When my devout mormon mother was alive she would explain why she had a 30,40, or 50 year-old unmarried son (me) as "He's special." I would then correct her by explaining to her inquiring friend that, "No, I'm not 'special', I'm homosexual."
Back in 1980 the New York Times just couldn't bring itself to say "gay" or "homosexual" and it had nothing to do with defamation of character fears.. So, one week end in the Living Section they described my then Squeeze Toy as a "a clever. design conscious summer resident of Fire Island." A true fact.
However, even more tragic was the number of friends who could not tell the difference between the words clever and cleaver.