As the title says, to you what does being gay really mean. The reason I used quotation marks is that I'm very highly willing to bet that to many of us what it means will be different. I'm at the point in my life where I'm ready to come out entirely but at the same time I'm not sure how I feel I should show that. Thoughts?
When you are being 100% natural you and not "acting" any way or or even thinking about what you are "showing". Genuine you.
Being gay -- I like guys, I want to have a relationship with them, I want to have sex with them. And I'm not keeping secrets or having a secret life to do that. I am proud of being gay. And I'm happy because I know that and I'm not afraid to show that to the world.
nice question. i like to think subjectively about seemily objective words. to me, being gay feels like i want to be as intimately close as possible with someone who inhabits the same physical body that i inhabit.
Gay would be defined as a homosexual male usually. For many it means a struggle with self and coming to grips that you will be judged differently. It means finding out and accepting the reality of who you are. It is a simple word with simple meaning but tons of implications. Hugs and love
To me it means to know you are a man and not to have a problem with that, to like checking out only men (if you like checking out people generally), to have sex fantasies with men, to be turned on by gay porn (if you like porn), to have sex only with men, to be instantly turned off by women. I don't know if it also means to imagine a life with a man as your partner, but I suppose it does. But apart from those, you are just another man in every other aspect of your life and I think someone else shouldn't be able to distinguish you as being gay or straight unless he sees you with another man.
Yes, although I would not recommend using the word gay for happy these days. At least most of the time. In high school, we had a German exchange student. One of his worst moments, he said, was when he was at a party, and said something like, "I am so gay!" I guess he nearly died of embarrassment when he learned what the word most commonly means.
The word "gay" is not very descriptive, and by common social usage, can apply to many different things. (For instance, sexual attractions, romantic attractions, attractions to social qualities of gender and attractions to aspects of biological sex can all be covered by the term.) I can't tell if you are questioning the connotative and denotative meanings of the word, however, or posting an "Am I really gay?" thread. I'd be happy to share my thoughts on either, if you will clarify your question.