User:Ghosturtle/Vincian

Vincian is one of many terms proposed to describe gay men, as well as some non-binary people; it is synonymous with "gay man." The word "vincian" can be used as both an adjective and a noun, and is intended to be a male equivalent to the word "lesbian."

Gay is an adjective which refers to individuals who experience attraction to people of the same gender, and is sometimes also used as an umbrella term for the entire LGBTQIA+ community. When applied to men, and sometimes non-binary people, it is a term which describes attraction to men, typically exclusively or primarily. This attraction may be sexual, romantic, or both, and is sometimes used to describe tertiary attraction. Some also describe this as non-women attracted to non-women; however, this is controversial. Proposed terms for gay men share these definitions unless specified otherwise.

The word "gay" is often associated with gay men; however, this term has grown to become inclusive of all genders, and can be applied to lesbians. Due to this, other terms for gay men and non-binary people have been proposed. While vincian is popular among these proposed terms, other labels include patroclic/patroclian, uranian, turian/veldian,  cinthean, and floric. Alternatively, one may simply say "gay men," "gay men and non-binary people," "gay non-women," or "gay MLM."

The above proposed terms are all intended to be perfect synonyms for "gay man/non-binary person," with the exception of the floric label. Floric is specifically defined as "non-woman attracted to non-women, either exclusively or non-exclusively," therefore is not perfectly synonymous with "gay man/non-binary person." However, it is synonymous with some definitions for gay men and non-binary people, and can be defined as a shorthand for "gay man" (though the coiner notes that this is reductive). The floric label is also explicitly inclusive of aroaces, a-spec people, varioriented people, and m-spec people. It is also noted to be a counterpart to the lesbian label, but still not necessarily an equivalent to "gay man."

Etymology
The word "vincian" was coined by bivirgil on June 22, 2018. They coined it as a term for male-attracted men, and also noted that it is inclusive of non-binary and gender non-conforming men. The term is derived from the name of Leonardo da Vinci, who is often thought to have been gay or achillean.

The word "uranian" is one of the earliest historical terms for gay men, predating both "homosexual" and "gay." The coinage of this term is attributed to the German sexologist Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, who coined urning to describe gay men, which is the German equivalent of "uranian." The word derives from "Aphrodite Ouranios," inspired by Plato's Symposium. It was adopted by various advocates of gay liberation. One early instance of the use of the word "uranian" can be traced back to John Addington Symonds in his book A Problem in Greek Ethics, privately published in 1908. Edward Carpenter also used the term in his book The Intermediate Sex, published in 1921.

The word "homosexual" comes from the Greek homos, which means "the same".

The word "gay" has had many meanings over the years. Dating back to the 12th century, it came from the Old French word "gai", meaning "joyful, happy; pleasant, agreeably charming; forward, pert; light-colored" and was a commonly used term within literature. It was not until the 1600s that the term took on a sexual meaning. By then, the "carefree" nature of the word became used to refer to people with unrestrained morals and prone to decadence and promiscuity; as such, a prostitute became known as a "gay woman", a womanizer as a "gay man", and a brothel as a "gay house". This trend continued, as in the 1890s, the term "gey cat", which is a Scottish variant of gay, was used to refer to a "vagrant who offered sexual services to women or a young traveler who was new to the road and in the company of an older man." This marked one of the first times that "gay" was used to imply a same-gender relationship. By the 1960s, gay men had taken to the term to refer to their own sexual identity, and by today's standards, it is the acceptable way to refer to homosexual people.

The word "patroclic" or "patroclian" was coined by an anonymous person, through the Tumblr page Ask-Pride-Color-Schemes, on August 15, 2019. The term is derived from the name of Patroclus, who had a relationship with Achilles in Greek mythology, which was potentially romantic in nature. In this way, the term pairs with "achillean" etymologically.

The words "turian" and "veldian" were both coined by Shaun, also known as kenochoric, in 2020. "Turian" is derived from the name of Alan Turing,  a British mathematician and visionary who helped win World War II. Turing was convicted for being a gay man in 1952; being gay was illegal in Britain at the time, and would not be decriminalized until 1967. Turing died on June 7, 1954, from cyanide poisoning. "Veldian" was coined as a term for people who don't like labels inspired by people's names. This term derives from "velds" or "veldts," which are grassy plains in southern Africa. These plains are filled with sunlight. This is meant to be a more symbolic representation of being gay, since the sun can be equated to masculinity. Turian and veldian are both intended to be inclusive terms for all gay men and non-binary people.

