Is It OK to Say "That's So Gay"?

Contents:

• IS LLG A HOMOSEXUAL PERSON “GAY” OFFENSIVE?
• ENGLISH PRONUNCIATN OF GAY
• HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
• WHAT DO ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ ACTUALLY SAY?
• WHAT WORDS CAN I SAY TO DECLARE THAT I’M GAY?
• AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS
• FLORIDA JT PASSED THE "DON'T SAY GAY" BILL. HERE’S WHAT IT MEANS FOR KIDS
• IS IT OK TO SAY "THAT'S SO GAY"?
• HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY
• WHAT DO YOU SAY TO “THAT’S SO GAY” AND OTHER ANTI-LGBTQ COMMENTS?
• DO YOU SOUND GAY? WHAT OUR VOIC TELL – AND WHAT THEY DON’T
• GAY DICTNARY
• HOW TO SAY GAY DIFFERENT LANGUAG
• GAY

IS LLG A HOMOSEXUAL PERSON “GAY” OFFENSIVE?

It's typilly preferred by those to whom appli over the term "homosexual", the technil nature of which mak this state of beg sound like a munible disease or mental illns (which, as recently as the DSM-II, seventh edn, was, tegorized as a pathologil phobia of the oppose sex). Many advocy groups, such as GLAAD (Gay/Lbian Associatn Agast Defamatn) and terms they promote for e the media (such as LGBT) rporate this term, though this isn't to say the terms will always be acceptable for this reason; the group name often persists long after the words behd them have fallen om favor, to avoid the nfn of a rebrandg of the group. "Queer", an old slang term for gay men, and "fag"/"faggot", origally AE slang for a wimp or unmanly person, but which me to be associated wh the stereotypil "swishy" gay man, have bee si terms; still appropriate when ed by a ntral party or a "straight" person, but acceptable ntext between gay men.

ENGLISH PRONUNCIATN OF GAY

But Florida’s Parental Rights Edutn act — which crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — has sudnly sparked a natnal war of recent weeks, lears of global rporatns, edorial boards of major newspapers and Hollywood actors have all weighed on the proposed legislatn, wh some llg “eply disturbg” and others “nonntroversial.

HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO

” Conversely, opponents say would unfairly target the LGBTQ muny — particularly gay and trans stunts — and is “pretendg to solve a problem that don’t exist. The bill, which passed Florida’s Senate last week and the state’s Hoe of Reprentativ Febary, do, however, nta the terms “sexual orientatn” and “genr inty, ” each legal experts say that whether the bill prohibs the word “gay” self is a “distractn. ”Beyond brandg, a re argument over the bill centers around whether would prohib the “stctn” or “discsn” of sexual bill’s sponsors have emphatilly stated that the bill would not prohib stunts om talkg about their LGBTQ fai or bar classroom discsns about LGBTQ history, cludg events like the 2016 adly attack on the Pulse nightclub, a gay club Orlando.

GLAAD prefers that we don’t e the term homosexual bee ’s “aggrsively ed by anti-gay extremists to suggt that gay people are somehow diseased or psychologilly/emotnally disorred.

” The sense of “gay” as happy or merry dat om the 1400s and spired some bizarrely specific sens, such as “of a horse: lively, prancg” and “of a dog's tail: rried high or erect.

WHAT DO ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ ACTUALLY SAY?

This example om that year shows jt how -flux (and vert) the meang was: “Supposg one met a stranger on a tra om Boston to New York and wanted to fd out whether he was ‘wise’ or even homosexual. Isn’t Vghn’s clarifitn—“not homosexual gay, but, you know, my-parents-are-chaperong-the-dance gay”—equivalent to the famo Sefeld “Not that there’s anythg wrong wh that”?

WHAT WORDS CAN I SAY TO DECLARE THAT I’M GAY?

If the llective gay people of the world uld magilly transform all “gays are abomatns” sentiment to “gays are like, totally lame, ” I have a feelg they would take that barga, bee nobody bothers to legally discrimate agast the lame. The dislike of “gay” is an awful lot like the dislike of “retard”—both words, when ed sultgly, are hated for reasons that are very passnate. Today, we have an analysis of a piece of tn legislatn Florida that crics have referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” we have news of our own: We’re makg some chang to the Edutn Briefg.

Ron DeSantis of Florida is expected to sign Hoe Bill 1557, a proposed law that supporters ll the “Parental Rights Edutn” bill and opponents refer to as the “Don’t Say Gay” lleague Dana Goldste has done a close readg of the bill self, which is about much more than gay rights.

AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS

Sentence has earned the bill the “Don’t Say Gay” nickname:L 97-101: Classroom stctn by school personnel or third parti on sexual orientatn or genr inty may not occur krgarten through gra 3 or a manner that is not age appropriate or velopmentally appropriate for stunts acrdance wh state impact is clear enough: Instctn on genr and sexualy would be nstraed all gras.

