 2014 |url-status=live }} Meanwhile, the television reality program RuPaul's Drag Race has been on-air in the United States since 2009 and has introduced the straight mainstream to gay men's popular culture through drag. The original American series has since developed into the global Drag Race franchise.

In the 2020s, a wave of anti-LGBT backlash in the United States resulted in what is known as the Drag panic.{{cite news |last1=Hesse |first1=Monica |title=The right-wing drag panic is not about men wearing women's clothing |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/03/16/right-wing-drag-panic-is-not-about-men-wearing-womens-clothing/ |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=24 March 2023}} As part of this backlash, some U.S. states, such as Tennessee, criminalized the public performance of drag.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/02/23/tennessee-drag-banned-lgbtq/|title=Tennessee just banned drag shows in chilling blow for LGBTQ+ rights|first=Sophie|last=Perry|date=February 23, 2023|access-date=February 23, 2023|archive-date=February 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230223224736/https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/02/23/tennessee-drag-banned-lgbtq/|url-status=live}}

{{Main article|Camp (style)}}

File:Life Ball 2013 - magenta carpet 019.jpg 2013]]

Camp is a visual aesthetic style often associated with gay men. An English definition of the term first appeared in a 1909 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary: "ostentatious, exaggerated, affected, theatrical; effeminate or homosexual; pertaining to, characteristic of, homosexuals".{{cite web |last1=Bekhrad |first1=Joobin |title=What does it mean to be camp? |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190503-what-does-it-mean-to-be-camp |website=BBC |date=7 May 2019 |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=6 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206055540/https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190503-what-does-it-mean-to-be-camp |url-status=live }} From its original meaning, the term has evolved to signify an inversion of aesthetic attributes such as beauty, value, and taste through exaggeration and irony.Babuscio (1993, 20), Feil (2005, 478), Morrill (1994, 110), Shugart and Waggoner (2008, 33), and Van Leer (1995) Camp is often mistaken with kitsch and has been described as "cheesy". In 1964, Susan Sontag's essay Notes on "Camp" emphasized camp's key elements as: "artifice, frivolity, naïve middle-class pretentiousness, and shocking excess".{{cite book|first=Harry|last=Eiss|title=The Joker|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=17f6DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26|date=11 May 2016|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1-4438-9429-6|page=26|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=21 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062338/https://books.google.com/books?id=17f6DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26|url-status=live}} In recent years, gay men have sought to disassociate themselves from the term. In a 2018 interview, director Ryan Murphy said he believed camp was "a lazy catchall that gets thrown at gay artists in order to marginalize their ambitions, to frame their work as niche" and preferred to describe his visual aesthetic style as "baroque".{{cite magazine |last1=Murphy |first1=Ryan |title=How Ryan Murphy Became the Most Powerful Man in TV |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/14/how-ryan-murphy-became-the-most-powerful-man-in-tv |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225045229/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/05/14/how-ryan-murphy-became-the-most-powerful-man-in-tv |url-status=live }} As some gay men have moved away from the term, however, mainstream straight society has appropriated it. In 2019, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted its annual event, the Met Gala, with the theme titled "Notes on Camp".{{cite news |last1=Wertheim |first1=Bonnie |title=What Is Camp? The Met Gala 2019 Theme, Explained |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/04/style/met-gala-what-is-camp.html |website=The New York Times |date=4 May 2019 |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=21 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221152545/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/04/style/met-gala-what-is-camp.html |url-status=live }} That same year, the museum presented its full exhibit "Camp: Notes on Fashion", in which it presented numerous "campy" women's dresses.{{cite web |title=Camp: Notes on Fashion |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2019/camp-notes-on-fashion |website=The Met |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=11 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111021550/https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2019/camp-notes-on-fashion |url-status=live }} Nevertheless, in drag performances and at gay pride events, many gay men continue to embrace a camp aesthetic.{{cite web |last1=Hadley |title=Why there's nothing wrong with camp gay men |url=https://www.outlife.org.uk/fs157-whats-wrong-with-camp-gay-men |website=Outlife |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=19 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119060605/https://www.outlife.org.uk/fs157-whats-wrong-with-camp-gay-men |url-status=live }}

{{See also|Media portrayal of LGBT people}}

File:Peter Lorre and Humphrey Bogart The Maltese Falcon Still.jpg, Peter Lorre played an overtly stereotyped effeminate villain.]]

In many forms of popular entertainment, gay men are portrayed stereotypically as promiscuous, flamboyant, flashy, and sassy. Gay men are also rarely the main characters in mainstream films; they frequently play the role of stereotyped supporting characters or are portrayed as either a victim or the villain.{{cite journal|author1=Mazur, M. A. |author2=Emmers-Sommer, T. M. |year=2002|title=The Effect of Movie Portrayals on Audience Attitudes about Nontraditional Families and Sexual Orientation|journal=Journal of Homosexuality|volume=44|issue=1|pages=157–179|doi=10.1300/j082v44n01_09|pmid=12856761|s2cid=35184339}} Despite the stereotypical depictions of gay men, television shows since the 1990s, such as Queer as Folk, Queer Eye, and Modern Family have promoted broader social acceptance of gay men as "normal people". Nevertheless, gay men are still frequently portrayed in the United States as symbols of social decadence by evangelists and organizations such as Focus on the Family.{{cite journal |last1=Stacey |first1=Judith |title=The Families of Man: Gay Male Intimacy and Kinship in a Global Metropolis |journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society |date=March 2005 |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=1911–1935 |doi=10.1086/426797 |s2cid=146782211 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/426797?mobileUi=0&journalCode=signs |access-date=8 February 2021 |archive-date=14 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214114605/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/426797?mobileUi=0&journalCode=signs |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}

File:BoysBewarecolorizedVersion.ogv, a 1961 U.S. propaganda film warning boys to beware the "predatory" dangers of homosexual men]]

Historically, many films have included negative sub-texts regarding male homosexuality, such as in Alfred Hitchcock's films, whose villains used implied homosexuality to heighten senses of evil and alienation.{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=David K. |title=The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government |date=13 February 2009 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=9780226401966 |page=58 |edition=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ivCo3yph63QC |access-date=5 March 2021 |archive-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309213108/https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Lavender_Scare/ivCo3yph63QC?hl=en&gbpv=1 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Homosexuality in Hitchcock's Movies |url=https://www.alfred-hitchcock-films.net/theme-homosexuality.htm |website=Alfred Hitchcock Films |access-date=8 February 2021 |archive-date=14 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201014130035/https://www.alfred-hitchcock-films.net/theme-homosexuality.htm |url-status=live }} In news programming, male homosexuality was rarely directly mentioned, but it was often portrayed as a sickness, perversion, or crime. In 1967, CBC released a news segment on homosexuality; however, the segment was simply a compilation of negative stereotypes of gay men.{{Cite journal|title = The Televised Gay: How We're Pictured on the Tube|last = Laermer|first = R.|date = 5 February 1985|journal = The Advocate}} The 1970s showed an increase in gay men's visibility in Western media with the 1972 ABC show That Certain Summer. The show was about a gay man raising a family, and although it did not show any explicit relations between the men, it contained no negative stereotypes.

