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How does Non-Binary & Gender Neutrality work in Spanish??

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How does Non-Binary & Gender Neutrality work in Spanish??

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Have you ever wondered how gender-neutral word ' Latinx' is pronounced? If you want the quick answer, here it is: Latine. Yes, that x can be pronounced like an e. But then, why use an x? Now, you'll have to stay for the full answer.

What is nonbinary Spanish?

Just as in English the "they", "ze" and other neutral pronouns are being used to refer to nonbinary people or to avoid assuming people's gender, in Spanish there is "lenguaje no binario" or "lenguaje inclusivo".

If you speak Spanish, you must have realized by now that it is a heavily gendered language. While in English the issue is pretty much solved with the use of "they" and avoiding gendered words such as "fireman" or "hostess", nonbinary Spanish is a little more complex.

Spanish has gendered pronouns, articles, participles and adjectives that, until recently, only took into account feminine and masculine genders. Additionally, there is something called "generic masculine": a single man in a crowd of women can turn the whole group into a masculine subject. That is, the binary nature of traditional Spanish not only ignores nonbinary people, but also women.

Nonbinary association No Binarie Costa Rica put us in touch with 21-year-old Emmeril Morales Obando, who explains: "Although some nonbinary people feel comfortable with binary pronouns, it is not the case of all; in my case, for example, I only use neutral pronoun elle."

When it comes to articles, nonbinary Spanish changes el and la with le; and un and una with une. Gendered adjectives and pronouns change the final o or a for an e.

Tod os estamos cansad os / Tod as estamos cansad as → Tod es estamos cansad e s [We are all tired]

Letter x, @ and other symbols have also been used to replace gender marks, but the problem is that they are hard or impossible to read and, more importantly, they are not accessible to everyone. According to Morales Obando, these alternatives are "ableist" (they discriminate people with disabilities), such as the case of blind people who use text-to-voice apps.

And that is why Latinx is pronounced -and should be written- Latine.

Backlash

If you are aware of the resistance to the use of gender-neutral pronouns in English, then you can imagine the backlash nonbinary Spanish is getting. Morales Obando says: "Some people are against this language because it sounds strange or silly to them [...] but it is necessary to some of us, and I find the fact that others put the 'feelings of the language' over feelings of people extremely apathetic."

Nonbinary association Neutres Chile, who decide to answer collectively to our questions, explain: "There is an aggressive, negative or burlesque response from private and public environments to neutral language, and that is because people find it strange; they find it quite alien to their binary realities".

The Royal Spanish Academy (the RAE) is probably the biggest stronghold against nonbinary language. On January this year, they published a report on inclusive Spanish, in which curiously there is not a single mention of the existence of nonbinary people. Instead, this 155-page document is completely dedicated to argue against the idea that generic masculine is "a patriarchal heritage."

One of the recurring pleas against the use the "so called inclusive language", as they call it, is that "To address a mix group, the usual is to recur to the masculine, unmarked gender that englobes men and women in its reference. The @ is not a lingüistic sign; the use of "x" as an appearing inclusive morpheme generates illegible sequences".

On that last thing we can agree. The most inclusive (and easy to pronounce) alternative for nonbinary Spanish, then, would be the use of letter e.

But in this long, verbose report, the RAE does not address the use of letter that assert that to use the e but in two quoted tweets (yes, they quote their own tweets) e to avoid gender marks is "to artificially create a presumed morpheme of inclusive gender" and that "it is foreign to the morphology of Spanish, as well as unnecessary, since grammatical masculine already complies with that function as unmarked term for the gender opposition."

Another institution dedicated to "promoting the good use of the Spanish", Fundéu, has a slightly more modern approach (descriptive, more than prescriptive), but still guided by the RAE, as they explicitly state. They host a complete micro-site dedicated to inclusive Spanish, where they claim to provide "a brief guide on everything that's going on" on this respect. Nonetheless, they have dedicated this space to invalidate nonbinary alternatives and encourage the use of old-fashion generic masculine, arguing that it is more "economic" and "a majority phenomenon."

