When did people stop using the word "gay" to mean light-hearted?

1976

I'm as gay as a daisy a cliché coming thru!

You'll have a gay old time!

Last Wednesday, Rose.

I’ve often wondered this

The term "gay" began to take on its current meaning of homosexual in the late 19th century, with homosexual subcultures using it as a code word, but the usage became more common in the mid-20th century and was cemented by the 1960s and 1970s. The word was favored by the homosexual community to refer to themselves as a deliberate alternative to the clinical and pathologizing term "homosexual".

Here's a breakdown of the timeline:

Late 19th Century: The word "gay" began to be used in underground or subcultural contexts to refer to homosexuality, possibly as early as the late 1800s or early 1900s.

Mid-20th Century: The usage continued to grow, and by the 1950s, "gay" had become a well-established term for homosexual people within their own community, as noted by the Oxford English Dictionary in 1951 for slang use.

1960s and 1970s: This period marked a significant shift in mainstream perception, especially after the Stonewall Riots in 1969. The term "gay" was increasingly adopted by the gay rights movement, solidifying its meaning as a non-clinical, positive identifier for same-sex attracted people, replacing the term "homosexual" for many.

From Code Word to Mainstream: The transition from a discreet code word to a publicly known and embraced term was a gradual process, with the 1960s and 1970s serving as the critical period when this change fully entered the public consciousness.

The 1938 film “Bringing Up Baby”.

Uttered by Cary Grant’s character: “I just went GAY all of a sudden.”

The 1960s is when it really started.

I remember Kitty Carlisle was on a game show and said something was very gay and the audience started chortling. She said, "I mean in the old sense of the word!".

I think when Cary Grant went gay all of a sudden in Bringing Up Baby.

I never understood how that Bringing Up Baby line got by the censors, since it made no sense in the old context of the word and it is not thrown away but emphasized for the laugh. Was the Breen Office really that oblivious?

My pussy stinks.

R11, I always assumed that it be interpreted, at the time, as Cary’s character saying “gay” as deliriously happy or crazy. Why else would he be in women’s frilly garments unless he went a little crazy,

After that, I could see how gays then took the term and made it their own.

I never tell driver to go straight ahead, I tell him to go gayly forward.

Here’s a Cole Porter lyric from 1941:

Don’t inquire of Georgie Raft

Why his cow has never calfed—

Georgie’s bull is beautiful, but he’s gay!”

r12 We get it, Cheryl.

I mixed company I prefer “Deviant homosexualist”.

R13 You may be right that is how it was taken, but was deliriously crazy ever really a synonym for the “old” gay?

By the time of 1964’s ugly Olivia deHavilland film “Lady in a Cage”, it definitely means homosexual as one of the house invaders flat out accuses James Caan of being gay.

There’s no ambiguity in this film as to the meaning of the word.

Noel Coward used the word often in its old sense in his early days, and I recall one of his bios telling us he bemoaned the fact that it was suborned to mean what it does now. But then, he was born in 1899 and was to a large extent an Edwardian gentleman all his life. (Or at least, his interpretation of one, since he wasn't born upper class.)

The change probably was more annoying to lyricists than anyone, because "gay" does rhyme so easily.

[quote]When did people stop using the word "gay" to mean light-hearted?

When Oscar Hammerstein died.

r17 “Deviant homosexualist”.

Don't give the fundies any ideas - they will want to use that phrase. All those extra syllables will make them feel smart.