With the emergence of the AIDS epidemic and its explicit associations with gay men, media outlets in the U.S. varied in their coverage, portrayal, and acceptance of gay male communities. The American Family Association, the Coalition for Better Television, and the Moral Majority organized boycotts against advertisers on television programs which showed gay men in a positive light.{{Cite journal|title = The Fall of our Discontent: The Battle Over Gays on TV|last = Moritz|first = M.J.|date = 1992|journal = State of the Art: Issues in Contemporary Mass Communication}} Media coverage of gay men during the AIDS crisis depended on the location and therefore the local attitudes toward gay men. For example, in the Bay Area, The San Francisco Chronicle hired an openly gay man as a reporter and ran detailed stories on gay male topics. This was a sharp contrast to The New York Times, which refused to use the word "gay" in its writing, exclusively referring to gay men and lesbians with the term "homosexuals", because it was believed to be a more clinical term. The Times also limited its verbal and visual coverage of issues pertaining to gay men.{{Cite journal|last=Thomson|first=T.J.|date=2018|title=From the Closet to the Beach: A Photographer's View of Gay Life on Fire Island From 1975 to 1983|journal=Visual Communication Quarterly|volume=25|pages=3–15|doi=10.1080/15551393.2017.1343152|s2cid=150001974|url=https://eprints.qut.edu.au/119020/7/119020.pdf|access-date=8 February 2021|archive-date=5 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200505112921/https://eprints.qut.edu.au/119020/7/119020.pdf|url-status=live}}

File:New York Pride 50 - 2019-1108 (48166785076).jpg, Billy Porter plays Pray Tell, a Black gay man with AIDS in New York.]]

In the 1980s, the AIDS crisis greatly affected the representation of gay men in American media.

Melanie Kohnen writes that, initially, the news media portrayed AIDS as a disease that affects mainly urban, White gay men; in spite of the fact that most victims of AIDS were gay Black and Hispanic men.{{cite book | last=Kohnen | first=M. | title=Queer Representation, Visibility, and Race in American Film and Television: Screening the Closet | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies | year=2015 | isbn=978-1-136-51989-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wpzhCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT21| access-date=2023-11-23 | page=21,85,90}} However, by the late 1980s it had become undeniable that most of the victims of AIDS were gay men of color, and the media finally came to acknowledge this commonly-known fact. Yet the new coverage maintained the image of White men as heroic leaders in the fight against AIDS; while ignoring the perspectives of the gay men of color. Kohnen attributes this favorable (and unwarranted) representation of White men to white privilege.

During the crisis, American media tended to focus on the "raunchiness" of gay culture, and divided gay men in to two archetypes: "victims" (those affected by HIV) and "villains" (who allegedly spread HIV, deliberately).{{cite book | last1=Hilton-Morrow | first1=W. | last2=Battles | first2=K. | title=Sexual Identities and the Media: An Introduction | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2015 | isbn=978-1-136-29135-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WwXwBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 | access-date=2024-10-23 | page=64}}

The AIDS pandemic delayed positive representations of gay men until the 1990s, when the first positive representations of gay men began to appear in American media. However, most of these gay men were White, masculine, apolitical and never depicted romantically with other men.{{cite book | last=Goltz | first=D.B. | title=Queer Temporalities in Gay Male Representation: Tragedy, Normativity, and Futurity | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Routledge Studies in Rhetoric and Communication | year=2009 | isbn=978-1-135-16886-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mhoIr93acWsC&pg=PA38 | access-date=2023-11-23 | page=38}} "...masculine, White, gay men who pledge allegiance to heteronormative systems, avoid politics, and never have sex. Welcome to the 1990s." This new depiction of gay men catered to heterosexual audiences, and did not reflect the true diversity of the LGBT community.{{cite journal|last=Martin |first=Alfred L. Jr|url=https://cinema.usc.edu/archivedassets/31_2/7_Martin.pdf|title=TV in Black and Gay: Examining Constructions of Gay Blackness and Gay Crossracial Dating on GRΣΣK|editor-first=Julia|editor-last=Himberg|journal=Spectator|volume=31|issue=2|date=Fall 2011|pages=63–69|access-date=8 February 2021|archive-date=14 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214115019/https://cinema.usc.edu/archivedassets/31_2/7_Martin.pdf|url-status=live}}

Scholars have noted that intersectional representations of gay men of color are generally not present on television. Additionally, when television shows do depict gay men of color, they are often less visible, or merely the love interests of a White male character. They have also often depicted as "race neutral", meaning that their gayness is paramount to all of their other attributes, thus obscuring their ethnic identity.

Gay men in the United States are less likely to be overweight or obese compared to their heterosexual counterparts.{{Cite journal |last1=Azagba |first1=Sunday |last2=Shan |first2=Lingpeng |last3=Latham |first3=Keely |date=May 2019 |title=Overweight and Obesity among Sexual Minority Adults in the United States |journal=International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |volume=16 |issue=10 |pages=1828 |doi=10.3390/ijerph16101828 |doi-access=free |issn=1661-7827 |pmc=6572698 |pmid=31126042}}{{Non-primary source needed|date=May 2025}}

File:Coppia al Gay Pride di Milano 2008 3 - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 7-June-2008.jpg but less likely to seek help.]]

