Your thoughts? Please read the article first so you don't pull a LadyDiana.
Quote:
It’s OK to call things “gay”. Let’s stop worrying about words.
I’m gay, and I’m fine with people saying “gay” when they mean “bad”
When I was fifteen I walked into Chemistry late. I’d missed the teacher telling us about our homework and so I asked my friend Emily what we’d been given. She told me we had extra work than usual.
“That’s so gay!” I said loudly, as teenagers often do, before returning to the sheets of paper in front of me.
“Excuse me?!” Came a reply that I wasn’t expecting, not from Emily, but from our teacher. He’d practically shouted it, and the whole class had gone quiet. I was entirely on the spot.
“Ummm, I just meant it was..bad.” I managed to mumble.
Our teacher looked at me furiously.
“Oh. So it’s bad now is it?” He said. “Get out!”
I got my things and left the room. I sat outside for the whole lesson, and at the end I came back in, and the teacher, who I think was gay, told me I should never use such offensive language.
Of course, he didn’t know then that six months later I would come out to the entire school. And by ‘come out’ I mean explain why I’d snogged a bloke right in front of everyone at a party over half term.
Just because gay people say it occasionally too doesn't mean it's right. These people are either just trying to fit in or trying to own the word so it doesn't offend them. It's NOT ok to associate the word gay with bad... EVER.
So what if that one person said it's okay? He doesn't speak for anyone but himself and can't know what people do and don't find offensive.
This reminds me of that asshole friend I used to have that outed me claiming he's allowed to say the n and f words now b/c Tyler the Creator said "they're just 'words', it doesn't matter" or some ****. Mind you, he's straight and white.
No. When you refer to something negative as "gay", you are comparing gay people to that negative entity. You are in a way trying to describe that negative entity using the word "gay" as if being gay is a bad thing.
That's the bottom line - nothing can derive from that matter. So essentially, referring to things as "gay" in a negative context is offensive and not okay.
No. It's not. While yes the person using it was Gay, that doesn't make the general usage of the word to describe something as "bad" a good thing at all.
Quote:
“Ummm, I just meant it was..bad.” I managed to mumble.
This basically explains exactly why it's a bad thing. It's using "Gay" as a word to describe something bad, which comes from internalized homophobia & being brought up in world where Gay is bad.
... there isn't even a justification in the OP for using the word "gay" in that context lol. It's just a story that demonstrates the ignorance of some random fifteen year old.
No. When you refer to something negative as "gay", you are comparing gay people to that negative entity. You are in a way trying to describe that negative entity using the word "gay" as if being gay is a bad thing.
That's the bottom line - nothing can derive from that matter. So essentially, referring to things as "gay" in a negative context is offensive and not okay.
This basically explains exactly why it's a bad thing. It's using "Gay" as a word to describe something bad, which comes from internalized homophobia & being brought up in world where Gay is bad.
Are gay people ALLOWED to say it though? Or is it just as bad from them? What about bicurious folk?
I'm just asking. So, do you have an opinion? I know true gays can say "gay", right or wrong.