Comments (Meaning / History Only)
My name is Dorothy. Does anyone know it means "Gift of God".
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Theodore would be a good brother name, having a similar etymology.
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1. Judy Garland, who played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939), has long been recognized as a queer icon. Also, the story features Dorothy encountering characters who are different from their peers, like the Cowardly Lion. Dorothy’s song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” contributed to the emergence of the rainbow as an LGBTQ+ icon.
2. In The Road to Oz (1909), the sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), Polychrome tells Dorothy, “You have some queer friends, Dorothy,” and Dorothy replies, “The queerness doesn’t matter, so long as they’re friends.” Throughout the book there are numerous possible references and innuendos to queerness, but it isn’t clear whether they’re intentional or not.
3. Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) was a New York City critic and socialite who was close with many gay men in the area. When she threw parties, gay men would use the phrase “friend of Dorothy” in order to get in. During Prohibition in the 1920s and ‘30s, Dorothy would invite gay men to speakeasies. They used the code phrase “friend of Dorothy,” which spread quickly through queer circles, to get into them. During WWII U.S. and British soldiers formed intimate bonds with others while serving abroad in Europe. They used the same slang Dorothy used in her writing, including the phrase “friend of Dorothy,” to escape discovery and persecution.