The Solutn to "Gay" Insults: Freedom of Speech | Psychology Today

Contents:

• THE SOLUTN TO "GAY" INSULTS: FREEDOM OF SPEECH
• HOW TO STOP USG THE WORD "GAY" INAPPROPRIATELY
• WHAT DO YOU SAY TO ‘THAT’S SO GAY’ & OTHER ANTI-LGBTQ+ COMMENTS?
• DON’T LL ME HOMOPHOBIC: THE PLEXY OF ‘THAT’S SO GAY’
• "THAT'S SO GAY" IS JT SO WRONG
• WHEN IS WRONG TO LL SOMETHG "GAY"?
• IS LLG A HOMOSEXUAL PERSON “GAY” OFFENSIVE?
• THE 'GAY' WORD: WHAT DO MEAN WHEN YOUNG PEOPLE E NEGATIVELY?
• IT’S 2016, THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE G ‘GAY’ AS AN SULT – AND THEY REALLY NEED TO STOP
• 34 OF THE BT RPONS WHEN SOMEONE ASSUM AND CALLS YOU GAY
• WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT “THAT’S SO GAY”?

THE SOLUTN TO "GAY" INSULTS: FREEDOM OF SPEECH

There was a recent high profile story the news about an 11-year-old boy who mted suici, apparently bee he uld no longer tolerate beg lled “gay. Many anti-bully activists sist that anti-bully laws should specifilly mentn sults agast gays and those of non-heterosexual orientns.

HOW TO STOP USG THE WORD "GAY" INAPPROPRIATELY

If be a crime to sult people, then, is hoped, no one will be attacked wh the “gay” sult, and the associated vlence will disappear. One of the problems wh makg illegal to ll someone “gay” is that vlat the First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech.

If people get punished for sultg gays, do you thk they are gog to thk, “Now I rpect gays so much bee I was punished”? If we go to school together, are the same class, and I always treat you this way, you may even bee my iend even though you hate gays. They may not know their own te sexual orientatn yet, and they may not even know the sexual meang of the word “gay.

Every time you e the word gay to refer to someone or somethg that you don't like or thk is stupid, wrong or bad any way, take a mental note.

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO ‘THAT’S SO GAY’ & OTHER ANTI-LGBTQ+ COMMENTS?

Instead of g "gay" try g "appropriate, " "weird, " "strange, " "wrong, " out of place, " out of le, " or "out of orr.

"You are probably not tryg to be hurtful, but g the word "gay" to scribe somethg that is bad or stupid is hurtful. It will help you to not only stop g the word "gay" appropriately, but will also help you many other suatns life. The Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn (GLAAD) f "gay" as an "adjective ed to scribe people whose endurg physil, romantic, and/or emotnal attractns are to people of the same sex.

For gay people, nstantly hearg the word "gay' ed appropriately n have a negative impact on their mental health and how they feel about themselv.

DON’T LL ME HOMOPHOBIC: THE PLEXY OF ‘THAT’S SO GAY’

Usg the word appropriately n also give people the imprsn that you are sensive or have an issue wh people that are gay. Although you may not have tend to be offensive or hurt someone's feelgs when you e the word "gay" as a rogatory term, the end rult still remas. Jt bee your iends spout the term "gay" to sult people or thgs, don't mean you should also explo orr to make yourself sound ol.

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. “You may not have meant to be hurtful, but when you e the word ‘gay’ to mean somethg is bad or stupid, is hurtful.

“Even if you didn’t mean to offend people who are gay, is offensive to ll this assignment gay (or queer); if you don’t like somethg, then say you don’t like ! If you have been hearg the phrase “That’s gay” or “no homo, ” take time durg class to make sure that your stunts know what “gay” means and know why is hurtful to e as a ment or put-down.

"THAT'S SO GAY" IS JT SO WRONG

Be clear that g the phrase “That’s gay” is hurtful to other stunts who may have fay members or iends who are LGBTQ. For the youngt stunts, keep simple – for example, “the word gay scrib a man and a man or a woman and a woman who love each other. 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.

WHEN IS WRONG TO LL SOMETHG "GAY"?

When most people hear the term LGBT (lbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual), for stance, they equate to havg adult sex. ” Later when the parents learned their children were gay, they apologized to them for sayg the thgs, but the damage was already done. Hearg kids sayg, “that’s so gay” every day mak the people and everythg else around them qutnable: Are thgs safe or dangero?

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. In the wake of a vastatg spate of teen suicis, notably that of 18-year-old Rutgers hman Tyler Clementi September, issu of anti-gay harassment and bullyg have bee ont-page news.

IS LLG A HOMOSEXUAL PERSON “GAY” OFFENSIVE?

" In the preview Cooper saw, which Universal hastily recut over the weekend, Vce Vghn sets the tone for his super-butch character by tellg a roomful of executiv, "Electric rs are gay. Cooper's pot about g "gay" as a sual dis is nohels worth notg, but the polics of the term get plited when you factor the subtleti of human teractn.

THE 'GAY' WORD: WHAT DO MEAN WHEN YOUNG PEOPLE E NEGATIVELY?

It muddi up the issue of whether 's ever, unr any circumstanc, OK to ll anythg so gay -- even if, like a Margaret Cho dance route, totally is.

As we the East Coast liberal ele celebrate Natnal Comg Out Day by brawashg our children "to thkg that homosexualy is an equally valid or succsful optn, " 's clear many of , gay and straight, are still wranglg wh our creria for what's acceptable, what's parody and what's hurtful.

On an early episo of "Louie, " the ic and his iends, cludg a gay man, talk over the poker table about the word "faggot, " a scene that's rich historil ntext, humor, mararie -- and most of all, pure openens.

IT’S 2016, THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE G ‘GAY’ AS AN SULT – AND THEY REALLY NEED TO STOP

As kids across the untry are dyg over words, I don't want my dghters to grow up thkg that "gay" means bad or negative or weak or silly. Further, the discsn ually clus homophobic remarks about how sons who aren't spanked will "turn" gay, or fathers who don't spank are secretly gay.

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

The nnectn between homophobia and genr rol is ma fairly explic the nversatns, which happen on father blogs very equently. ), or predict that my sons will “turn out” gay bee I didn’t spank them (I gus bee spankg mak boys tough, and tough is the oppose of gay?

This nng rea among some men the father bloggg muny has been que tertg to me, and remd me of a book I read semary, lled “Homophobia as a weapon of sexism. As a man, I’ve noticed that, if I exprs passn or gratu toward another man, jok about beg gay are often told: “Whoa!

Lisa Hickey, the edor of the Good Men Project, replied to my ment and asked me if I would wre somethg about this nnectn between masculy and homophobia. " I'm hopg for any ments, exampl, and (more preferably) stori about how homophobia is ed to keep men om exprsg themselv thentilly.

WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT “THAT’S SO GAY”?

2) A buddy of me is the arts circl and he said wasn't the same homophobe pickup tck ridg guys that got to him. I'm pretty mascule and I like sports…but I actually overheard someone once state that "I didn't know how to be gay".

6) One thg I've noticed is that even though people e the word "gay" as a way to beltle men and keep them a really narrow view of what masculy looks like, queer people as startg to re-up "gay" as a scriptor. It's like when my father lls somethg "gay", and I ll somethg "gay", we have entirely different meangs behd that one word. On the other hand, when my father lls somethg gay, he's got the flattt, basic stereotype of "gay" pictured his head.

I'd image that when a lot of straight people e the word "gay", they throw a few basic, dty stereotyp together, some of them probably pretty negative.