ABSTRACT
Language is a central and critical component of gay culture, just as is the case for other domains of human experience. Whether gay men are interacting with friends at an all-gay dinner party, signaling gay identity to a colleague or new acquaintance at the office or in some other public place, applying for medical services at a public health clinic, or disclosing newly discovered gay desires to a parent, supervisor, or (straight) spouse, language helps to shape the content and context of the social moment and helps to regulate other details of the social exchange.
