The word "homosexual" (Was: the homosexual lobby and the right wing agenda)

[delwynmarch]

Carol wrote:
> Etymology again. "Homosexual" means being attracted to people of the
> same sex ("homo-" = "same"), whereas "heterosexual" means being
> attracted to people of the opposite sex ("hetero-" = "other"). The
> frequency of the person's sexual activity has no connection whatever
> with the meaning of these terms. 

Del comments:
Yes, that's precisely the way I see those two terms.

> At any rate, to my knowledge, most people who use the term
> "homosexual" do so with no intention of being offensive. They use it
> because they believe it's the correct term and that "gay" is a
> euphemism or colloquialism.

Exactly. In fact, I seem to remember at least one time when I was told
that to use "gay" was offensive. But then, that was back 15 years ago
or so, and that was in France. I don't doubt that things may have
changed since then, and that they may always have been different in
other countries to begin with.

Del