Regarding the use of the x, @ and e, they say that "They can be admissible in certain contexts as a creative and provocative verbal manifestation, as a graphic resource more typical of banners and slogans, in which it can be visually expressive, but it is recommended not to use it in general texts." This argument downgrades the identity of nonbinary people to a mere place of "creativity" or "provocation". We do not have a place in the "general" world.

Emmeril Morales Obando has something to say about this: "When some institution calls [nonbinary Spanish] informal, I feel it invalidating, as if they are saying that my needs are informal, that my way of speaking is informal, that my mere existence is informal". In Neutres Chile, they simply call it "systemic violence."

Why is it important?

Not including nonbinary identities in our speech is denying their existence. As Neutres Chile explain: "What is not named does not exist; the main reason behind the existence of neutral language is to make visible all those people whose identities are not found in the man/woman binary."

Visibility and acknowledgment can have a strong impact on the life quality and mental health of nonbinary people. According to the 2020 Survey on LGBTQ mental health by the Trevor Project, "Transgender and nonbinary youth who reported having pronouns respected by all or most people in their lives attempted suicide at half the rate of those who did not have their pronouns respected." This report also found that less than one in ten nonbinary youth in the US have their pronouns respected by all or most of the people in their lives.

Trans nonbinary Pattricio Valentino Giuri, 24-year-old member of Asamblea No Binarie Buenos Aires, know how it feels: "It is very hard to survive in a binary world [...] People almost never respect my self-perceived pronoun. They tell me that it means change, and that change takes time".

This is a common argument against nonbinary language: that while its intentions are noble, it is impossible to unnaturally force such a big change. The question is if this change is really so unnatural, bearing in mind that it was born simultaneously in many different languages: we find gender-neutral pronouns in English, lenguaje no binario in Spanish, langage épicène in French, gender-neutral pronoun hen in Swedish, gender-neutral German, dual Arabic and gender-neutral endings in Hebrew.

Weather conservative people and institutions like it or not, inclusive Spanish is finding its way into everyday life, art, literature, academia and politics -Argentina's president, father of nonbinary drag queen Dyhzy, has used in more than one occasion the term
argentines to refer to Argentinians.

Some institutions are aware of this. Last September, Merriam-Webster's dictionary added
a new definition of the pronoun "they", as a way to refer to nonbinary individuals. In the meantime, Spanish institutions keep fighting back. As Morales Obando puts it: "The language evolves according to the needs of society, it has always been like that, not the other way around.

Note: Direct testimonies and quotes have been translated from Spanish into English by the author.

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Nonbinary Spanish: How is Latinx pronounced? " BoldLatina

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Have you ever wondered how gender-neutral word ' Latinx' is pronounced? If you want the quick answer, here it is: Latine. Yes, that x can be pronounced like an e. But then, why use an x? Now, you'll have to stay for the full answer.

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Ai propose to you, dear reader, "" - plural form being "ales".

The word derives from the prefix allo-. These two syllables are affixed to the words for the categories of stuff that are other from, apart from, and/or aloof from the categories of stuff that are considered most important by the dominant sources of metanarrative production in our society (what ai like to call "the dessemp", based on the acronym DSMP).

For example, Québec's allophones, who are not perceived as those with the most agency or the most responsibility in the conflict between the Province of Québec's official French unilingualism, on the one hand, and the threat of "le bilinguisme grimpant" and/or English-language hegemony, on the other. Then there's the word "allosexuelle", a French translation of "queer" that never really caught on. It sounds a bit clinical, for sure, and it's pretty obvious why it couldn't compete with that sexy single-syllable anglicism that has swept the world (or at least a large number of European languages). Right now, though, in this paragraph here, ai'd like us all to appreciate "allosexuelle" for what it is. Ai think it implies a certain vastness, one as diverse and far-reaching as the human animal's propensity for creativity, experimentation, desire, and resourcefulness. It's not infinite, but for limited subjectivities like ourselves, it is effectively so. ( EDIT: while the main thrust of this paragraph remains relevant, research done for a later post revealed some important information about the word "allosexuelle" which is probably worth looking into).

