The Gay Thread

[raptors11]

ArnoldRimmer said:

raptors11 said:

One thing gay people that are offended easily need to learn is that when 99% of people call something gay as in "that shirt your wearing is gay" or "your car is gay" is a synonym for the word stupid, it does not mean gay as in homosexual.

I just had to clear that up.

After reading this posting, I really wondered what actual gays think about that statement.

Unfortunately nobody replied to that posting, so I'm quoting it, hoping somebody will do so now. :)

Because I've heard that a few times, but personally I think it's a silly argument. While its probably true that many people nowadays use the word "gay" simply as a synonym for "stupid", I don't think that means that it's not offensive to gays. I actually think that makes it even more offensive, because everyone knows the term refers to homosexuality. I think by using the word gay as a synonym for pretty much every negative word, people implicitely state "homosexuality=bad/evil", and in my opinion that makes it a perfect example of homoPHOBIA.

And thinking that if a gay feels offended by using the term in that way only shows that this person is easily offended is naive in my opinion. Imagine people were starting to use words like "american" or "jewish" as a synonym for "stupid" - I'm sure that americans/jews would never stop considering that offensive.

Yeah I just don't get why gays get mad when you call something (like an object) gay. I do it all the time and its not to offend gay people its just because its what everyone says. Back in the day I'm pretty sure gay meant happy like in the Flintstones theme song "we'll have a gay old time" and nowadays gay is another word for stupid.