Gay men are at an increased risk of being physically and sexually abused, particularly those who exhibit early gender nonconforming behavior (femininity).{{Cite web |last=Savin-Williams |first=Ritch |date=2 December 2019 |title=Does Abusing Children Have Consequences for Sexuality? |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sex-sexuality-and-romance/201912/does-abusing-children-have-consequences-sexuality |access-date=2025-04-22 |website=Psychology Today |language=en-NZ}} Writing about his own experience as a feminine boy, gay Moroccan writer Abdellah Taïa, wrote in a New York Times op-ed: "I knew what happened to boys like me in our impoverished society; they were designated victims, to be used, with everyone's blessing, as easy sexual objects by frustrated men." Gay men are less likely than women to seek mental health assistance, oftentimes due to social stigma and false beliefs around sexual assault, such as "men cannot be forced to have sex" and "men become gay or bisexual because they were sexually abused."{{cite web |last1=Cook, Ph.D. |first1=Joan M. |last2=Ellis |first2=Amy |date=29 August 2019 |title=Sexual abuse against gay and bi men brings unique stigma and harm |url=https://theconversation.com/sexual-abuse-against-gay-and-bi-men-brings-unique-stigma-and-harm-121796 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062337/https://theconversation.com/sexual-abuse-against-gay-and-bi-men-brings-unique-stigma-and-harm-121796 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |access-date=27 February 2021 |website=The Conversation}}

File:Poster-MSM safe sex.jpg sex in Vietnam]]

Around the world, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) face significant challenges in terms of their overall sexual health. According to a UNAIDS report, MSM have a "staggering" 27 times higher risk of contracting HIV than other demographic groups, and the highest median prevalence among this population is found in Sub-Saharan Africa.{{cite web | title=Male engagement | url=https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/east-south-africa-engaging-men_en.pdf}} "For example, the risk of acquiring HIV is 27 times higher

among gay men and other men who have sex with men than men in the general

population; the highest median prevalence among this population is found in

sub-Saharan Africa (43)."

New HIV infection rates for MSM vary by region, but according to a 2018 UN report, HIV cases among MSM represent: 57% of all new cases in North America, Central Europe, and Western Europe; 41% of all new cases in Latin America; 25% of all new cases in Asia, the Pacific Islands, and the Caribbean; 20% of all new cases in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East; and 12% of all new cases in Western and Central Africa.{{cite web |title=UNAIDS Data 2018 |url=https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/unaids-data-2018_en.pdf |website=UNAIDS |publisher=United Nations |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=18 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318062209/https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/unaids-data-2018_en.pdf |url-status=live }}

In countries with diverse racial populations, such as the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, new HIV infections among gay and bisexual men are found disproportionately in working-class and communities of color.{{cite web |title=HIV and AIDS in the United Kingdom |url=https://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/western-central-europe-north-america/uk |website=Avert |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=23 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823210328/https://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/western-central-europe-north-america/uk |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |last1=Supervie |first1=Virginie |last2=Ndawinz |first2=Jacques D.A. |last3=Lodi |first3=Sara |last4=Costagliola |first4=Dominique |title=The undiagnosed HIV epidemic in France and its implications for HIV screening strategies |journal=AIDS |date=31 July 2014 |volume=28 |issue=12 |pages=1797–804 |doi=10.1097/QAD.0000000000000270 |pmid=24681416 |pmc=4262966 }}{{cite web |title=Diagnoses of HIV Infection in the United States and Dependent Areas, 2018: Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men |url=https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/library/reports/hiv-surveillance/vol-31/content/msm.html |website=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |date=6 May 2020 |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=5 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305071637/https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/library/reports/hiv-surveillance/vol-31/content/msm.html |url-status=live }} In the United States, there are currently full-blown HIV crises amongst gay Chicano and Latino men in the Mexico-U.S. borderlands region,{{cite web |title=HIV/AIDS en la Frontera |url=https://www.azdhs.gov/documents/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/disease-integrated-services/hiv-epidemiology/reports/2009-border-epiemiologic-profile.pdf |website=NASTAD |publisher=Arizona Department of Health Services |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062338/https://www.azdhs.gov/documents/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/disease-integrated-services/hiv-epidemiology/reports/2009-border-epiemiologic-profile.pdf |url-status=live }} and amongst African American MSM in the South.{{cite web |title=HIV in the Southern United States |url=https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/policies/cdc-hiv-in-the-south-issue-brief.pdf |website=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=19 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319005203/https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/policies/cdc-hiv-in-the-south-issue-brief.pdf |url-status=live }} In the South, Black gay, bisexual, and other MSM account for six out of every 10 new HIV diagnoses amongst all African Americans. In recent years, independent news sources have shown that working-class Black and Latino gay men in the United States still face significant health disparities in these crises;{{cite web |title=The Silent HIV Crisis Sweeping the American South |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOSN1bKG3zQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/JOSN1bKG3zQ |archive-date=21 December 2021 |url-status=live|website=Vice News | date=December 2016 |access-date=28 February 2021}}{{cbignore}}{{cite web |title=HIV Crisis on the Texas-Mexico Border |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDNwIdfyUgo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/pDNwIdfyUgo |archive-date=21 December 2021 |url-status=live|website=Vice News | date=21 June 2018 |access-date=28 February 2021}}{{cbignore}} however, in the United States, as in other places around the world, these problems have only worsened as HIV-positive MSM (especially those from already disadvantaged communities){{cite web |last1=Betancourt |first1=Joseph R. |title=Communities of color devastated by COVID-19: Shifting the narrative |url=https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/communities-of-color-devastated-by-covid-19-shifting-the-narrative-2020102221201 |website=Harvard Medical School |date=22 October 2020 |publisher=Harvard University |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=27 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227134002/https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/communities-of-color-devastated-by-covid-19-shifting-the-narrative-2020102221201 |url-status=live }} have been severely and disproportionately affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic.{{cite journal |last1=Waterfield |first1=Kristie |title=Consequences of COVID-19 crisis for persons with HIV: the impact of social determinants of health |journal=BMC Public Health |year=2021 |volume=21 |issue=1 |page=299 |publisher=Springer |doi=10.1186/s12889-021-10296-9 |pmid=33546659 |pmc=7863613 |doi-access=free }}

