In gay slang, queen is a term used to refer to a flamboyant or effeminate gay man. The term can either be pejorative or celebrated as a type of self-identification.

Related terms

Drag queen

A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, most drag queens have been men dressing as women. In modern times, drag queens are associated with gay men and gay culture, but they can be of any gender and

sexual identity Sexual identity is how one thinks of oneself in terms of to whom one is romantically and/or sexually attracted.
''Sex ...

. People partake in the activity of ''doing drag'' for reasons ranging from self-expression to mainstream performance.Or to simply have fun. Drag shows frequently include lip sync, lip-syncing, live singing, and dancing. They occur at events like gay pride parades and

drag pageants Drag pageantry is a developed form of Beauty pageant, pageantry for female impersonators, drag queens, and trans woman, trans women, styled after traditional beauty pageants or contests for cisgender women. It has also evolved into a pageantry f ...

and in venues such as cabarets and nightclubs. Drag queens vary by type, culture, and dedication, from professionals who star in films to people who do drag only occasionally. Generally, drag queens dress in a female gender role, often exaggerating certain characteristics for comic, dramatic or

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

effect. Other drag performers include drag kings, who are women who perform in male roles, faux queens, who are women who dress in an exaggerated style to emulate drag queens and faux kings, who are men who dress to impersonate drag kings. A ''bedroom queen'' is a drag queen who mainly does their drag at home in the bedroom rather than publicly. The term ''drag queen'' usually refers to people who dress in drag for the purpose of performing, whether singing or lip-synching, dancing, participating in events such as gay pride parades,

, or at venues such as cabarets and discotheques. Alongside traditional drag work such as shows and performances, many drag queens engage in 'mix-and-mingle' or hosting work at night clubs or at private parties/events. Drag is a part of Western gay culture; it is often noted that the

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of Ju ...

on June 27, 1969 in New York City were inspired and led by drag queens and, in part for this reason, drag queens remain a tradition at pride events. Prominent drag queens in the gay community of a city often serve as official or unofficial spokespersons, hosts or emcees, fund-raisers, chroniclers and community leaders.

Rice queen

A ''rice queen'' is a gay male who prefers or exclusively dates

East Asian East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea a ...

men. The term is considered gay slang and depending on the context, may be considered derogatory and offensive internationally, which is a new degree of offensive.Ayres T (1999). China doll - the experience of being a gay Chinese Australian. ''Journal of Homosexuality'', 36(3-4): 87-97 ''Sticky rice'' refers to Asian males who prefer other Asian males.Ptown: Art, Sex, and Money on the Outer Cape
Peter Manso, pg 55; Simon and Schuster, 2003, , . The term ''rice king'' is used to describe heterosexual males who seek Asian women. '' Yellow fever'' denotes the attraction certain non-Asian individuals may have for Asian men or women.

Bean queen

''Bean queen'' or ''rice and bean queen'' are terms used in the English-speaking gay community to refer to a person, usually a white male, who is primarily attracted to Hispanic and Latino males. One source describes these as "Gay men who are attracted to gentlemen of the Latino flava."Lambda online "rules of attraction"
Misadventures in Boyland
The term is probably derived from the better-established term " rice queen", substituting the rice that forms the basis of the Asian diet with the

bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

s or rice and beans popular throughout Central America, South America and the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. Other food-based variations such as ''taco queen'', ''salsa queen'' and so on are heard occasionally.Dictionary of Sexual Terms
/ref> ''Refried beans'' refers to Hispanic and Latino men who prefer other Hispanic and Latino men. Much less frequently, these terms are used to describe gay Latino males themselves.

Mitten queen

One who prefers to masturbate partners.Dictionary of Slang & Euphemism (Spears 1987)

Fire queen

One who likes to burn partners with cigarettes and/or vice versa.

Size queen

A ''size queen'' is a gay male who prefers or exclusively dates or has sex with men who have large penises or large build.

Gym queen

''Gym queen'' refers to gay men who are into bodybuilding and working out either to bulk up and may include

steroid A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...

use or those looking for a more lithe physique. Although body building and male physique magazines were popular before the 1970s, the Castro clone look — workboots, jeans, tight white T-shirt, shorter well-kept hair, and a well-muscled physique — became widely known and emulated in the 1970s and 1980s, replacing the

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

artistic constructs and fashions.

Show queen

According to

Charles Isherwood Charles Isherwood (born 1964/65) is an American theater critic. Education Isherwood is a graduate of Stanford University. Career Isherwood wrote for '' Backstage West'' in Los Angeles. In 1993, he joined the staff of ''Variety'', where he was pr ...

in '' The New York Times'', "Show queen is, of course, the technical term for a person, of either gender and any sexual orientation, who is inordinately fond of

Broadway musicals Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

." Although a "reviled" gay stereotype in the past, many LGBT activists influenced by queer politics have sought to reclaim the stereotype in a positive way.

In literature

An early example of this usage of the word "queen" in modern mainstream literature occurs in the 1933 novel ''The Young and the Evil'' by Charles Henri Ford and

Parker Tyler Harrison Parker Tyler (March 6, 1904 – June 1974), was an American author, poet, and film critic. Tyler had a relationship with underground filmmaker Charles Boultenhouse (1926–1994) from 1945 until his death. Their papers are held by the New ...

: "While waiting Karel wet his hair and put his handkerchief smeared with mascara behind a pipe. You still look like a queen Frederick said..."

In music

"Artificial Energy", the opening track from The Byrds' 1968 album '' The Notorious Byrd Brothers'' is an upbeat song about the effects of

amphetamine Amphetamine (contracted from alpha- methylphenethylamine) is a strong central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, and obesity. It is also commonly used ...

use, but the lyrics take an unexpected dark turn at the end when the narrator reveals that he's landed "in jail 'cause ekilled a queen." The

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

song from 1979 album '' The Wall'', "Waiting for the Worms", contains the line "Waiting, for the queens and the coons and the reds and the Jews". The Kinks song from 1970, "Top of the Pops", contains the line "I've been invited to a dinner with a prominent queen..." and may be one of the earliest recorded examples of this usage. Their 1966 song "Little Miss Queen of Darkness" may be an even earlier reference, though more ambiguous in its possible description of a drag queen "accidentally met" in a discotheque, whose "false eyelashes/ were not much of a disguise..." and who was "not all that it might seem..." The name of famous British rock group, Queen, can be seen as a reference to LGBT slang. According to singer

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...

, he "was certainly aware of the gay connotations" when suggesting the name, although, as he admitted, "that was just one facet of it".

References

External links

Spanish language glossary of gay terms
Mainly in Spanish but with English definitions. {{DEFAULTSORT:Queen (Gay Slang) Gay effeminacy Gender roles in the LGBT community Homophobic slurs LGBT slang Stereotypes of LGBT people English words ca:Ploma (LGBT) de:Tunte