My motivation here, for the record, is that ai want to have a French word that ai, myself, can feel comfortable using to refer to the people in my life who, in English, prefer to use they as a personal pronoun. Ai don't feel comfortable using "il", ai don't like the gendered "lui" (as opposed to the non-gendered "lui" that you can also use for someone who is otherwise an "elle" - such is the intricacy of proper French grammar), and ai don't like the needlessly ugly and binary-affirming "ille". It doesn't seem like any of the other gender-neutral pronouns ai've seen (all of which come from this blog post, incidentally) have caught on very much, and ai don't like any of them anyway.

The sort of go-to in Montréal, at least among the small number of people that ai've ever had this conversation with, is to use "ille", which you may notice ai just shit-talked in the last paragraph.

Ai came up with "ale" because "ille" is terribly inadequate as a when-in-doubt pronoun. To be clear, if someone told me to use "ille" when referring to them, ai would do so, just as ai have used "e", "ze", and even "it" in English when people have told me that such or such is the pronoun that so or so uses. But in English, if ai'm uncertain about someone's preferred pronoun and ai can't just find out easily, ai'm going to use "they". It seems to me that "ille" isn't appropriate for this same function, though, because of a few reasons. First, "ille" sounds pretty much the same as the masculine pronoun in French unless you really stress the final letter-ee [e, E] and get another syllable out of it, like you might do for certain chants or songs. That sounds a bit weird in regular speech, though, and it's still going to sound pretty much the same as "il". Second, the orthography of "ille" is simply a cross between "il" and "elle". There is an implication here that the person to whom this pronoun refers is simply between masculinity and femininity, rather than completely beyond the two of them. It is entirely possible that the person in question does feel "in between the two" (or feels like an embodiment of the two, or whatever other subjective experience they might have of their gender), but it's also possible that they don't, and frankly, ai am rather unlikely to know for sure. Once again, it's subjective!

Ai like to think, though, that "ale", in contrast to "ille", is closer to "hen", the Swedish gender-neutral pronoun that has been generating a lot of controversy in some circles as of late. Like "hen", "ale" has a different vowel sound than its masculine and feminine counterparts (which, in Swedish, are "han" and "hon" respectively), but the word has the same consonant structure, so it doesn't look completely out of place alongside the other two. In French, of course, the orthography is also a bit different between the masculine and feminine pronouns, with "il" having two letters and "elle" coming in at four. "Ale" has three letters. There is a risk, of course, that it will look like it is "in between" masculinity and femininity because of this, an apparent compromise that ai don't like about "ille" and something ai want to avoid. But hopefully ai'm reading too much into it, and no one else will care! The purpose of the three letters is to render it different enough in form from both of the predominating pronouns, not necessarily to be "in between".

So the final thing here is finding a word that corresponds to "ale" for those situations where "lui" is not epicene. In this case, ai am not sure if ai should propose another word formation in order to differentiate "ale" even further from the predominating pronouns (using, for example, "aule"?) or if it'd be better to go with the standard that is set by "elle". It's basically a question of whether "lui-même" ("himself") and "elle-même" ("herself), and all other situations of this kind, will be joined with the obvious "ale-même", or with the alternative "aule-même". Considering that ai can't actually speak French properly, ai doubt it'll be much of a problem for me, but there should be a standard, and considering that ai can't decide between the two, ai am going to unilaterally propose that both are appropriate!

