The Te Meang Behd "That's So Gay" - The Talon

Contents:

• "THAT'S SO GAY" IS JT SO WRONG
• THE TE MEANG BEHD “THAT’S SO GAY”
• THE TE MEANG BEHD “THAT’S SO GAY”
• THAT'S SO GAY
• THE COMPLEXY OF ‘THAT'S SO GAY'
• WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT “THAT’S SO GAY”?

"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.

THE TE MEANG BEHD “THAT’S SO GAY”

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?

” 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.

THE TE MEANG BEHD “THAT’S SO 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? 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”.

THAT'S SO GAY

The Talon: When you hear people sayg “that’s so gay”, how do that make you feel? So, like, if ’s wh my iends and someone says “that’s so gay”; I know ’s a very different meang than a kid who jt tripped and another one said “that’s so gay”, you know what I mean?

Vidisha Sharma: I agree wh what Sofia said about nnotatn; if ’s someone gay, like myself, and I make jok like “oh my god that’s so gay” or “hahaha I’m so gay”. : Also, ’s jt bee people thk ’s quirky to say , like, “cê é tão gay, s viado” and that kd of stuff; ’s bee ’s popular and a lot of people are sayg . From the terviews, is evint that the people on the other end of “that’s so gay” are hurt and repulsed by the mon e of the phrase.

Some young adults might feel that is okay to e this phrase as a joke or an sult bee don’t affect them, and and feel that“long gone are the tim when gay people were opprsed”, but they are wrong. In the news, ’s mon nowadays to see a child murred ld blood bee they told their parents they were gay, an example beg Anthony Avalos.

THE COMPLEXY OF ‘THAT'S SO GAY'

This 10-year-old boy had e out as gay days before his murr and was found wh severe signs of physil harm cludg malnutrn, cigarette burns, and bis. The police spected this might have been a hate crime for homophobia (Therolf, 1).

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.

WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT “THAT’S SO GAY”?

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.

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. 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.