'Molly' was used to describe homosexual men, especially homosexual male prostitutes. The term was used as a nod to the (perceived) femininity of homosexual men. Understandably, 'Tommy' was used to represent lesbians. You guessed it; 'Tommy' was used to describe lesbians because if a woman was into women then she must have been far more masculine than the heterosexual housewives.
Obviously, these terms are long gone, dead in the world of euphemisms and slang. But they do serve some purpose, especially for what I want to write about. The way that we describe homosexuals has not changed over the years, not in the slightest. It has literally been centuries and the same misconceptions about homosexuality exist today, they are identical to the very core of their definition, of their belief, and the citizens of the world have done nothing about it.
Personally, as some variance of homosexuality myself (we will get into my classification, identification, and categorization of myself later), I do see the LGBT community working to change some things, but it seems, to me, that the community as a whole focuses on the trivial that don't do as much good in the long run. Don't get me wrong - gay marriage is an issue that affects a lot of people and that should absolutely be available to homosexuals. But there is much more important.
We do not call African-Americans the "n-word" anymore, we don't force them to enter buildings through separate doors, we don't have colored water fountains and white water fountains anymore, we don't make them sit at the back of the bus. We (I see we, as a white American speaking from the white side of the issue) don't segregate, differentiate, mistreat African-Americans for the color of their skin anymore. Now, let's be clear for a moment, I am not saying that homosexuals have to ride at the back of the bus and can't use the hetero water fountain. But the fact that we still, after centuries of progress and decades of acceptance, use euphemisms and terms that can be easily compared to the "n-word" is a major problem.
In my opinion, this issue is more important than gay marriage. It is more important than demanding that a catholic business run by a judgmental fuck make a gay couple a cake for their wedding. No matter what equality we demand, as the gay community, we cannot truly change anything about the way that the world seems to be working either against us or parallel yet separate to us unless we make it unacceptable to be called anything other than the actual term that describes us accurately. A lesbian should not be okay with a heterosexual calling her a dyke, a stem, a stud, a queer, whatever it could be. A lesbian should only be okay with being called a lesbian. Anything less is derogatory in that it disrespects the basic definition of her sexual orientation. I understand that equality goes much deeper than name calling, but our names are literally who we are. If we can't stop people from calling us by names that are not our own, from calling us by nicknames and terms that belittle us and our sexuality, then how can we ever expect anything more from the world? Personally, I don't want to be marrying a dyke, a femme, whatever. I want to marry a woman (or man, whatever), regardless of her sexuality. Just a woman.
When you meet someone, do you automatically ask if they are straight? When you see a woman holding hands with a man, do you whisper to your friends 'is she a hetero?' No. But if you see a woman holding hands with a woman you have to ask if she is a lesbian. So why do we allow heterosexuality to be the social norm?
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