Until Recently, homosexual discourse has been characterized as gender-oriented dialects, secret codes or specialized argots and imitations or paraphrases of heterosexual discourse. This collection moves beyond previous studies and pursues new directions in exploring homosexual discourse as comprised of distinct and independently developed linguistic constructions. By emphasizing that there are indeed gay/lesbian languages, this collection draws attention not only to their distinctiveness, but also to their cultural and sociological significance in gay and lesbian life.