Well, here's what the dictionary says:Darth Servo wrote:True. Originally it was just a synonym for "happy". The homosexual male community probably adopted it to try and dispell the right-wing BS that being a homosexual meant a life of misery. I could be wrong though.Vyraeth wrote:Just to clarify, the word gay itself initially had no sexual connotation,
"—Usage note In addition to its original and continuing senses of “merry, lively” and “bright or showy,” gay has had various senses dealing with sexual conduct since the 17th century. A gay woman was a prostitute, a gay man a womanizer, a gay house a brothel. This sexual world included homosexuals too, and gay as an adjective meaning “homosexual” goes back at least to the early 1900s. After World War II, as social attitudes toward sexuality began to change, gay was applied openly by homosexuals to themselves, first as an adjective and later as a noun."
I would think the association with being lively, social, light hearted, bright and showy and the rest of it just ended up sticking.