Another meaning of 同志

Question

Is it true that 同志 have some different meaning. Like gay (as in homosexual) or something. I know that during the XX century in China and communist Russia it was very common to call people 同志(товарищ). So is it wrong to call some one 同志 in China nowadays?

Answer 1

Yes it is true. The official word for somebody who is gay is 同性恋者 (tóngxìngliànzhě), but in recent years 同志 (tóngzhì) is frequently used as slang for somebody who is gay.

From Baidu:

1989年，香港人林奕华将自己筹划的首届同性恋电影节命名为《香港同志电影节》，这可能是这层意义的开端。（最晚是）从此开始，在中国大陆之外的中文地区，如台湾、香港、新加坡、马来西亚等，“同志”一词逐渐演变成对同性恋者的另一个称呼。用的时候并不是如“某某同志”这样作称谓用，而是“某某是一个同志”、“某某参加了一个同志团体”这样。这种用法起先在同性恋群体中使用，后来影响逐渐扩大，上述地区的社会各界都采纳了这个用法，例如台北市政府民政局就在《认识同志手册2001年版》中写道：“市长爱同志”。

The most relevant parts:

1989年，香港人林奕华将自己筹划的首届同性恋电影节命名为《香港同志电影节》，这可能是这层意义的开端

In 1989, the Hongkonger 林奕华 named the first edition of his gay film festival "香港同志电影节"

从此开始，在中国大陆之外的中文地区，如台湾、香港、新加坡、马来西亚等，“同志”一词逐渐演变成对同性恋者的另一个称呼。

From then on, in China and other Chinese speaking parts such as Taiwan, Hong kong, Singapore, Malaysia, “同志” gradually became the name for gays (and lesbians).

Further on the same page you can read:

近年进入大陆后，由于绝大多数年轻人已经不再使用“同志”这个词汇，使得这层含义反而后来居上。

In recent years after the introduction in China most young people stopped to use the word “同志” due to its implicit meaning.

and

尽管这一层新的含义在大陆地区也被越来越多的人所知晓并使用，不过中华人民共和国官方媒体和文件对这一外延含义基本不予采纳。

Despite its implicit meaning in China which is known and used my more and more people, the official Chinese media (in the mainland) and official documents don't accept this meaning.

Answer 2

I'm not sure in what instance you'd be using 同志 nowadays anyway. Are you in the army? Do you actually have comrades? Or is this purely hypothetical?

From my experience with the language, if you want to call someone gay, people would say:

他是个同性恋 - tong2 xing4 lian4 

Or, to say someone is not necessarily gay, but they're acting effeminate:

他很娘娘腔 niang2 niang qiang1, or simply, 他很娘

or, idiomatically:

断袖之癖 duan4 xiu4 zhi1 pi3

(Actually, this idiom has a pretty neat back story. Basically, Emperor Han Ai Di was in bed with his man lover Dong Xian, and had to attend a court audience that morning. Not wishing to awaken Dong Xian, whose head was resting on the emperor's robe's sleeve, he had to cut the sleeve off (断袖)).

Answer 3

People born in 70s or before won't consider this word the translation of gay. So be careful when you speak this word with young ones.

Answer 4

Both meanings are in use now.

While President Hu reviews the People's Liberation Army in Hong Kong in June this year. He shouted 同志們好 and 同志們辛苦了. (Thanks for the hard work comrade!)

In the Pride parade in Hong Kong last month. It is named 香港同志遊行. And artist HOCC came out by shouting 我係同志.

Answer 5

"同志" literally refers to someone else with a "common" purpose (with you). During the Maoist era, the connotation was "comrade," in the context of "Communist" or "party member."

Nowadays, the connotation may be that GENDER is what someone (and a lover) may have in common. That would translate into "homo" or "gay."