Why is there a gaymers group?

[nightsurge]

dtewi said:

nightsurge said:

This is slightly off topic, but does the phrase "That's gay" or whatever really offend homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual individuals? Yeah sure "gay" in this context has negative connotations, but the word gay never meant homosexual in the first place. It only became an insult for homosexuals when a few authors (early to late 1800's I think) used the term "gay cat" to refer to a homosexual male. I find it odd that the community as a whole has adopted a transformed insult as their main nomenclature.

Now if people were saying "That's homo" or "That's lesbian" then I'd see everything wrong with it. But when the word "gay" developed as an insult (after origianlly meaning happy and joyful), I do not see how it is wrong to use it in a negative sense of conversation. "Gay" is just a generic insult/negative word these days. Why don't homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, etc. just start going by their official nomenclature rather than the word that used to mean happiness and joy that got transformed into an insult on their community?

You don't see how it is wrong?

When the word "gay" is used negatively, it connotates abnormality or stupidity. Obviously, this stems from bigotry of the gay community. It is negative to use it because it can be hurtful to gay people and the overall usage of it is not helpful to the gay community.

Just because many people use it as a generic insult that does not make it okay. If a lot of people started saying "That's so Mexican", would you think there's anything wrong with it?

But what I'm saying is there is no "gay" people.  There are homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, etc.

If people started using "That's so Mexican" or "that's so Canadian" or w/e I would see something wrong with it because it is directly referencing the official name of a group of people.  I guess the way I see it is that homosexuals, lesbians, et. all should just stop using the term gay to incorrectly describe them and use the official formal term.  That'd dissolve any connection between "That's gay" and them.  And lets face it, no one is going to stop everyone from saying "That's gay" or "that's retarded", so it'd make more sense and cause less drama this way.