# Why do gay guys speak with a lisp?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 16, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501 "2003-11-16T02:40:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![InLikeFlynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f19dbf/32.png) [@InLikeFlynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InLikeFlynn)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/1 "2003-11-16T02:40:42Z")
I don’t get it. What does the lisp signify?? Do they do it on purpose? Is it a signal to announce their presence to other fags in their audible vicinity? Do gays who recently came out of the closet suddenly wake up using over pronunciation of their S’s?? Or am I just being Sssssilly?? ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/2 "2003-11-16T02:45:37Z")
“They” don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/3 "2003-11-16T02:47:32Z")
It’s a stereotype. None of the gay men I know speak with a lisp. No, I don’t know every gay man in the world, and there are likely some who do have a speech impediment that results in a lisp. But then, there are likely straight men, straight women and lesbians who speak with a lisp. Now, if you’re asking where the stereotype began, that I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/4 "2003-11-16T02:49:07Z")
[Cecil explored this question](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a950526.html) (or rather the question the OP probably meant to ask). I won’t say he answered it though. ---
**Author:** ![Lateralus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@Lateralus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lateralus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/5 "2003-11-16T03:00:54Z")
Every single person I know who has a lisp is gay. Of everyone I know who has come out of the closet during the time that I have known them, all of them started to develop a lisp around then, if not a little earlier. This same trend also plays out in various media figures. You’re telling me this is a complete coincidence? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/6 "2003-11-16T05:00:12Z")
I wouldn’t call it a real lisp, but rather a theatrical inflection. ---
**Author:** ![Cheauvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@Cheauvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheauvan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/7 "2003-11-16T05:51:45Z")
I can’t help but read the above rethpontheth with a lithp. It’th making me jutht crathy.! [3 snaps in z formation/] ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/8 "2003-11-16T05:56:48Z")
My friend Michael speaks with a lithp. No sss’s as described by the OP, though. Is that what you mean. **InLikeFlynn**? Like saying thilly for silly. He’s limp-wristed, too. He told me it’s an affectation, makes him feel more fem. I haven’t seen him in years. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/9 "2003-11-16T06:09:29Z")
This is a semantics issues. No, that “gay voice” is not a lisp; I would agree with elmwood in calling it a theatrical inflection. However, this does not alter the OP’s question (and one I have wondered about myself) as to why this develops. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/10 "2003-11-16T06:10:37Z")
Some of us do; most of us don’t. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/11 "2003-11-16T13:26:13Z")
I don’t know any gay men who lisp. I have never provided psychological services for any gay men who lisp. > [@](#): > > fags And here I go, notifying a Mod. ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/12 "2003-11-16T14:22:18Z")
I do not speak with a lisp and neither do any of the gay men i know either. In fact many sound quite manly and you could never tell from the way they talk. Actually i cannot recall any gay man i’ve been with, hung out with and of course know who speak with a lisp. Now a few do have a bit of a “feminine” lilt to their voices, but they do no lisp. I _do_ lisp occasionally but it comes out as a very rare whistle when i pronounce my s’s. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/13 "2003-11-16T15:11:43Z")
A lisp is something I never hear & even then I don’t know why it would be only gay related. As a matter of fact, I think I asked this question 3 years ago & got the same answers above. Websters Lisp: "intransitive senses 1 : to pronounce the sibilants \s\ and \z\ imperfectly ---
**Author:** ![Snite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Snite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snite)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/14 "2003-11-16T17:51:26Z")
It’s probably a trait among many feminem gays, also known as fags; whereas a homosexual doesn’t lisp. Faggots and bent-wrists tend to display several behavioural tendencies that all reflect badly on homosexuals like myself. And for that: fuck 'em. They piss me off. Psychopachik Vampire ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/15 "2003-11-16T18:18:13Z")
To add another data point … none of my gay friends lisp, even the effeminate ones. And according to them, none of their gay friends lisp either. After doing a quick mental count, I figure that’s roughly fifteen gay men, none of whom lisp. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/16 "2003-11-16T20:46:42Z")
Sylvester the Cat lisps and he’s not gay. From my own experience, I’ve never known any gay man who had a lisp. I’ve only known one or two who had the “gay” accent. It’s just a baseless stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/17 "2003-11-16T21:03:08Z")
Sylvester does indeed have vocal mannerisms (heh) similar to my friend Micheal. Much exaggerated, though. But he (the cat) isn’t hetrosexual. I man I work with has a very high voice, and speaks with that kinda “breathy” sound I don’t really know how to describe. But he says he’s not gay. Uh huh. Just kidding, T. I know you have a wife and kids and all that. 😛 Stereotype? Sure it is, but certainly not baseless. Few stereotypes are. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/18 "2003-11-16T21:20:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Psychopachik\_Vampire \* > **It’s probably a trait among many feminem gays, also known as fags; whereas a homosexual doesn’t lisp. Faggots and bent-wrists tend to display several behavioural tendencies that all reflect badly on homosexuals like myself. And for that: fuck 'em. They piss me off.** There’s a syndrome called “internalized homophobia;” this is it. **Psychopachik\_Vampire** , belated welcome to the boards; I hope you stick around. Just keep your eyes and ears and mind open. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/19 "2003-11-17T00:55:38Z")
I speak with a lisp?! Bob ---
**Author:** ![InLikeFlynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f19dbf/32.png) [@InLikeFlynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InLikeFlynn)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2003, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501/20 "2003-11-17T01:30:40Z")
I hear what “Psychopachik\_Vampire” is saying. But are all lispers catchers rather than pitchers?? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-gay-guys-speak-with-a-lisp/213501.md?page=2)