In addition to HIV, young gay, bisexual, and other MSM are also at significantly higher risk for other sexual health-related issues. Because compulsive and condomless sexually-related behaviors are also strongly associated with depression,{{cite journal |last1=Storholm |first1=Erik David |last2=Satre |first2=Derek D. |last3=Kapadia |first3=Farzana |last4=Halkitis |first4=Perry N. |title=Depression, Compulsive Sexual Behavior, and Sexual Risk-Taking Among Urban Young Gay and Bisexual Men |journal= Archives of Sexual Behavior|date=August 2016 |volume=45 |issue=6 |pages=1431–41 |doi=10.1007/s10508-015-0566-5 |pmid=26310878 |pmc=4769690 }} young MSM (who are disproportionately likely to experience clinical depression){{cite journal |last1=Mills, M.D. |first1=Thomas C. |last2=Paul, Ph.D. |first2=Jay |title=Distress and Depression in Men Who Have Sex With Men: The Urban Men's Health Study |url=https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.1176/appi.ajp.161.2.278 |journal=American Journal of Psychiatry |year=2004 |volume=161 |issue=2 |pages=278–285 |doi=10.1176/appi.ajp.161.2.278 |pmid=14754777 |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062343/https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.1176/appi.ajp.161.2.278 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}{{cite journal |last1=Batchelder |first1=Abigail W. |title=Mental health in 2020 for men who have sex with men in the United States |journal= Sexual Health|date=February 2017 |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=59–71 |doi=10.1071/SH16083 |pmid=28055823 |pmc=5953431 }} are at increased risk of sexually transmitted infections via unsafe sex.{{cite web |last1=Pebody |first1=Roger |title=Depression strongly associated with risky sex in UK gay men |url=https://www.aidsmap.com/news/jun-2015/depression-strongly-associated-risky-sex-uk-gay-men |website=NAM AIDS Map |date=2 June 2015 |publisher=UK National Aids Manual |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=25 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125231650/https://www.aidsmap.com/news/jun-2015/depression-strongly-associated-risky-sex-uk-gay-men |url-status=live }} Furthermore, because depression is strongly linked to a history of being sexual abused, the high rate of past childhood sexual trauma among gay men leaves many in the community vulnerable to unhealthy behaviors and practices.{{cite web |last1=Catania |first1=Joseph |date=14 January 2009 |title=High Rates of Childhood Sexual Abuse Contributing Factor in Spread of HIV |url=https://today.oregonstate.edu/archives/2008/dec/high-rates-childhood-sexual-abuse-contributing-factor-spread-hiv |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062417/https://today.oregonstate.edu/archives/2008/dec/high-rates-childhood-sexual-abuse-contributing-factor-spread-hiv |archive-date=21 April 2021 |access-date=28 February 2021 |website=Oregon State University}}{{cite journal |last1=Senn |first1=Theresa E. |title=Childhood and adolescent sexual abuse and subsequent sexual risk behavior |journal= Clinical Psychology Review|date=2008 |volume=28 |issue=5 |pages=711–35 |doi=10.1016/j.cpr.2007.10.002 |pmid=18045760 |pmc=2416446 }} As a combination of these complex factors, many gay, bisexual, and MSM have higher rates of STIs, including chlamydia and gonorrhea, and in the United States, account for 83% of all primary and secondary syphilis cases.{{cite web |title=Sexually Transmitted Diseases |url=https://www.cdc.gov/msmhealth/STD.htm |website=Gay and Bisexual Men's Health |publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |access-date=28 February 2021 |archive-date=1 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301194600/https://www.cdc.gov/msmhealth/STD.htm |url-status=live }}

There are significant issues affecting the overall mental health of gay men. In the United States, 29.3 percent of gay and bisexual men report experiencing chronic daily psychological distress. Gay and bisexual men are exposed to significant minority stress, which is the constant exposure to stressors because of their minority identity in society. Familial and social rejection, homophobia, alienation, and isolation can contribute to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and a lack of self-acceptance. These issues have been found to be exacerbated in gay men who have experienced sexual abuse. Even in countries with social and legal protections for gay men, such as the United Kingdom, France, and the United States, structural societal stigma against homosexual men persists, and discrimination has been shown to have negative effects on the mental health of gay men.{{cite web |title=Gay and Bisexual Men's Health |url=https://www.cdc.gov/msmhealth/mental-health.htm |website=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |date=16 January 2019 |access-date=27 February 2021 |archive-date=30 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330165005/https://www.cdc.gov/msmhealth/mental-health.htm |url-status=live }} In fact, compared to straight men, gay and bisexual men have a higher chance of having both major depression and generalized anxiety disorder. Gay and bisexual men are also at greater risk of dying by suicide;{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Carrie |last2=Oliffe, PhD |first2=John L. |last3=Kelly |first3=Mary T. |last4=Ferlatte, PhD |first4=Olivier |title=Depression and Suicidality in Gay Men: Implications for Health Care Providers |journal= American Journal of Men's Health|date=19 January 2017 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=58–63 |doi=10.1177/1557988316685492 |pmid=8103765 |pmc=5675322 }} they are one of the demographic groups most likely to have tried to commit suicide, as well as to actually die by suicide. Finally, HIV-positive status continues to have a major impact on the mental health of many gay and bisexual men, who fear disclosing their status to employers, friends, and families, particularly if they have not yet come out.

{{See also|LGBT people in prison}}

File:26 Rally at Chowchilla Valley State Prison for Women - 8419389187.jpg in Chowchilla, California in January 2013]]

In 2017, a survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that in local and county jails, 6.2 percent of all incarcerated men were sexual minorities, including 3.3 percent who identified as gay or bisexual, and 2.9 percent who did not identify as gay or bisexual but reported having had sex with men (MSM).{{cite web |last1=Meyer, Ph.D. |first1=Ilan H. |title=Lesbians, Gay Men, and Bisexuals in U.S. Jails and Prisons |url=https://www.prainc.com/lesbians-gay-men-bisexuals-jails-prisons/ |website=Policy Research Associates |date=22 January 2019 |access-date=27 February 2021 |archive-date=5 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305200729/https://www.prainc.com/lesbians-gay-men-bisexuals-jails-prisons/ |url-status=live }} This number was higher amongst men within state and federal prisons, where 5.5 percent identified as gay or bisexual, and an additional 3.8 were MSM. The Williams Institute's research team also found that gay and bisexual men received longer and harsher sentences for the same crimes committed compared to heterosexual men. Gay and bisexual men were found to be 2.7 times more likely to receive prison terms exceeding 20 years than straight men, and were more likely to have spent time in solitary confinement while incarcerated: 26.8 of gay and bisexual men had been held in solitary compared to 18.2 of straight men.{{Non-primary source needed|date=May 2025}}

Additionally, gay men are at increased risk of rape and sexual abuse while in prison.{{cite web|title=No Escape: Male Rape in US Prisons|url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2001/prison/report6.html|publisher=Human Rights Watch|access-date=28 December 2008|archive-date=12 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081212171218/http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2001/prison/report6.html|url-status=live}} A report by the international human-rights organization Human Rights Watch found that in U.S. prisons, the rape of incarcerated gay men is often administratively dismissed because of the misconception that any sexual contact involving a gay man and another male is inherently consensual. As a result, rape victims who are known or believed to be gay are sometimes even denied medical treatment or legal recourse, and perpetrators often go unpunished and thus are allowed to continue abusing their victims.