Of course, the introduction of a gender-neutral pronoun doesn't resolve the problem of adjectives which, in French, can have either of two genders, masculine or feminine. Short of making a new version of each adjective that corresponds to a third grammatical gender, which is an absolutely daunting task, the only solution seems to be for people who use neither masculine nor feminine pronouns to simply pick an adjectival form they feel more comfortable with. In many cases, the adjectival forms are not going to matter too much, at least when spoken, because the difference in pronunciation is very subtle. It is going to be more difficult in cases where the masculine and feminine versions of the same word are markedly different from one another in both pronunciation and orthography, as with the words "beau" and "belle".

Today, many English-speaking anarchists ask for and offer pronouns when in the midst of introductions. Ai think this cultural practice is good and useful, and ai think it would be nice if this practice could be imported to French-speaking anarchist scenes too. In French, though, due to this matter of gendered adjectives - something that, at least as far as ai can see it, can't be torn down or reformed without a total negation of the French language itself - introductions may sometimes need to include the question "Et c'est quoi ta forme adjectivale préférée?" after name and pronoun come up. This may not be necessary if a person has already told you that their preferred pronoun is "elle" or "il", but for someone who uses "ale" (or whatever other gender-neutral pronoun, since there's no guarantee that the one a cis boy anglo came up with is the one that will eventually actually catch on), it is definitely pertinent information.

Of course, asking for adjectival forms in English might not be a bad idea either, at least if you live in a city where the French language predominates. Ai might be anglo, and you might be anglo, and so you might think that ai don't need a preferred adjectival form since we'll be speaking to each other in English, but there's a chance that ai'm going to have a conversation about you (using adjectives!) with a francophone later. If ai don't have know what to do, ai'm going to be staring at my phone, trying to tell someone that you are "determined" or something (in French, either "déterminé" or "déterminée"), not knowing whether ai should add that extra letter-ee to my text or not, and generally freaking the fuck out.

(This has actually happened, although "freaking the fuck out" is a bit of an exaggeration.)

So here's my proposal, once again, in a nutshell. Unless another French gender-neutral pronoun has been specified as appropriate (for example, "ille", which some people do prefer), use "ale" when referring to people for whom you would use the singular "they" (or any other gender-neutral pronoun) if you were speaking in English. Use "ale" when referring to someone whose gender identity you do not know, in the same way as you would use "they". Bring the practice of asking for pronouns to the other solitude, and when necessary, ask for adjectival forms as well. Expect some confusion, but do it anyway, because it's a good thing to do.

In any case, whatever you choose to do yourself, you'll now know what I'm talking about if you ever hear me say "ale".

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Engaging Language /// FEU AU LEXIQUE DE L'ADVERSAIRE!

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Ai propose to you, dear reader, "" - plural form being "ales". The word derives from the prefix allo-. These two syllables are affixed to the words for the categories of stuff that are other from, apart from, and/or aloof from the categories of stuff that are considered most important by the dominant sources of metanarrative production in our society (what ai like to call "the dessemp", based on the acronym DSMP).

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Video we watched in class.

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Gender Neutral Pronouns: They're Here, Get Used To Them

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FRANCE24 Broadcast on the French & their anger over the changes.

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FRANCE24 Broadcast on the French & their anger over the changes.

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One big 'non': Anger over attempts to make the French language gender-neutral

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Learn the French LGBTQ+ vocabulary and practice your French with this bilingual article.

Our daughter Leyla has always been a gay right activist. The other day, we were talking about it and she started using French LGBTQ+ terms I didn't understand.

She explained them to me, and we spoke about the non binary pronoun in French. I thought it would make a good article for people who want to learn the LGBTQ+ French vocabulary.

1 - How To Say Gay In French

Just like in English, the adjective "gai(e)" means merry, colorful.
C'est une chemise très gaie.
It's quite a colorful shirt.

We also use it to say "tipsy".
Marc avait un peu trop bu, il été un peu gai.
Mark had a bit too much to drink, he was a bit tipsy.

To be honest, my Mom would say that... I wouldn't!

