Brave Creatures

First, there was the term "homosexual," then "gay" and "lesbian," then the once taboo "dyke" and "queer."

Now, all bets are off.

With the universe of gender and sexual identities expanding, a gay youth culture emerging, acceptance of gays rising and label loyalty falling, the gay lexicon has exploded with scores of new words and blended phrases that delineate every conceivable stop on the identity spectrum — at least for this week.

Someone who is "genderqueer," for example, views the gender options as more than just male and female or doesn't fit into the binary male-female system. A "trannydyke" is a transgender person (whose gender is different than the one assigned at birth) attracted to people with a more feminine gender, while a "pansexual" is attracted to people of multiple genders. A "boi" describes a boyish gay guy or a biological female with a male presentation; and "heteroflexible" refers to a straight person with a queer mind-set.

The list of terms — which have hotly contested definitions — goes on: "FTM" for female to male, "MTF" for male to female, "boydyke," "trannyboy," "trannyfag," "multigendered," "polygendered," "queerboi," "transboi," "transguy," "transman," "half-dyke," "bi-dyke," "stud," "stem," "trisexual," "omnisexual," and "multisexual."

"The language thing is tricky," said Thom Lynch, the director of the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center. "I feel sorry for straight people."
—Rona Marech, "Nuances of gay identities reflected in new language," The San Francisco Chronicle, February 8, 2004

As for sexuality, don't get me started. (We don't have that long.) If metrosexuals made you nervous in 2003, hang on to your pore strips. 2004 looks set to be the year of the heteroflexible — a person who prefers to identify as a heterosexual but remains open to better offers. The heteroflex, in other words, is a kind of scrambled curate's egg — gay in parts.
—Susan Maushart, "Just between Arthur and Martha," Australian Magazine, January 31, 2004

"If Michael Jackson wanted me as a boyfriend, I'd go with him as long as I could scam enough money from him," the hetero-flexible Joey told me.
—Frank Owen, "Rebels without a lease," The Village Voice, May 7, 1996