File:Bus stop adhack by Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants and Protest Stencil protesting the exclusion of LGBT+ asylum seekers, homeless people and community groups from Pride in London (48199878796).jpg

For many young gay men and LGBT+ youth around the world, homelessness and housing insecurity are serious issues.{{cite web |title=Gay and Transgender Youth Homelessness by the Numbers |url=https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/lgbtq-rights/news/2010/06/21/7980/gay-and-transgender-youth-homelessness-by-the-numbers/ |website=Center for American Progress |date=21 June 2010 |access-date=27 February 2021 |archive-date=28 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228050809/https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/lgbtq-rights/news/2010/06/21/7980/gay-and-transgender-youth-homelessness-by-the-numbers/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=A quarter of the UK's homeless youth are LGBT |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/23865/1/a-quarter-of-the-uks-homeless-youth-are-lgbt |website=Dazed |date=27 February 2015 |access-date=27 February 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062338/https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/23865/1/a-quarter-of-the-uks-homeless-youth-are-lgbt |url-status=live }} In the United States, which has the largest homeless population in the Western world outside of Germany, numerical estimates of housing insecure LGBT youth range from 1.6 million to 2.8 million. In one U.S. national sample, nearly half of houseless LGBT youth reported they had been kicked out of their home because their family had rejected their sexual orientation or identity.{{cite journal |last1=Nyamathi |first1=Adeline |title=Correlates of Prison Incarceration among Homeless Gay and Bisexual Stimulant-Using Young Adults |journal= Western Journal of Nursing Research|date=2015 |volume=37 |issue=6 |pages=799–811 |doi=10.1177/0193945914530521 |pmid=24733231 |pmc=4197114 }}{{Secondary source needed|date=April 2025}} For young gay men, the precariousness of unstable housing comes with many dangers; for example, studies have found that young gay men and adolescents were more likely than their straight counterparts to be sexually victimized while homeless.B.N. Cochran, et al. 2002, "Victimization".{{cite web |last1=Kendrick |first1=Trent |title=Parents abandon him for being gay; what happens next is too common. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t3vfQIJ-zk&feature=emb_title |website=Los Angeles LGBT Center |access-date=27 February 2021}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead YouTube link|date=February 2022}} Amongst adults, no nationally representative datasets exist yet for measuring the sexual orientation or gender identity of homeless or housing insecure individuals;{{cite web |last1=Wilson |first1=Bianca |last2=Choi |first2=Soon Kyu |last3=Harper |first3=Gary W. |last4=Lightfoot |first4=Marguerita |last5=Russell |first5=Stephen |last6=Meyer |first6=Ilan H. |title=Homelessness Among LGBT Adults in the US |url=https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbt-homelessness-us/ |website=Williams Institute |publisher=UCLA School of Law |access-date=27 February 2021 |archive-date=7 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307123130/https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbt-homelessness-us/ |url-status=live }} however, some estimates place the LGBT community at between 20 and 40% of the United States' homeless populations.{{cite journal |last1=Fraser |first1=Brodie |title=LGBTIQ+ Homelessness: A Review of the Literature |journal= International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health|date=August 2019 |volume=16 |issue=15 |page=2677 |doi=10.3390/ijerph16152677 |pmid=31357432 |pmc=6695950 |doi-access=free }}

{{Main article|Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures}}

{{See also|Ball culture|Bear (gay culture)|Drag queens|Gaymer|Twink (gay slang)|Down-low (sexual slang)}}

File:Taiwan Pride 2010 兩代女星的傳承 (5128790279).jpg]]

In North America and Europe, gay men have several subcultures, including Twinks, Bears, Otters, Queens, Jocks, Gaymers, and others.{{cite web |last1=Maki |first1=Justin L. |title=Gay Subculture Identification: Training Counselors to Work With Gay Men |url=https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/vistas/gay-subculture-identification.pdf?sfvrsn=f5c24a2c_4 |website=American Counseling Association |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414095648/https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/vistas/gay-subculture-identification.pdf?sfvrsn=f5c24a2c_4 |url-status=live }} According to scholars, these subcultures, which largely originated as part of a "gay American way of life", have in some ways become a "global template" for gay culture around the world.{{cite book |last1=Martel |first1=Frederic |title=Global Gay: How Gay Culture Is Changing the World |date=27 April 2018 |publisher=MIT University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0262037815 |edition=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HptXDwAAQBAJ |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309213118/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Global_Gay/HptXDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }} In India, where a gay culture is slowly emerging, despite anti-gay "societal values, the caste system, arranged marriages, [and] the high probability of being disinherited for coming out", some gay men are working to develop a mature and distinct-Indian culture while also adopting aspects of global gay culture.{{cite web |last1=Martel |first1=Frédéric |title=The Slow Evolution of Gay Culture in India |url=https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-slow-evolution-of-gay-culture-in-india/ |website=The MIT Press Reader |date=2 June 2020 |publisher=MIT University |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062407/https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-slow-evolution-of-gay-culture-in-india/ |url-status=live }} One Indian gay man who identifies as a Bear, stated in an interview, "Because [straight people] see me in chunky rings and bracelets, heavy metal tees riding a Harley Davidson, it doesn't fit in with the Indian stereotype of effeminate gay. While I have nothing against being effeminate, not all gay men are so ... Encouraging a bear culture [in India] will see more men feeling comfortable coming out and avoiding the trap of a face-saving heterosexual marriage."{{cite web |last1=Pawar |first1=Yogesh |title=From polars to cubs, 'Bears' skip the shave |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-from-polars-to-cubs-bears-skip-the-shave-2271949 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121152838/http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-from-polars-to-cubs-bears-skip-the-shave-2271949 |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 November 2016 |website=DNA India |access-date=14 March 2021}}

File:Capital Pride 2015 Washington DC USA 56935 (18807500951).jpg]]

In Canada, which already has mature urban communities of gay men, some gay artists are working to counter the fact that the social acceptability of a gay subculture is often dependent on how closely it aligns with Western standards of conventional attractiveness.{{cite web |last1=Abbas |first1=Mo |title=Gay 'bears' bare all in body-positive art exhibit |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/gay-bears-bare-all-body-positive-art-exhibit-n947481 |website=NBC News |date=13 December 2018 |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062337/https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/gay-bears-bare-all-body-positive-art-exhibit-n947481 |url-status=live }} The video artist Mike Wyeld, whose exhibition "LOVED", showcased the Bear community, stated, "Some of the things that the media's obsessed with — obesity, weight loss, body shape, aging — some of these things we have to be happy with. We get bigger, we get older. You can fight it and be miserable or you can accept it and live with the body that you have and love it." In the United Kingdom, journalists have noted the role mobile apps such as Grindr have played in creating self-segregating subcultures (also called "tribes") within gay men's communities.{{cite web |last1=Polaris |first1=Danny |title=What is a twink? The most hyper-sexualised gay 'tribe' |url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/04/27/what-is-a-twink/ |website=Pink News UK |date=27 April 2018 |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414010314/https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/04/27/what-is-a-twink/ |url-status=live }}