That uld disurage a teacher om speakg about gay fai wh the whole class, even if some stunts have gay bill also targets mental health and unselg servic — a place where stunts often have difficult nversatns about genr inty and sexualy, pecially if they stggle to talk about those nversatns at as Florida revis s school unselg standards, adopted 2010, which affirm genr and sexual diversy unselg. Notns of a so-lled “homosexual agenda” are ventns of Anti-LGBTQ extremists who have created terms like the “gay agenda” to still fear when LGBTQ+ people are jt tryg to pursue equal opportuni.

Sce transgenr aligns wh lbian, gay, bisexual, and queer, you would never say somethg like Kristen Stewart is “lbianed, ” so you wouldn’t say “Laverne Cox is transgenred. ” Soon after, he published his study of early Christian mment ceremoni—Same-Sex Unns Premorn Europe—helpg to lay the groundwork for the morn gay-marriage movement and, ultimately, my own marriage. Boswell died of AIDS 1994—left for ad not by some townie gay bashers but by an entire natn different to the liv of men who have sex wh Simon 1991Raphael SimonI’ve been lled a faggot more than once, ways that no one would nfe wh flattery.

FLORIDA JT PASSED THE "DON'T SAY GAY" BILL. HERE’S WHAT IT MEANS FOR KIDS

The Republin ernor of California, Pete Wilson, had jt vetoed a bill that would have protected gays and lbians om job discrimatn, and I was a graduate stunt at the Universy of California Irve. As turns out, while I was whg to my rosé about all the wokens my hoe, reactnary forc were gatherg, ready to send this untry back to a time when racism wasn’t talked about, trans kids suffered silence, and homophobia had yet to be named. As Florida’s Parental Rights Edutn law — or what crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law — go to effect Friday, some of the state’s public school districts have begun rollg out new polici to lim LGBTQ issu and inti om beg discsed the Tuday night, the Leon County School Board unanimoly approved s “LGBTQ Inclive School Gui, ” which clus a provisn to alert parents if a stunt who is “open about their genr inty” is their child’s physil tn class or wh them on an overnight school trip.

Clifford / AP fileThe so-lled Don’t Say Gay law, HB 1557, bans “stctn” about sexual orientatn or genr inty “ krgarten through gra 3 or a manner that is not age appropriate or velopmentally appropriate for stunts acrdance wh state standards.

” A provisn the law also requir school staff members to alert parents about “cril cisns affectg a stunt’s mental, emotnal, or physil health or well-beg, ” which many advot have terpreted as a way to force tors to out their gay or trans stunts. They have also ntend that will not prohib teachers and stunts om talkg about their LGBTQ fai or bar classroom discsns about LGBTQ history, cludg events like the 2016 attack at the Pulse gay nightclub crics and legal experts have said the broad language of the law uld open school districts and teachers to lawsus om parents who believe any nversatn about LGBTQ people or issu is “not age appropriate. Carlos Smh, a Democrat who is gay and has been an outspoken cric of the new law, said he was “not surprised” that schools the state were announcg the polici and guil.

IS IT OK TO SAY "THAT'S SO GAY"?

“What’s happeng right now — wh the censorship of rabow flags and school districts preparg to basilly ph LGBTQ stunts and teachers to the closet — is exactly what we said would happen wh the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law. Chandan Khanna / AFP via Getty Imag fileFive other stat — all of them the South — have enacted laws that lim stctn or discsns about LGBTQ people or issu school, and at least 32 others have proposed such measur this year, acrdg to acrdg to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ thk tank that has been trackg the strsed that the polici will have nsequenc for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer stunts, potg to the disproportnately high rat of suici attempts among the untry’s LGBTQ youths. ”In Palm Beach County, Woods, who is gay, said that after they received the qutnnaire om school officials to flag urse material or books wh LGBTQ referenc, many of his lleagu are nervo they’ll be reprimand if they miss somethg.

HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE GAY

The Florida Senate passed the ntroversial so-lled “Don’t Say Gay” bill on Tuday, sendg the Republin-backed legislatn banng LGBTQ stctn primary schools to Gov.

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO “THAT’S SO GAY” AND OTHER ANTI-LGBTQ COMMENTS?

The proposed law, often referred to by crics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, bans public school districts om teachg about sexual orientatn or genr inty krgarten through the third gra, or “ a manner that is not age-appropriate or velopmentally appropriate for stunts”—language that crics say uld extend the ban to higher gra levels. ” Read more: Kid of the Year Falist Kai Shappley, 11, Tak on Lawmakers Her Fight for Trans Rights What impact uld the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill have?

