LAVENDER LANGUAGE

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LGBTQ+ IDENTITIES

Mai Lam Bao Khang

WHAT IS LAVENDER LANGUAGE?

“Lavender language functions as a kind of homosexual code, characterised by

acronyms, plays on words, and double meanings only intended to be understood
by the gay community” (Maxwell, 2003). [1]

An iconic example of lavender language is the word “lavender” itself, or rather,

the colour that it represents. The colour lavender has a long and fascinating
history associated with its symbolism of homosexuality. [2]
“I Have Not Had One Word from
Her”
by Sappho (c. – c. BC)

If you forget me, think

of our gifts to Aphrodite

and all the loveliness that we shared

all the violet tiaras,

braided rosebuds, dill and

crocus twined around your young neck

6
3

5
7
0

As of the 1930s, queer men across America

were cruelly taunted for possessing a
“streak of lavender,” alongside other
derogatory terms such as “pansy” and
“fruitcake.” [2][3][4]

In 1969, however, lavender sashes and

armbands were given to hundreds of “gay
power” marchers in New York to
commemorate the Stonewall riots, which
had occurred just a month before. Since
then, the colour has become a symbol of
empowerment instead of shame. [2]
Reclaiming a Slur

Queer (adj): having or relating to a gender identity or a

sexuality that does not t society’s traditional ideas
about gender or sexuality (Cambridge Dictionary).

In other words, the term “queer” can be used to

describe anybody who is not heterosexual or
cisgender.

Semantically, “queer” is a synonym of “strange” or

“peculiar,” and in the past, it was commonly used as a
slur – a word meant to insult or degrade members of
the LGBTQ+ community. [5]
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As of the late 1980s, queer activists in the United States began to reclaim the word
as a move to not only oppose anti-gay and anti-transgender ideologies but also to
recognise sexual and gender identities that exist beyond the usual de nitions of
“lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.” [5][6]

A well-known example would be the slogan popularized by Queer Nation in the

1990s, “We’re here, we’re queer – get used to it.” [5][7]

Since then, “queer” has become an increasingly common term to use to refer to
LGBTQ+ people in modern society. [5] However, it is important to recognise that
many people still see “queer” as a derogatory word and thus might react strongly
and/or negatively when being labelled as such.

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WHY IS LAVENDER LANGUAGE
IMPORTANT TO QUEER IDENTITIES?

Western society in the last few centuries, speci cally Western Europe and later
the United States, has always viewed homosexual acts as another form of
sodomy and therefore heavily frowned upon them. [8]

As a result, queer men and women have borrowed or created new terms and
phrases in order to identify one another within their own communities while
avoiding unwanted attention. [5][9]

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 “Language was a code; language was a shield.”

– Jeanna Kadlec, ‘A Brief History of Queer Language Before Queer Identity’

The Secret Language
Polari is the secret lexicon used by members of the
LGBTQ+ community across the United Kingdom since the
19th century. [11] During this period of time, being gay was
still a criminal act in Britain.

What Polari allowed its speakers to do was gure out

whether someone was queer or not. For instance, you could
drop a Polari word into a casual conversation and it might
not get picked up by somebody who is straight; if they are
gay, on the other hand, it would be a signal that you two
can communicate freely about topics that could otherwise
get you arrested. [11]

Words of Polari have numerous origins, including French,

Italian, Romani, British theatre slangs, Cockney rhyming
slangs, Yiddish, backwards slangs, and many more. [12]
fi
 Polari English
✤ How bona to vada your dolly old eek! ✤ How nice to see your pretty old face!

✤ As an omi, he’s naff. But in drag, she’s ✤ As a man, he’s dull. But in women’s clothes,
fantabulosa! She titivates with fortuni slap, she’s fabulous! She makes herself look great
zhooshes up a switch, and is one hell of a with gorgeous makeup, styles up a wig, and
hoofer. is one hell of a dancer.

✤ I’m not into palone-omees because I’m not ✤ I’m not into lesbians because I’m not
bibi, but anyone with ogles can varda that bisexual, but anyone with eyes can see that
she’s got a bona bod. she’s got a nice body.
Meanwhile, in the United States, a well-
known expression used to refer to
LGBTQ+ people after the Second World
War (the 1950s) is “friends of Dorothy.”

The phrase was most likely inspired by

the character Dorothy Gale from the Oz
children novel series, which has been
described as containing a lot of queer
subtext. [14][15]
In The Road to Oz (1905), after hearing the
exclamation made by Polychrome, “You have
some queer friends, Dorothy,” which meant
to regard Dorothy’s companions, she replied,
“The queerness doesn't matter, so long as
they're friends.” [16]

Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) and her “queer friends”

HOW HAS LAVENDER LANGUAGE CHANGED
WITHIN THE LAST FEW DECADES?

Starting from the 1960s as well as the 1970s, many LGBTQ+ liberation groups,
including the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA), Queer Nation, and Lesbian Avengers,
began to not only take direct action against queerphobic sentiments and hate crimes
but also put a heavy emphasis on the act of “coming out of the closet,” that is, to
self-disclose and live life as an openly gay, bisexual, or transgender person. [17][18]

As a result of the gay liberation movement, together with the decriminalisation of

homosexuality in many Western countries, more and more queer people refused to
lock themselves up inside “the closet,” and thus, the secret lexicon of Polari and
“friends of Dorothy” started to lose their purpose. [19]
As of the 2000s, most queer men would just use
terms like “gay,” “homosexual,” or “bisexual”
to describe themselves instead of the old “blue”
or “omi-palone.” Likewise, most lesbians
would identify themselves as “homosexual” or
“sapphic” instead of “palone-omi.” [19][20]

It is also important to point out that it was not

until the 1990s that “T” (transgender) became a
legitimate part of “LGBT.”

Before then, activists, allies, and queer people in

general had only adopted the acronym “LGB,”
even though trans people have existed all over
human history and the trans community has
played a huge part in the gay liberation
movement. [20][21][22]
Even though the Polari lexicon and the like are
no longer as widespread as they were in the
past, some terms actually survived into the 21st
century and are still actively used by members
of the LGBTQ+ community as well as its allies,
e.g., “fruity” (queer), “camp” (extremely
exaggerated), “butch” (masculine), “femme”
(feminine), etc.

On the other hand, the community has created

many new slangs to not only re ect our modern
insights into human sexuality and gender but
also celebrate how far we have come to achieve
what we have at the present.
fl
✤ Gaydar (n): gay + radar; the supposed
ability to detect someone’s sexuality

✤ Egg (n): someone who is transgender

but does not realise it yet

✤ Enby (n): the acronym NB; a non-binary

person

✤ Deadname (n): the birth name of a

transgender person

✤ Aro/ace (adj): refer to someone who is

aromantic and/or asexual
“A history of queer language is a history of queer people, [...]. It marks how we
understood ourselves, how we were understood by institutions: how we wrote
and rewrote ourselves, how we adapted, how we moved through space and
absorbed and recon gured words to suit what we needed.”

– Jeanna Kadlec, ‘A Brief History of Queer Language Before Queer Identity’

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