(1940s) many U.S. and British servicemen started meeting and forming friendships while serving in Europe. Living in fear of discovery and persecution, many began using the code language that Parker used commonly in her writings as a form of social networking including "friend of Dorothy". In conversation and in letter writing, phrases like "simply divine", "fabulous" and "nelly" began to be used by men, who later brought its use back to the United States. By the 1960s and onward the social stigma of being gay was slowly lifting, including the Stonewall Riots in 1969 which launched the modern LGBTQ rights movement, the phrase wasn't needed as much. Military investigation In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Naval Investigative Service (NIS) was investigating homosexuality in the Chicago area. Agents discovered that gay men sometimes referred to themselves as "friends of Dorothy". Unaware of the historical meaning of the term, the NIS believed that there actually was a woman named Dorothy at the center of a massive ring of homosexual military personnel, so they launched an enormous and futile hunt for the elusive "Dorothy", hoping to find her and convince her to reveal the names of gay service members. Usage Starting in the late 1980s, on several cruise lines, gay and lesbian passengers began approaching ship staff, asking them to publicise gatherings in the daily cruise activity list. As the cruise lines were hesitant to announce such things so blatantly in their daily publications, they would list the gathering as a "Meeting of the Friends of Dorothy". The use of this phrase likely comes from the cruise directors who were also familiar with and using the "Friends of Bill W." phrase in their programs to tell members of Alcoholics Anonymous that there were support group meetings on the trip. Such meetings have expanded in popularity and frequency over the years. Now, many cruise lines will have multiple FOD events, sometimes as many as one each night. Despite this, many FOD meetings have low turnout rates. Friend of Mrs. King Similar to friend of Dorothy is friend of Mrs. King (i.e. Queen, in the meaning of "gay man"). This was used in England, mostly in the first half of the 20th century. See also Judy Garland as gay icon LGBT slang Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall Notes References Further reading (Twenty-nine essays covering aspects of the gay and lesbian world from