To refer to sexual, romantic or emotional attraction, you'll see both spellings used in French: the English "gay" as well as the French "gai(e)".

We also use the word homosexual to describe a sexual, romantic or emotional attraction to someone of the same sex: "un homosexuel", "une homosexuelle" (short: "homo"). It can be a noun or an adjective
Il/elle est homo. He/she is homosexual.

2 - LGBTQ+ Terms Among The French Gay Community

Not everybody within the LGBTQ+ community uses precise terms and/or pronouns. Usually, texts of LGBTQ+ associations such as a sports club will be very careful to use an all inclusive language.

Yet, among people themselves, not everybody agrees. Some may use mostly the word "gay" as a "summary" of all the possibilities.

3 - LGBTQ+ French Vocabulary

As you'll see, many of the terms we use in French are the same as in English. I've added a short definition for people who may not know what the LGBTQ+ terms mean in English.

1. Heterosexual: someone attracted to someone of the opposite sex. Straight: "un hétérosexuel", "une hétérosexuelle", "un/une hétéro"

2. Bisexual: sexual, romantic or emotional attraction to someone of male or female sexes: "un bisexuel", "une bisexuelle" (short: "bi" - pronounce it the French way, like [bee] = il/elle est bi).

3. Pansexual: sexual, romantic or emotional attraction towards people regardless of their sex or gender identity: "pansexuel, pansexuelle" (short: "pan" - pronounce it the French way, with a nasal [an] sound).

4. Androgynous person: having the physical characteristics of both sexes: "une personne androgyne"

5. Bi-curious: (m) "bi-curieux", (f) "bi-curieuse" - remember to pronounce it the French way [bee]

6. Asexual: not interested in sexual relationships: "m" asexuel", (f) asexuelle. Note that although it's spelled with only one "s" in French, we still pronounce it like a "ss" sound, not a "z".

7. Intersex: born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male: intersexe. We also use the term "hermaphrodite".

8. Lesbian: describes a woman attracted to a woman : (f) "une lesbienne". It's also an adjective: "lesbien, lesbienne".

9. A bear (slang) describes a hairy, heavy-set (sometimes muscular) gay or bisexual man: "un ours" (do pronounce the final "s")

10. non-binary person: someone who doesn't limit themselves to feminine or masculine attributes: "une personne non-binaire", "une personne bi-genrée".

11. transgender: people having a gender identity or gender expression that differs from their sex assigned at birth = "une personne transgenre", "un homme transgenre", "une femme transgenre".

12. transexual: someone who had a sex change operation = "un transexuel", "une transexuelle".

13. cisgender person: Cisgender is a term for people whose gender identity matches the sex that they were assigned at birth. For example, someone who identifies as a woman and was assigned female at birth is a cisgender woman. The term cisgender is the opposite of the word transgender (wikipedia) - "une personne cisgenre"

14. transvestite: someone who enjoys dressing with clothes or attributes usually assigned to the opposite sexe : "un travesti", "une travestie"

15. the LGBTQ+ community: (f) "la communauté LGBTQ+"

16. sexual orientation: (f) "l'orientation sexuelle"

17. homosexuality: (f) "l'homosexualité"

18. heterosexuality: (f) "l'hétérosexualité"

19. gay rights: (m) "les droits des homosexuels"

20. gay marriage: (m) "le mariage gay"

21. homoparental adoption: (f) "l'adoption homoparentale"

22. misgendering: (v) "mégenrer" or "malgenrer"

23. gender dysphoria: a state of unease or generalized dissatisfaction with life - Gender dysphoria is experienced by people whose gender identity does not align with their assigned sex : (f) "la dysphorie"

24. sex assigned at birth: (m) "le sexe assigné à la naissance"

25. breast binding: (v) "se bander les seins"

26. sex reassignment surgery: (f) "une chirugie de réassignation sexuelle"

27. testosterone shots: (f) "des injections de testostérone"

28. to be in the closet: to be gay but without saying it openly: "être dans le placard", "être secrètement homosexuel", "ne pas révéler ses préférences / son identité sexuelle(s)"

29. to come out: to announce publicly that you are gay: "faire son coming out".

