Maybe 'that's so gay' is actually ok for young people to say

Contents:

• "THAT'S SO GAY" IS JT SO WRONG
• "THAT'S SO GAY" IS JT SO WRONG
• THE TE MEANG BEHD “THAT’S SO GAY”
• GAY (HOMOSEXUAL) AND GAY (HAPPY)
• WHAT DO IT MEAN TO BE GAY? DEFN AND MEANG OF GAY
• THAT'S SO GAY
• WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT “THAT’S SO GAY”?
• THIS IS SO GAY!
• GAY
• MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH

"THAT'S SO GAY" IS JT SO WRONG

The phrase “that’s so gay” has tradnally been unrstood as homophobic.

Stonewall argu that the phrase has a harmful effect on young lbian, gay and bisexual people’s tn and well-beg. Yet the ial fdgs om my terviews wh 40 gay youth om four universi suggts a more plex picture, wh no clear agreement on what the phrase means or s effects.

"THAT'S SO GAY" IS JT SO WRONG

Consir Joe, a 19-year-old gay stunt at an ele universy. He said: “I thk breaks down barriers between the straight and gay muny… I e a lot. ” Siarly, Neil, gay and aged 18, said: “I don’t fd rogatory any way, probably bee I say as well.

THE TE MEANG BEHD “THAT’S SO GAY”

How are we to unrstand a phrase that olr people fd homophobic, but many younger people do not fd offensive and even e themselv?

My tert the phrase “that’s so gay” veloped when I rearched straight male stunts at sixth form lleg.

GAY (HOMOSEXUAL) AND GAY (HAPPY)

The young men had openly gay iends, supported gay rights and nmned homophobia. Yet several of them would also say “that’s so gay” when trated.

Given that labellg the stunts homophobic would be ridiculo, was val to nsir how they were g this language and the reasons why. All of the men my rearch sisted that they did not tend to be homophobic when they ed the phrase. For them, gay had two distct meangs which they were able to distguish between – when refers to sexual inty and when refers, separately, to somethg beg “bbish”.

Language has evolved and “gay” means somethg different to younger generatns particular ntexts. I argued that straight men’s e of phras like “that’s so gay” uld only be unrstood by three key factors: first, the tent wh which was said; send, the social ntext (homophobic or otherwise); and third, the effect had.

WHAT DO IT MEAN TO BE GAY? DEFN AND MEANG OF GAY

“That’s so gay” n be homophobic if is said wh negative tent or wh a homophobic environment. But when is said settgs where sexual mori are out, proud and socially clud, and heterosexual men are iends wh their openly gay peers, tak on different meangs.

In such a ntext is not homophobic.

This argument was supported by the narrativ of many of the 40 young gay people a study I am unrtakg wh lleagu at Durham Universy. In the bat about “that’s so gay”, is important to regnise that gay youths also e the phrase. Only a mory of participants – ls than a third – thought that the phrase was homophobic, and even fewer said that they never ed .

THAT'S SO GAY

Most of the young gay people my study felt “that’s so gay” would only be homophobic if was directed at a gay person, and wh negative tent. So there is no easy answer to whether “that’s so gay” is homophobic. Homophobic hate crim are classified as such if the victim believ to be so.

If young gay people are sayg that they do not experience the phrase “that’s so gay” as homophobic – and if they are even g the phrase themselv – then perhaps we should accept their arguments and ncentrate on other battl.

WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT “THAT’S SO GAY”?

It is val that we bat homophobia schools, and promote equaly of sexualy. But focg on the phrase “that’s so gay” is not the way to achieve that goal. 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.

THIS IS SO GAY!

People still get murred if someone thks they are gay, and not jt other untri.

GAY

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?

” 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.

MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH

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?

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.

Wh this, The Talon sh light on the phrase “that’s so gay”. The Talon: When you hear people sayg “that’s so gay”, how do that make you feel?