Gay, lesbian, person with inclination to love someone of the same sex. It comes from the German der homosexuelle, and was coined by Karoly M. Benkert (a journalist, an Austro-Hungarian gay militant) in 1869 while claiming the German government for its intolerance to same-sex relations. It is of Greco-Latin etymology, since 959; 956; 959; 962; (omos "equal, the same" ) is Greek and sexus ( "sex" ) is Latin.