[Ads-l] Further Antedating of the Term "Gay"

[MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY CCDC AVMC (USA)]

>  I have previously traced the term "gay," meaning homosexual, back to 1934, and that 1934 citation is 
>  now included in the OED as their earliest citation for the term.  Now I notice the following citation:

> 1931 _Broadway Brevities_ 2 Nov. in Hugh Ryan _When Brooklyn Was Queer_ (2019) 156   (heading) Third 
> Sex Plague Spreads Anew ! Sissies Permeate Sublime Social Strata as Film Stars and Broadwayites Go 
>Gay ... Brooklyn Navy Yard Center of Flagrant Camping for Gobs and Society Slummers.

>  I have not seen the _Broadway Brevities_ article itself.  

The page and the first part of the article is online here:
https://willstraw.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/brevities-1931-11-02-bc1.jpg

The article continues: 
"Brookly Navy Yard Center 
Of Flagrant Camping For
Gobs and Society Slummers"
by John Swallow Martin
During all the fairy round-ups of recent months there has been an undercurrent of Narcotic Squad investigations.   The various raids in Bryant Park, which began earlier this year than last, have been accompanied by questions about "marahuana," the Mexican dopeweed favored by the underworld and especially by the perverts. "


Gobs = Navy sailors
Farther on, the article makes reference to "degenerate" and drag shows.  I think Fred's interpretation of the meaning of "gay" here is spot-on.

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