DO YOU SOUND GAY? WHAT OUR VOIC TELL – AND WHAT THEY DON’T

Shevr Jon, Florida’s first openly gay Florida state senator, who told the legislative body: “To those who thk you n legislate gay people away, I’m sorry. Typilly, for those who intify as queer, the terms lbian, gay, and bisexual are perceived to be too limg and/or ght wh cultural nnotatns they feel do not apply to them. Also known as SGL, this is a term ed by some Ain Amerin people as an Aocentric alternative to what are nsired Eurocentric, or whe, inti like gay and lbian.

Biphobia may be exprsed ments that reflect doubts about the legimacy of bisexualy as an orientatn, accurately implyg that is not real, “jt a phase” or a ver for someone not ready to e out as gay. Note, the terms “gay marriage” and “same-sex marriage” should be avoid, as they n suggt marriage for same-sex upl is somehow different or ls equal than other marriag. Bee of the clil history of the word “homosexual, ” is aggrsively ed by anti-LGBTQ activists to suggt that people attracted to the same sex are somehow diseased or psychologilly/emotnally disorred – notns discreded by the Amerin Psychologil Associatn and the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn the 1970s.

Use gay, lbian, or when appropriate, bisexual, pansexual, or queer to scribe people attracted to people of the same genr or more than one genr. Intifyg a same-sex uple as “a homosexual uple, ” characterizg their relatnship as “a homosexual relatnship, ” or intifyg their timacy as “homosexual sex” should be avoid. As a le, try to avoid labelg an activy, emotn, or relatnship gay, lbian, bisexual, or queer unls you would ll the same activy, emotn, or relatnship “straight” if engaged by someone of another orientatn.

GAY DICTNARY

Sexual orientatn is the accurate scriptn of an person’s endurg physil, romantic, and/or emotnal attractn to people of the same genr and/or people of a different genr, and is clive of people who are lbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and pansexual, as well as straight people. The phras “gay liftyle, ” “LGBTQ liftyle, ” “homosexual liftyle, ” and “transgenr liftyle” are ed to nigrate LGBTQ people by accurately suggtg that their sexual orientatn and/or genr inty is a choice and therefore n and should be “cured” or “changed. Anti-LGBTQ Terms Mastream Media Should Avoid“fag, ” “faggot, ” “dyke, ” “homo, ” “sodome, ” and siar ephetsWhile some the muny have reclaimed and e the words to scribe themselv, the creria for mastream news media g the rogatory terms should be the same as those applied to vulgar ephets ed to target other groups: they should not be ed except a direct quote that reveals the bias of the person quoted or if a LGBTQ person the term to scribe themself.

So that such words are not given credibily the media, is preferred that reporters say, “The person ed a rogatory word for a lbian/gay/bisexual/transgenr/queer person” except when a LGBTQ person the term to scribe themself. That means, for example, that you n be transgenr but also straight (for stance, you might intify as a woman and feel attracted to men) or gay (e.

HOW TO SAY GAY DIFFERENT LANGUAG

If you have had romantic experienc or fantasi volvg people who are the same genr as you, then there is a good chance you are gay or bisexual, but 's okay if you're a ltle nfed. This year for Bullyg Preventn Month, download our most sought-after handout, “What Do You Say to ‘That’s So Gay’”?, which teach tors both how and why is important to rpond to anti-LGBTQ ments.

Knowg what to say when someone “gay” as a putdown is an sential skill -- not jt for tors, but for everyone as they cultivate rpectful spac hom, workplac and muni across the untry. However, biphobia has led many people, even LGBTQ+ people, to believe that bisexuals somehow have certa privileg over gays and lbians – advantag that people wrongfully assume shield bisexual people om persecutn and discrimatn, cludg beg lled certa slurs. Many bisexual people don’t feel like they belong the queer muny, spe there beg more bisexual people the world than gays, lbians, and trans people.

Still, some argue that bisexuals reclaimg slurs that were hurled specifilly towards gay men or lbian women may actually ntribute to bi-erasure. The ia is that, if a bisexual person lls themselv “gay”, then allows other people to assume that bisexualy and homosexualy are terchangeable. It n perpetuate myths that the bi muny has worked hard to bunk, such as the “bi now, gay later” myth that so often hnts bisexual men particular.

GAY

On the other hand, the word is very particular to homosexualy, and s e by bisexual people uld lead to further bi-erasure and bi visibily – both and out of the muny.

And y, the stretchg out of “sibilant” nsonants such as s and z (image Kenh Williams sayg “She sells sea shells on the sea shore” and you’re sort of there) what about gay women? There are a few theori knockg around as to why this might be: Arnold Zwicky, his mply tled 1994 paper Two Lavenr Issu for Lguists, suggts that: “For many lbians, what is most important is intifitn wh the muny of women – while for many gay men, what is most important is distancg themselv om straight men.