Gay men

Gay men are men who experience romantic, sexual, or emotional attraction to men, or who identify as gay. The term includes varied identities and experiences across cultures and history.

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Gay identity: A personal or social understanding of oneself as gay, shaped by attraction, experience, and self-identification. Self-identification is one basis for using the term gay men.
Homophobia: Prejudice, hostility, or discrimination directed at gay people or same-sex attraction. It can restrict gay men’s safety, relationships, and access to equal treatment.
Homosexuality: A sexual orientation involving romantic, sexual, or emotional attraction to people of the same sex or gender. Gay men’s identities sit within the broader history and vocabulary of homosexuality.
Sexual health: A state of well-being involving sexuality, relationships, and access to informed, respectful health care. Inclusive care addresses gay men’s needs without assuming practices or risk.
Sexual orientation: A person’s enduring pattern of romantic, sexual, or emotional attraction to others. The concept helps distinguish attraction from identity and behavior.
Coming out: The process of disclosing a sexual orientation or gender identity to others. Disclosure can shape gay men’s relationships, safety, and sense of belonging.
Decriminalization of homosexuality: The removal of criminal penalties for consensual same-sex sexual activity. Legal reform has changed whether gay men can live openly without prosecution.
Uranian: A nineteenth-century term for men understood to have an innate same-sex attraction or feminine nature. The label offered an early identity framework before modern gay terminology became common.
PrEP: Medication taken before possible HIV exposure to greatly reduce the chance of acquiring HIV. PrEP is one effective HIV-prevention option for gay men and others at risk.
Sexual fluidity: Variation over time in a person’s patterns of sexual attraction or identity. It complicates assumptions that every gay man’s experience is fixed or identical.