{{See also|Youth pride|LGBT youth vulnerability|Suicide among LGBT youth}}

File:2019.06.08 Capital Pride Parade, Washington, DC USA 1590096 (crop).jpg]]

Gay adolescents, boys, and young men are a uniquely vulnerable segment of the gay male population. In many countries, identity-issues, bullying, and lack of family acceptance are some of the major concerns facing gay-identified youth.{{cite journal |last1=Berlan |first1=Elise D. |last2=Corliss |first2=Heather L. |last3=Field |first3=Alison E. |last4=Goodman |first4=Elizabeth |title=Sexual Orientation and Bullying among Adolescents in the Growing Up Today Study |journal=J Adolesc Health |date=29 January 2010 |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=366–371 |doi=10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.10.015 |pmid=20307826 |pmc=2844864 }}{{cite journal |last1=Baruch-Dominguez |first1=Ricardo |title=Homophobic bullying in Mexico: Results of a national survey |journal=Journal of LGBT Youth |date=4 May 2016 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=18–27 |doi=10.1080/19361653.2015.1099498 |s2cid=148039413 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2015.1099498 |access-date=13 March 2021|url-access=subscription }}{{cite web |last1=Renna |first1=Cathy |title=Family Acceptance of LGBT Adolescents Protects Against Depression, Substance Abuse and Suicidal Behavior |url=https://familyproject.sfsu.edu/news-announce/family-acceptance-lgbt-adolescents-protects-against-depression-substance-abuse-and |website=Family Acceptance Project |publisher=San Francisco State University |access-date=13 March 2021 |archive-date=20 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420013512/https://familyproject.sfsu.edu/news-announce/family-acceptance-lgbt-adolescents-protects-against-depression-substance-abuse-and |url-status=live }} Additionally, gay boys and adolescents around the world are regularly subjected to more extreme forms of violence, including conversion therapy,{{cite web |title=Global ban needed on bogus 'conversion therapy', argues UN rights expert |url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/06/1066652 |website=United Nations |date=21 June 2020 |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=11 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210311035856/https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/06/1066652 |url-status=live }} familial violence,{{cite web |title=Two men charged with attempted murder of their brother outside LGBT youth hostel |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/2-men-charged-with-attempted-murder-of-their-brother-outside-lgbt-youth-hostel/ |website=The Times of Israel |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=12 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412160211/https://www.timesofisrael.com/2-men-charged-with-attempted-murder-of-their-brother-outside-lgbt-youth-hostel/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Simon |first1=Mashaun D. |title=After Man Is Charged in Gay Son's Death, LGBTQ Groups Focus on Outreach |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/after-dad-allegedly-kills-son-being-gay-lgbtq-groups-prioritize-n820281 |website=NBC News |date=13 November 2017 |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414182355/https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/after-dad-allegedly-kills-son-being-gay-lgbtq-groups-prioritize-n820281 |url-status=live }} and other forms of physical abuse.{{cite journal |last1=Savin-Williams |first1=R. C. |title=Verbal and physical abuse as stressors in the lives of lesbian, gay male, and bisexual youths |journal=Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology |date=1994 |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=261–269 |doi=10.1037/0022-006X.62.2.261 |pmid=8201062 |url=https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.62.2.261 |access-date=14 March 2021|url-access=subscription }} These issues have been shown to have detrimental effects on the well-being of gay and bisexual male youth. In the United States, a 2019 report by the CDC found that suicidal ideation amongst gay and bisexual boys and adolescents is as high as 40.4%.{{cite journal |last1=Ivey-Stephenson |first1=AZ |title=Suicidal Ideation and Behaviors Among High School Students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2019 |journal=MMWR Suppl |date=2020 |volume=69 |issue=Suppl-1 |pages=47–55 |doi=10.15585/mmwr.su6901a6 |pmid=32817610 |pmc=7440198 |doi-access=free }} According to the CDC, however, parental support can play an important role in bettering health outcomes for gay and bisexual youth, decreasing the likelihood a gay teen will: "Experience depression; attempt suicide; use drugs and alcohol; [or] become infected with sexually transmitted diseases."{{cite web |last1=Guilamo-Ramos |first1=V. |last2=Bouris |first2=A. |title=Parents' Influence on the Health of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Teens: What Parents and Families Should Know |url=https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/protective/pdf/parents_influence_lgb.pdf |website=CDC |access-date=13 March 2021 |archive-date=18 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318083439/https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/protective/pdf/parents_influence_lgb.PDF |url-status=live }} For educators, the inclusion of diverse curriculum and the development of peer support venues (such as Queer–Straight Alliances in North America) have been suggested as ways to reduce the frequency and effects of bullying and cyberbullying.{{cite journal |last1=Waldman |first1=Ari Ezra |title=Tormented: Antigay Bullying in Schools |journal=Temple Law Review |date=2012 |volume=84 |issue=2 |pages=385–442 |url=https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1791&context=fac_articles_chapters |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=15 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210315181901/https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1791&context=fac_articles_chapters |url-status=live }} Such measures are particularly important for gay and bisexual male students, who, in 2019, were the second most likely group (behind trans students) to have experienced bullying at school (73.9%) and online (30%) in the most recent 30 days, according to research by Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin.{{cite web |last1=Hinduja, Ph.D |first1=Sameer |last2=Patchin, Ph.D |first2=Justin W. |title=Bullying, Cyberbullying, and LGBTQ Students |url=https://ed.buffalo.edu/content/dam/ed/alberti/docs/Bullying-Cyberbullying-LGBTQ-Students.pdf |website=Cyberbullying Research Center |publisher=University at Buffalo |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=15 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210315181910/https://ed.buffalo.edu/content/dam/ed/alberti/docs/Bullying-Cyberbullying-LGBTQ-Students.pdf |url-status=live }} Despite these calls for inclusive and diverse curriculums, Scotland is currently the only country in the world with a mandated LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum in its public school system.{{cite web |title=LGBTI education |url=https://www.gov.scot/news/lgbti-education/ |website=The Scottish Government |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=16 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316000741/https://www.gov.scot/news/lgbti-education/ |url-status=live }} While many nations offer a piecemeal approach to LGBT education, others (including several U.S. states){{cite journal |last1=Rosky |first1=Clifford |title=Anti-Gay Curriculum Laws |journal=Columbia Law Review |volume=117 |issue=6 |pages=1461–1542 |url=https://columbialawreview.org/content/anti-gay-curriculum-laws/ |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=14 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314004942/https://columbialawreview.org/content/anti-gay-curriculum-laws/ |url-status=live }} have explicit bans on the inclusion of gay-friendly education. Despite the challenges gay teenagers face, studies have found that gay male youth also develop skillsets which enable them to more successfully cope with stress and other developmental challenges than their straight peers.{{cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=Andrew L. |title=Strengths of Gay Male Youth: An Untold Story |journal=Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal |date=1998 |volume=15 |pages=55–71 |doi=10.1023/A:1022245504871 |s2cid=141527688 |url=https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022245504871 |access-date=13 March 2021 |archive-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309213125/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1022245504871 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }} In comparing gay boys and adolescents to their heterosexual peers, gay-identified youth show higher levels of resilience, positive self-esteem, and internal self-control.

