Sexuality as identity: Gay and lesbian language

by Cameron and Kulick

Research on the language of gays went through 4 stages:

1. 1920s-1940s. seeing it as a pathology and the language emphasized its strangeness. (Also, at that time it was thought that gays actually desired sex with the opposite sex). Focus on vocabulary and gender inevrsion
   
2. 1950s-1960s. Researchers drew a division between old-fashioned "princesses" and young gay brothers, idealizing white middle-class speech.
3. 1970s-mid 1990s. Influenced by literature on ethnic speech varieties, group cohesion as a gay identity and unity.
4. 1990s to present. Queer theory: looking at variety and diversity in gay identity. Identity is now the effect of semiotic forms, not its source.