May 7, 2008 | Sex & Society

Homosexual turns 140

Did you forget to send a card? Yesterday the word "homosexual" turned 140.

The term was coined by Karl-Maria Kertbeny, an Austrian-born Hungarian journalist and human rights advocate. His interest in all things gay came about when a friend committed suicide after being blackmailed about his sexual proclivities. Kertbeny's own sexuality, although he claimed to be "normally sexed", was often questioned.

He coined the term Homosexualität (“of the same sex”) in a letter to gay-rights advocate Karl Heinrich Ulrichs. The word came from the Greek prefix homo- (same) and the Latin root sexualis (sex).

A year later the term appeared in a pamphlet, written anonymously by Kertbeny, calling for the repeal of  Paragraph 143 of the Prussian Penal Code, which criminalized sodomy.  

The word doesn't look a day over 100 ...