Thats so gay..........

I recently read an article which dealt with this phrase. Working with young people like I do I hear this phrase a lot. "Gay" has become a slang negative world which is used without mush thought. I thought I would share this article:

Do you ever find yourself using the phrase "that's so gay" when you want to put something down?

I have to admit that I do. But I am a hypocrite because I bristle when people I deem jerks say it.

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) would rather none of us tossed the term around in a negative way, and they've launched a campaign against anti-gay language to get us to stop. Well, actually, the campaign is aimed at teens, but perhaps we adults should pay attention, too.

GLSEN makes its point in a new PSA that finds Hilary Duff urging two girls not to use the word gay to put things down.

The girls are shopping when one asks the other if she likes the top she is trying on, and the other girl responds, "It's so gay" with disdain.

Hilary observes the exchange and steps in to tell the girls it isn't cool.

It isn't. But it sure is common for people to use the word gay in a pejorative way, and gay can mean all sorts of negative things like lame and stupid. One of my friends noticed that her nephews were using the word a lot this summer, mostly when referring to things they thought were gross.

So how did the word gay, which at one time simply meant happy and carefree, grow to encompass the many meanings it has today? According to Wikipedia, the meaning of the word took on sexual connotations in the late 17th century, and by the mid-20th century gay was used in reference to homosexuality. Gay—as in "that's so gay"—first came into use as a pejorative in the 1970s. It seems like everyone uses it that way today.

Of course, lots of words have different meanings, and some might argue that at this point the word is so commonly used that it isn't a direct insult to gay people. But as a gay person—even a gay person who uses the term when he knows he shouldn't—you can't help but feel a negative association when someone you know isn't cool with gay people uses it. It's like a sneaky little insult, a way of putting gay people down indirectly by labeling things you don't like as gay.

Do you think we need to be more careful about how we use the word gay?

Before you answer, ponder this: The launch of GLSEN's campaign against anti-gay language coincides with the release of the organization's 2007 National School Climate Survey, which found that nearly nine in ten LGBT teens have been verbally harassed in the past school year and almost half of the kids have been physically harassed because of their sexual orientation.

Now check out the PSA and share your thoughts.

Posted by Carter Todd on October 9, 2008