MovieChat Forums > For Love of Ivy (1968) Discussion > use of the word 'gay' by Beau Bridges

use of the word 'gay' by Beau Bridges


Is this the first Hollywood film in which the word "gay" is used to mean a homosexual?

My reference is to the conversation between Beau Bridges and Sidney Poitier in which Bridges asks Poitier "You're not gay, are you?".

This film was released almost a year before the Stonewall Bar riots in Greenwich Village, New York City. As I can recall, the word "gay", referring to a homosexual, did not come into common use until after that event.

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Great question! I know this is an older post but I was taken aback by that scene, too. Any chance you found the answer for yourself?

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I don't know if this is fact, but www.todayIfoundout.com has this info posted:

Bringing Up Baby in 1938 was the first film to use the word gay to mean homosexual. Cary Grant, in one scene, ended up having to wear a lady’s feathery robe. When another character asks about why he is wearing that, he responds an ad-libbed line “Because I just went gay”. At the time, mainstream audiences didn’t get the reference so the line was thought popularly to have meant something to the effect of “I just decided to be carefree.”

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Thanks, chanpaw. I saw Bringing up Baby in my youth but that just flew over my head.

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Like another poster mentioned, this is an old post but I'm just now watching the movie now and I was surprised by that as well. And not only did he use the word "gay" rather than a more offensive term more common for the time, he said it like it was no big deal either way. He was just trying to clarify for fixing him up with the maid. And the Sidney Poitier character just said "No", but didn't seem offended at being asked. This movie was way ahead of it's time. I couldn't imagine the scene playing out that smoothly even in the 70's.

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