30. to be outed: when someone else divulges your sexual orientation or identity without your consent: "révéler l'orientation ou l'identité sexuelle de quelqu'un contre son gré". It's quite long in French!

4 - LGBTQ+ Non Binary Neutral French Pronouns

In English, when you don't want to misgender someone or if someone doesn't identify as male or female (non-binary or other), you use pronouns like 'they' and 'them'.
Example: Look at Chris! They look happy today! I'm going to ask them if they want to join us later.
In French, there is not neutral pronoun, but inclusive people use a new French pronoun like "iel", "ielle" (pronounce it like [yell] in English) or even "ille" (any of these 3 are fine). Some people use "ul", "ol", "ael" or "ele". We sometimes also use "on".

Examples :

1. Regardez Chris! Iel a l'air heureux/se aujourd'hui! Je vais ellui demander s'iel veut venir avec nous plus tard.

2. Iels sont ensemble depuis 2 ans. (They've been together for 2 years.)

The French possessive pronouns "mon" or "ma" are sometimes replaces by "mo" "maon" and "man" and the demonstrative pronouns "celui" and "celle" by "cellui" as well as "celleux" or "ceuzes".

"Toustes" is used instead of "tous" or "toutes.

"Ellui" is used instead of the object pronouns "lui" and "elle".

If you're talking about multiple non identified people, add an "s".

Things are also changing about the adjective agreements. For example, you could add a ".e" or "/e" to be inclusive.

Chacun.e fait comme iel veut !
To each their own!

The French language being so stuck on feminine / masculine (everything has gender, even things...) using "iel" etc... is not very common yet.

And it's a bit complicated. Even among the LGBTQ+ community, people don't agree. Some people really push for the changes, some feel being that inclusive hurts the language.

Unfortunately, all kind of inclusive writing is so far being rejected by l'Académie française. Maybe it will change one day!

I have to admit I've never heard "iel" used myself... Again, not much opportunity here in Paimpol! Here is an article (in French) which will explain, or at least give you a good look at the French neutral pronouns and adjective agreements.

5 - LGBTQ+ French Pronunciation

LGBTQ+ is pronounced like enunciating the letters of the alphabet in French: [el, gé, bé, té, cu, pluS - do say the final S]

6 - LGBTQ+ in France

Use the floating blue icon in the bottom right to hide/reveal the English translations below.

Bonjour, moi c'est Leyla, je suis la fille de Camille et Olivier de French Today, je suis bilingue français-anglais, et je vais bientôt avoir 15 ans.
Hi I'm Leyla, I'm Camille's and Olivier's daughter, I'm French English bilingual Since I was a little, gay rights have been an interest of mine, and I've always thought that all types of loves should be accepted, as long as the all people involved are consenting. When I grow up, I may want to become a lawyer or legislator in that domain. , and I'm almost 15 years old. When I lived in Boston in the States, we we're surrounded by people that were part of the LGBTQ+ community. But not anymore when we moved to a little town in Brittany, France! It was pretty surprising for me and I often spoke up in defense of homosexual rights in the school yard when I heard kids using insults such as "faggot".
Depuis que je suis petite, les droits des homosexuels m'ont intéressée, et j'ai toujours pensé que tous les types d'amours devraient être acceptés, tant que tout le monde est consentant. Plus tard, j'aimerais peut-être être avocat ou législatrice dans ce domaine.
In my opinion, gay acceptance is evolving in France.
Quand j'habitais à Boston, aux États-Unis, on était entourés de personnes qui faisait partie de la communauté LGBTQ+. Mais quand on a déménagé dans une petite ville de Bretagne en France, plus du tout ! C'était assez surprenant pour moi, et j'ai souvent défendu les droits homosexuels dans la cour d'école, quand j'entendais des enfants utiliser des insultes comme "pédé".
Compared to my grandparents' generation, it's now much more accepted to be openly gay, or even fluid gender wise. It's a subject I can discuss with my friends without any problem, and remember we live in a small countryside town!
Selon moi, l'acceptation des homosexuels est en train d'évoluer en France.
Yet, I feel that for many people, being gay is okay as far as it's doesn't concern their own family or close friends.
Comparé à la génération de mes grand-parents, être ouvertement gay ou même de sexe inidentifiable est beaucoup plus accepté qu'avant. C'est un sujet de conversation dont je peux discuter avec mes amis sans problème, et rappelez-vous qu'on habite dans une petite ville !
In other words, they accept the concept, as far as it doesn't hit home.
Mais je pense que pour beaucoup de personne, être homosexuel, ça passe, tant que ça ne concerne pas la famille ou les amis proches.
I hope this will change soon.
En d'autres mots, ils acceptent le concept, tant que cela ne concerne pas leurs proches.

