Is it normal to assume "lesbian" is equivalent to "gay?"

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If you say she is gay, people know you mean she is lesbian. If you say that person is gay, they will probably think you are talking about a gay man. So as long as you say she you will be alright. All my lesbian friends don't really mind but they like lesbian better. Also, they don't like the term 'A lesbian', that is like calling a homosexual man 'A gay', or homosexuals 'the gays'. Lesbian women would rather be called gay than A lesbian though.

Homosexual male = Gay

Homosexual female = Lesbian

Most homosexuals that I know really don't give a shit about what you call them as long as you treat them with the respect that you would anyone else.

This is just what I have seen in my life.

Gay = Homosexual
Lesbian = Homosexual Female

The only difference is sex.
You can call a female gay, but you can't call a male lesbian.

I agree with Parrish, most of my homosexual friends don't give a shit what you call them, as long as you treat them with the same respect that you treat every one else. This doesn't come up too often for me though because I rarely address their sexuality, just the same as you never wonder what to call your strait friends.

My lesbian friend uses gay and lesbian interchangeably. I've heard her refer to herself as gay very frequently.

Ye, it's alright. There's no difference

Technically gay means happy.

You can call lesbian women gay, as long as they haven't specifically asked you to use the word lesbian instead. Gay is also used as a blanket term sometimes for LGBTQI, so it can be used to describe most non- straight orientations. I'm a primarily homosexual woman and I call myself gay, so it should be fine. Also, I agree with Parrish about 'lesbian' vs 'a lesbian'.

Hey people, grammar time:

"She is a lesbian,"

or

"She is lesbian."

The second one doesn't sound right, because lesbian is not the predicate adjective but the predicate nominative. But!

"She is gay,"

or

"She is a gay,"

The second one doesn't sound right either. It sounds mildly offensive, but technically correct because gay can be a noun or an adjective. Gay is a predicate adjective in the first sentence.