17 Signs You're Actually Gay (and Jt Don't Know It)

"THAT'S SO GAY" IS JT SO WRONG

Spend any time around teens, and you’re likely to hear the mon exprsn, “That’s so gay" — even among gay kids. If you ask them about , as some rearchers have, they often will sist that is not tend as homophobic language, jt a harmls phrase to exprs tratn or somethg siar. Studi reveal that 30 percent of gay adolcents stggle wh suicidal thoughts.

“That’s so gay” is always pejorative, always harmful, and always homophobic. Thk about this: For thoands of years, religns have lled homosexualy an abomatn. People still get murred if someone thks they are gay, and not jt other untri.

Gay Equals Sex. When most people hear the term LGBT (lbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual), for stance, they equate to havg adult sex. Another client’s mother once ught him lookg at gay porn, and said, horrified, “You’re not gay, are you?

34 OF THE BT RPONS WHEN SOMEONE ASSUM AND CALLS YOU GAY

” Later when the parents learned their children were gay, they apologized to them for sayg the thgs, but the damage was already done.

I heard you say whout knowg I was gay. Hearg kids sayg, “that’s so gay” every day mak the people and everythg else around them qutnable: Are thgs safe or dangero? What, then, n be done about makg kids (and the rt of ) more aware of the harm g such phras as “That’s so gay?

HOW TO ACCEPT THAT YOU ARE GAY

But parents who are enough aware of language’s substrata n help by helpg their kids’ schools unrstand the value of practicg the same kd of zero tolerance for homophobic language that they do for racist or anti-Semic or bullyg language. The bt thg I have seen is the mpaign “ThkB4YouSpeak” by GLSEN (Gay, Lbian School Edutor Network).

Anti-LGBT remarks such as “that’s so gay” are often untentnal and a mon part of teens’ vernacular. It don’t matter if ’s a first grar who might not know what the word “gay” means, a sixth grar tryg to sound ol, or a tenth grar “teasg” a iend. “Do you know what ‘gay’ means?