J'espère que cela changera bientôt.

7 - Gay French Expressions

To say someone is gay, one may say "il/elle/iel est de la jaquette" or "il/elle/iel est du bâtiment".

Among the community, it's common to hear "il/elle/iel est de notre paroisse" or "il/elle/iel est de la famille".

8 - Homophobic French Insults

I hate to have to write these down but I think they are important for educational purposes. If you were to hear them in a French movie, you'd need to understand them.

DO NOT use these, they're hurtful but they're in this list so you can recognize them and get away from the people using them!

French Insult to Say "Gay"

1. un PD (or pédé): it's a shortened version of "pédéraste": from Ancient Greek paiderastḗs, "lover of boys". It's not always an insult: it's so commonly used that some people use it without ill-intention, a bit like "queer" in English. It's also used inside the community LGBTQ+ and it's fine then.
But it can be an insult as well, and often is.

2. une tafiole - all the following insults use the feminine to describe a man. They are roughly the equivalent of "faggot" in English.

3. une pédale

4. une tarlouze / une tantouze

5. une folle, une folasse

French Insult to Say "Lesbian"

1. une gouine (ou "une goudou" ou "une gouinasse"). Same remark as "pédé", it's not always used as an insult but it can be.

2. une camionneuse (literally a female truck driver)

3. un broute-minou (very vulgar)

Unfortunately, there are many more, but I don't think it's necessary to list more here. I repeat, these are hurtful, so don't use them.

I wanted to finish this article on a more positive note and thought about sharing this beautiful song by French singer Charles Aznavour, released in 1972.

At that time being gay, or even talking about it was still quite a taboo in France, and I admire Aznavour for taking the risk to sing about that subject and create such a beautiful, sensitive, respectful and loving song, especially since he was not gay himself.

Note the play on words: "Je suis un homme, oh! Comme ils disent". I think this may have been to avoid potential censorship (homosexuality was still illegal in those days) yet it's so poetic!

The lyrics are copyright, but I hope he won't mind me sharing them here with you. Aznavour also sang this song in English (called " What Makes A Man " but I don't find the English version as poetic even though it rhymes nicely. So I translated it the best I could.