{{See also|Same-sex adoption|Same-sex parenting}}

File:Gay couple with a baby.jpg

In the majority of countries today, adoption by same-sex couples is not legally allowed. In Western Europe, most of South America, and North America, however, gay men can became fathers in a variety of ways, including adoption, surrogates, and births from previous relationships. In recent years, prominent gay men such as Anderson Cooper and Elton John have made headlines for becoming fathers,{{cite web |last1=Vigdor |first1=Neil |title=Anderson Cooper Announces Birth of His First Child |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/us/anderson-cooper-baby-son-wyatt.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216121557/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/us/anderson-cooper-baby-son-wyatt.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 February 2021 |website=The New York Times |access-date=14 March 2021}}{{cite news |last1=Katz |first1=Neil |title=Elton John's Baby: Whose Sperm is It? |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elton-johns-baby-whose-sperm-is-it/ |website=CBS News |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062406/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elton-johns-baby-whose-sperm-is-it/ |url-status=live }} and gay men have been increasingly represented on television as fathers (though these representations have been subject to critiques for their one-dimensionality).{{cite web |last1=Abbot |first1=Alysia |title=TV's Disappointing Gay Dads |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2012/10/tvs-disappointing-gay-dads/264134/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111190434/https://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2012/10/tvs-disappointing-gay-dads/264134/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 November 2020 |website=The Atlantic |access-date=14 March 2021}} In spite of these advances in visibility and representation, however, gay fathers and their families still experience high levels of discrimination and social stigma from their relatives, neighbors, and other members of their communities.{{cite news |last1=Rapaport |first1=Lisa |title=Gay fathers face stigma as parents |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-lgbt-gay-dads/gay-fathers-face-stigma-as-parents-idUSKCN1P92TS |website=Reuters |date=15 January 2019 |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062337/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-lgbt-gay-dads/gay-fathers-face-stigma-as-parents-idUSKCN1P92TS |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Romo |first1=Rafael |title=Parents say daughter was expelled from Mexico day care because they're gay |url=https://www.cnn.com/2013/10/01/world/americas/mexico-day-care-gay-parents/index.html |website=CNN |date=October 2013 |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062406/https://www.cnn.com/2013/10/01/world/americas/mexico-day-care-gay-parents/index.html |url-status=live }} In the United States, two-thirds of gay fathers report experiencing social stigma, and one-third report that their children faced stigmatization from other children for having gay parents. The majority of social scientific research shows the children of gay fathers to be equally well adjusted as the children of heterosexual parents.{{cite web |title=What does the scholarly research say about the well-being of children with gay or lesbian parents? |url=https://whatweknow.inequality.cornell.edu/topics/lgbt-equality/what-does-the-scholarly-research-say-about-the-wellbeing-of-children-with-gay-or-lesbian-parents/ |website=Public Policy Research Portal |publisher=Cornell University |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=2 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102220141/https://whatweknow.inequality.cornell.edu/topics/lgbt-equality/what-does-the-scholarly-research-say-about-the-wellbeing-of-children-with-gay-or-lesbian-parents/ |url-status=live }}

File:Presidio per matrimonio gay - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 23-Mar-2010 - 03.jpg

Older gay men are one of the least studied groups within gay men's communities. In Mexico, Vida Alegre opened in 2019 as the first senior center for LGBT people in the country.{{cite web |last1=Grattan |first1=Steven |title=This senior center is helping Mexico's 'invisible' LGBTQ seniors |url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-11-27/senior-center-helping-mexico-s-invisible-lgbtq-seniors |website=The World |date=27 November 2019 |publisher=PRI |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309213125/https://theworld.org/stories/2019-11-27/senior-center-helping-mexico-s-invisible-lgbtq-seniors |url-status=live }} According to the center's founder, Samantha Flores, loneliness is a major problem for many older gay men in Mexico, stating, "I've had people come in, older gay men, sobbing and pouring their hearts out to me about how unhappy they are ... They usually don't have children, and many of their families have disowned them, so they need to turn to families they have chosen themselves or friends for social contact." According to Flores, many of these older gay men in Mexico are also living with PTSD because of their many lost friends and partners who died during the AIDS epidemic. In France, the documentary filmmaker Sébastien Lifshitz made Les Invisibles, a 2012 documentary about elderly gay French people, and he found significant ideological differences between younger and older gay people.{{cite web |last1=Guguen |first1=Guillaume |last2=Frosch |first2=Jon |title=French documentary on gay seniors strikes timely chord |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20121126-les-invisibles-france-film-gay-marriage-adoption-documentary-homosexual-sebastien-lifshitz |website=France 24 |date=26 November 2012 |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=21 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421063841/https://www.france24.com/en/20121126-les-invisibles-france-film-gay-marriage-adoption-documentary-homosexual-sebastien-lifshitz |url-status=live }} Lifshitz stated, "What's important to understand is that this older generation of gay people in France fought against the heterosexual, bourgeois model of French society with all their might. The fact that there are much younger gay couples today that are demanding the right to get married and adopt children is something the older gay generation understands, but does not want for themselves." Finally, in the United States, scholars have found that most older gay American men are not "strange, lonely creatures" but are instead "well-adjusted to their homosexuality and the aging process".{{cite book |last1=Berger |first1=Raymond Mark |title=Gay and Gray: The Older Homosexual Man |date=1996 |publisher=Harrington Park Press |isbn=9781560249863 |edition=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FmexJusly5oC |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309213106/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Gay_and_Gray/FmexJusly5oC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}