The word "cinthean" was coined by the Twitter users halcyotis, ghostedprince, and ZERRAORRA. It derives from the name of Hyacinthus, who was a lover of Apollo.

The word "floric" was coined by variant-archive on July 31, 2020. It is derived from the name of the town of Florence, which is the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci, and is inspired by the etymological roots of the vincian label.

History
Document the community's most important history, including facts such as key events, breakthroughs in improving the community's wellbeing and rights, or historical figures known to belong to the community.

Ocean Flag
The modern gay men's pride flag was posted in 2019 on the Tumblr blog gayflagblog as an update of a prior gay men flag. It does not have an official name, but is sometimes referred to as the ocean flag, which the creator of the flag has approved of. It is also sometimes referred to as the toothpaste flag, but this is often derogatory. It features an array of green, blue, and purple shades to be representative of a wide range of gay men, regardless of their gender, thus also including, but not being limited to, gay men who are transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, aromantic, or asexual. This version replaced the original one that only used blue tones, as it was regarded as a stereotypical representation of the gender binary and lacked meaning for the colors used. Inspired by Gilbert Baker and the responses to the blue flag, the individual stripes used by gayflagblog mean: The combination of green and teal also represents nature, in defiance of the perception of love between men as "unnatural". Green also draws upon the use of green plants and flowers, specifically carnations and hyacinths. The use of white was derived from the Trans Pride Flag to explicitly represent identities that are often erased and the need to address and resolve transphobia, internalized homophobia, and toxic masculinity. The light blue leading into purple was inspired by criticism of the blue flag ("oh blue for boy? bleh") and symbolizes how gay men may or may not be stereotypical, in-between, or fluid. The purple and indigo together represent diversity in presentation, relationships, and life experience; not fitting into neat categories, "especially by those who choose to fetishize us & by non-MLM, but in reality there are so so many different ways to be a man and so many ways to be a man who loves or who is in a relationship with other men, and this needs to be emphasized".
 * Green: Community
 * Teal: Healing
 * Light teal/green: Joy
 * White: Gender non-conforming, non-binary, and trans men
 * Light blue: Pure love
 * Purple: Fortitude
 * Indigo: Diversity

Cinthean Flag
The cinthean flag was designed by the Twitter users halcyotis, ghostedprince, and ZERRAORRA. It was designed alongside the cinthean label, but can be used by any gay man or non-binary person, regardless of which gay label the person prefers. The colors were picked from common hyacinth flowers. The flag was created to provide an optional alternative, but not necessarily a replacement, to previous gay flags. This is due to the controversy surrounding the ocean flag and blue gay flag, which some feel enforce gender stereotypes through their color choices. This flag is not intended to be based on any flag that came before it. The stripe meanings are as follows:


 * Indigo: Depth
 * Purple: Beauty
 * Hot Pink: Passion
 * Pink: Pure love
 * Peach: Joy
 * White: Transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary cintheans

Achillean
Achillean is an umbrella term for men who love men (MLM), either exclusively or non-exclusively. This includes gay men, bisexual men, pansexual men, and other men who are attracted to men. Achillean also does not necessarily denote a particular lean in gender preference. Vincian (as well as synonymous labels), on the other hand, is not always defined in the same way that the achillean label is. The vincian label, cinthean label, and related labels often denote primary or exclusive attraction towards men, rather than being a loose umbrella term for all men who love men.

Controversy
''If this topic has been the subject of any controversies, detail them in this section. For example, it could explain outdated or disputed terms, disagreements about how this identity is defined, identity-phobic discourse around popular flags, or other conflicts.''

Perceptions and discrimination
''This section focuses more on the specific kinds of discrimination and oppression that these people may face. Examples would be mentioning systematic transphobia and non-binary erasure on the page for agender, mentioning rates of mental health issues in this group, etc.''