"Comme Ils Disent" - French Lyrics

J'habite seul avec maman
Dans un très vieil appartement
Rue Sarasate
J'ai pour me tenir compagnie
Une tortue, deux canaris
Et une chatte
Pour laisser maman reposer
Très souvent je fais le marché
Et la cuisine
Je range, je lave, j'essuie
À l'occasion je pique aussi
À la machine
Le travail ne me fait pas peur
Je suis un peu décorateur
Un peu styliste
Mais mon vrai métier
C'est la nuit
Où je l'exerce travesti
Je suis artiste
J'ai un numéro très spécial
Qui finit a nu intégral
Après strip-tease
Et dans la salle je vois que
Les mâles n'en croient pas leurs yeux
Je suis un homme, oh!
Comme ils disent
Vers les trois heures du matin
On va manger entre copains
De tous les sexes
Dans un quelconque bar-tabac
Et là, on s'en donne a cœur joie
Et sans complexes
On déballe des vérités
Sur des gens qu'on a dans le nez
On les lapide
Mais on le fait avec humour
Enrobé dans des calembours
Mouillés d'acide
On rencontre des attardés
Qui pour épater leur tablée
Marchent et ondulent
Singeant ce qu'ils croient être nous
Et se couvrent, les pauvres fous
De ridicule
Ça gesticule et parle fort
Ça joue les divas, les ténors
De la bêtise
Moi, les lazzis, les quolibets
Me laissent froid, puisque c'est vrai
Je suis un homme, oh!
Comme ils disent
À l'heure où naît un jour nouveau
Je rentre retrouver mon lot
De solitude
J'ôte mes cils et mes cheveux
Comme un pauvre clown malheureux
De lassitude
Je me couche mais ne dors pas
Je pense à mes amours sans joie
Si dérisoires
À ce garçon beau comme un dieu
Qui sans rien faire a mis le feu
À ma mémoire
Ma bouche n'osera jamais
Lui avouer mon doux secret
Mon tendre drame
Car l'objet de tous mes tourments
Passe le plus clair de son temps
Au lits des femmes
Nul n'a le droit en vérité
De me blâmer, de me juger
Et je précise
Que c'est bien la nature qui
Est seule responsable si
Je suis un homme, oh!
Comme ils disent

Pro Gay French Song - English Translation

Translation
I live alone with Mom
In a very old apartment
On Sarasate Street
I have to keep my company
A turtle, two canaries
And a pussycat
So that mom can rest
I very often do the grocery shopping
And the cooking
I clean, I wash, I swipe
Occasionally I also sew
On the sewing machine
Work doesn't scare me
I'm a bit of a decorator
A bit of a stylist
But my real job
It's at night
that I do it transvestite
I'm an artist
I have a very special show
That ends fully naked
After stripping
And in the showroom I can see that
Males can't believe their eyes
I'm a homo
Like they say
Around 3AM
We go out to eat among friends
Of every gender
In a random bar
And there, we have a blast
And without any complexes
We gossip the truth
About people we can't stand
We stone them
But we do it with humor
Wrapped in puns
Wet with acid
We meet stupid people
Who to amaze their table
Walk and wave
Mimicking what they think is us
Covering themselves, the poor fools
With ridicule
They gesture and speak loud
They act like divas, tenors
Of stupidity
As for me, their bad jokes and mean words
Don't get to me, since it is true
I am an homo
Like they say
At the time when a new day comes
I go back to find my routine
Loneliness
I take off my eyelashes and my hair
Like an old clown sad
of weariness
I lay down but I don't sleep
I think about my unhappy loves
So ludicrous
About this boy handsome as a god
Who did nothing yet sat fire
To my memory
My mouth will never dare
Admit to him my sweet secret
My tender drama
Because the reason of all my torments
Spends most of his time
In women's beds
no one truly has the right
To blame me, to judge me
And let me point out
That it is indeed nature
who is the only responsible if
I am an homo
Like they say

I hope this French LGBTQ+ vocabulary will be useful to you. My parents will be monitoring this article very closely and will turn off the comments section if need be. Please refrain from any hurtful, preachy or disrespectful remarks - we will remove them, blacklist your IP and report you as spam.

If you'd like to help me and suggest some words for the French LGBTQ+ vocabulary list, I'll be happy to add some: please provide the English word, the French word and if need be an English explanation. Merci!

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Learn the French LGBTQ+ vocabulary and practice your French with this bilingual article. Our daughter Leyla has always been a gay right activist. The other day, we were talking about it and she started using French LGBTQ+ terms I didn't understand. She explained them to me, and we spoke about the non binary pronoun in French.