"==Old talk== 
 I would argue that as the article focuses on the use of gay as it refers to sexuality, the first sentence should reflect that by saying that in addition to gay referring to homosexuals, it also can be used to mean joyous and glad. Such a revision would also emphasize the predominate use of gay as a term for sexuality and its secondary use as a synonym for happy. 

 :""Gay"" still means joyous and glad, it's just that the other meaning is more common.   

 ::""This word may safely be used only to mean homosexual."" - The Globe and Mail Style Book 

 :::Who cares what the ""Globe and Mail Style Book"" thinks?  The other meaning is still valid.  Just because you probably wouldn't use it in every day speech to mean ""joyous"" or ""glad,"" doesn't mean that these are invalid meanings.   22:30 21 Jul 2003 (UTC) 

 ::::Who care what all the dictionary definitions of a term are? This is an encyclopedia and as such we write about encyclopedic topics - the alternate dictionary definition of the word ""gay"" doesn't fit the bill (although mentioning it somewhere in the historical development section of this article should be fine). The encyclopedic topic here is the contemporary usage of the term - its older meaning is just a part of that history. The secondary usage should not get first mention.  

 :::::But we clearly use and understand ""gay"" to mean joyous and glad in the present day.  Everyone is familiar with the refrain ""don we now our gay apparel"" and does not think that it means we are going to dress up as homosexuals; everyone understands the meaning of the phrase ""the gay Nineties""; and particularly there are still ""gay blades.""   13:03 22 Jul 2003 (UTC) 

 :::::: ""Gay Paris"" with a french accent does not usually mean ""homosexual paris""   

 :I agree with this. This aspect is confusing as a person looking for 'homosexual' would be redirected by the comment at the top, while missing significant content regarding the use of gay to mean homosexual lower down the page.. Perhaps a 'See also' would be more appropriate?   

 :Is there evidence that the ""gay"" had a connotation of ""promiscuity"" as the meaning transitioned from ""happy"" to ""same-sex love""? I heard it as an explanation for how gay suddenly acquired its current definition, but I haven't yet searched for the source of that.   

 * This is such a tiresome debate.  The word's usage has changed from ""jolly"" to ""homosexual"".  That's the sort of thing that happens to words in a living language. Dictionaries reflect that chance in usage through a changed definition.  Just as the term ""Christian"" began as an insult and eventually got subverted into an identity term, this word has changed its meaning.  The term ""homosexual"", it should be noted, has pathologically origins and is offensive to some gay and lesbian people. Some are now proposing the word ""queer"" as a collective term (e.g., Queer Culture), but this has yet to find a home in the heart of every gay person.   

 :: What debate? I don't think there's any debate. I found the explanation in a history of the word offered by a womens' right and gender equity group. I didn't find the source so that I could investigate, and put it here to see if someone actually know where it comes from. Moreover, dictionaries may reflect changes in word, but they also should find how the word changes. It's partly the reason that Oxford Dictionary became popular, because it told how a word changed in spelling, pronunciation, and meaning. An encyclopaedium, while not a dictionary entry, should offer a sourced and more detailed explanation of how the word acquired its meaning because people would like to know, and such a long history can't be given in the dictionary. 

 :: There's nothing wrong with finding out that 'gay' might have first changed meaning into a euphemism for 'promiscuous', because gay might have reflected a wider usage for a large group of people performing on ""Broadway"" (perhaps later referring to prostitution, ""gay old time"" perhaps) before the meaning narrowed even more to focusing on the group of men with same-sex desire. That's the way word history can change, along with whether words become more negative or positive. 

 :: This would be very interesting to know, because then we can explain the split personality of 'gay' between being happy and being queer. It might have had an intermediate meaning for promiscuous before gay men used it as a code word to describe themselves. It might not be