Hi guys!
Yesterday I was watching an old video by a guy called Tom Milsom about the use of the word “gay” as an insult. And it was interesting. I disagreed with him in the beginning but then he sorted out his mind-mess and I sort of understood what he was trying to say, then I disagreed with him again at the end. So I’m going to write about my opinion.
It’s well-known by just about everybody that there is some disagreement about whether it’s offensive to gay people to describe things as gay in a derogatory way. If you’re not that clever, let me tell you why people are offended. By using gay to mean bad, you are using the same word that means homosexual. Therefore you are showing that you think either bad things are homosexual or homosexuals are bad. Now obviously many gay people find this insulting, which is totally understandable. I know I hate it when my friends say “oh, that’s so gay,” because it goes against a lot of my ethical beliefs. I certainly never use it as an insult.
But whenever I confront my friends about it they all seem shocked. I don’t think I know anybody who thinks being gay is in some way wrong or unwholesome. They never mean to insult gay people, they just use gay as an insult because everybody else does. To them it just means bad – it’s become, to them, a homonym – a word spelt and sounded the same but with a separate meaning. To them gay means homosexual and gay means bad, two separate contexts. Which, again, is very understandable. It’s sad that it’s become that way but to a lot of people that’s how it is. It’s like crap meaning poo and crap meaning bad. Shouldn’t the poo be offended? It’s not bad! But they are homonyms. That’s how it is. Language evolves, sometimes in ways we don’t appreciate, but we can’t stop it. The magic of words. Which is why I no longer ask my friends to stop using gay as an insult. I’m uncomfortable when they do it, but they don’t mean any harm. It’s OK.
Lastly. Some people do intentionally use gay to mean bad and homosexual. Some people are cruel like that. They do think homosexuality is bad. My advice to those people and people who are offended by them is this:
It’s about as inoffensive as calling something a sun in a derogatory way. It’s just silly. Laughable. Saying “that’s so gay” and meaning “that’s so homosexual” is ridiculous. Being gay is a wonderful thing. People should be proud enough of their sexuality to laugh at people who think it’s bad. Ignore them. That’s that.
Opinions?
xx
Za