{{See also|Trans men|Transgender sexuality}}

For trans and gender nonconforming gay and bisexual men, there are unique aspects of their identity which shape their experience within gay men's communities. In Canada, gay and bisexual trans men often use specific apps and websites, such as Grindr and Tinder, in order to find romantic and sexual partners.{{cite journal |last1=Scheim |first1=Ayden |last2=Adam |first2=Barry |last3=Marshall |first3=Zack |title=Gay, bisexual, and queer trans men navigating sexual fields |journal=Sexualities |date=27 November 2017 |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=566–586 |doi=10.1177/1363460717716426 |s2cid=149431143 |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460717716426 |access-date=14 March 2021|url-access=subscription }} Canadian trans men report that personal developments (such as gender transition) and socio-historical changes (like increasing trans male visibility and the rise of virtual dating applications) are producing rapidly changing sexual and romantic opportunities; In 2017, most gay Canadian trans men reported having satisfying sexual lives.{{Secondary source needed|date=April 2025}} In a 2009 interview with New York magazine, the writer Amos Mac, who identifies as queer, said, "I very much [identify] as a fag. I [am] drawn to the community of gay men, and that's how I embody myself. I'm attracted to guys who have a bit of flair to them. They don't have to be gay, but they can be queeny. I love an artistic queen."{{cite web |last1=Van Meter |first1=William |title=Transmen and the City |url=https://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/66064/ |website=New York |date=30 October 2009 |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=9 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309064702/https://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/66064/ |url-status=live }} In his 2017 book, Trans Homo, Avi Ben-Zeev addresses the historical presence of trans gay men within the community, writing, "Elders, like Lou Sullivan, paved the way and have brought some visibility to the fact that trans men are, and have been, an integral part of gay male communities. Yet, we trans homos (and our lovers) are still mysterious creatures to many, even within these communities."{{cite book |last1=Ben-Zeev |first1=Avi |last2=Bailey |first2=Pete |title=Trans Homo...GASP!: Gay FTM and Cis Men on Sex and Love |date=3 October 2017 |publisher=Transgress Press |isbn=978-0998252131 |edition=1}} In a 2004 collection of personal essays, one man wrote about his identity formation as a gay trans man, writing "I [never felt] that being gay, or [transgender] was unnatural. I've always felt that the people who never questioned their gender, sexuality, or fertility were the odd ones. If anyone needs an outsider's label, it's the ones who moralize against human sexuality, not the ones who accept it."{{cite book |last1=Hernandez |first1=Michael M. |last2=Diamond |first2=Morty |title=From the Inside Out: Radical Gender Transformation, FTM and Beyond |date=15 October 2004 |publisher=Manic Press |isbn=978-0916397968 |page=21 |edition=1}}

File:Pride in London 140.jpg 2016]]

Gay men with disabilities report feelings of discomfort because of social expectations surrounding physical appearance and conventional standards of attractiveness.{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Peter |date=26 January 2017 |title=Wheels of Change: Dating for Gay Men with Disabilities |url=https://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/wheels-of-change-dating-for-gay-men-with-disabilities/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062339/https://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/wheels-of-change-dating-for-gay-men-with-disabilities/ |archive-date=21 April 2021 |access-date=14 March 2021 |website=Medill School of Journalism |publisher=Northwestern University}} One man, Aaron Anderson, who has Guillain-Barre Syndrome, said, "Gay men are so conditioned to everything has to be perfect. You have to have it all. [My body] is so not perfect. The gay men I know don't know how to deal with it [my disability]. They pretend it's not a thing or superficial acquaintances will just ignore me." Gay men with disabilities also note that members of the disability community often feel desexualized by society. This desexualization can have serious ramifications for the health of gay men with disabilities. Jae Jin Pak, of the University of Illinois at Chicago, noted that accurate sexual education and sexuality-related information is generally unavailable to members of the disabled community, which can leave men in the community without information about safe-sex practices. Meanwhile, within the field of Disability studies, scholars emphasize the importance of establishing a public identity and a common culture for gay men with disabilities.{{cite book |last1=Guter |first1=Bob |last2=Killacky |first2=John |title=Queer Crips: Disabled Gay Men and Their Stories |date=4 April 2014 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781317712695 |edition=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_g5IAwAAQBAJ |access-date=14 March 2021 |archive-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309213144/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Queer_Crips/_g5IAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }} In recent years, queer men with disabilities have achieved some mainstream media visibility, including through Ryan O'Connell's 2019 Netflix series Special, and the online popularity of the sexually fluid American model Nyle DiMarco.

In the United States, on average, gay men are almost twice as likely than straight men to disagree that "they feel safe at school".{{Cite journal |last=Mittleman |first=Joel |date=2022 |title=Intersecting the Academic Gender Gap: The Education of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual America |journal=American Sociological Review |language=en |volume=87 |issue=2 |pages=303–335 |doi=10.1177/00031224221075776 |issn=0003-1224 |doi-access=free}} Despite this, gay men are 50% more likely than straight men to have a university degree, and gay men have a slightly higher high school GPA than straight and bisexual men.

{{Portal|LGBTQ}}

• Bara (genre)
• Gay characters in fiction
• Gay literature
• Gay male literature
• Gay male speech
• Gay men's flags
• Gay Men of African Descent
• Gay pornography
• Gay sexual practices
• History of gay men
• History of gay men in the United States
• Homoeroticism
• Homosexual behavior in animals
• Homosexuality in modern sports
• List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people
• Yaoi

{{Reflist}}

{{sister project links|d=Q104969456|wikt=no|c=Category:Gay men|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|s=no|species=no}}

• [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/photo-collection-shows-19th-and-20th-century-gay-relationships-180976161/ Portraits of Gay Men in Love] – Smithsonian Institution portrait photographs of gay men in the United States.
• [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2902177/ Reported Effects of Masculine Ideals on Gay Men] – National Institutes of Health report on masculine idealization
• [https://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/gaybears/gaylib/ Gay Bears at UC Berkeley] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421062407/https://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/gaybears/gaylib/ |date=21 April 2021 }} – UC Berkeley history of the Gay Liberation Movement
• [https://www.aidsmemorial.org/interactive-aids-quilt Interactive AIDS Memorial Quilt] – National AIDS Memorial digital AIDS Memorial Quilt
• [https://www.gmhc.org Gay Men's Health Crisis] – GMHC website
• [https://www.gale.com/primary-sources/archives-of-sexuality-and-gender Gale Archive of Sexuality and Gender] – archive related to the history of sexuality

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