A Question for Gay Men

[downbeatplumb]

I have question for effeminate gay men. Why speak with a lisp? Is there a reason of some kind that you need to emulate a speech impediment? Hope my question isn't offensive, just curious.

I am not gay but would hazard a guess that it stems from a time when being gay was illegal so acted as a form of advertising to other people in the know without having to be blatant then kinda stuck.

A bit like speaking polari.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polari

Polari was used in London fishmarkets, the theatre, fairgrounds and circuses, hence the many borrowings from Romany. As many homosexual men worked in theatrical entertainment it was also used among the gay subculture, at a time when homosexual activity was illegal, to disguise homosexuals from hostile outsiders and undercover policemen. It was also used extensively in the British Merchant Navy, where many gay men joined ocean liners and cruise ships as waiters, stewards and entertainers.[8] On one hand, it would be used as a means of cover to allow gay subjects to be discussed aloud without being understood; on the other hand, it was also used by some, particularly the most visibly camp and effeminate, as a further way of asserting their identity.