Why "Gay" Isn't a Bad Word for Children | HuffPost Contributor

Contents:

• WHY "GAY" ISN'T A BAD WORD FOR CHILDREN
• THE 'GAY' WORD: WHAT DO MEAN WHEN YOUNG PEOPLE E NEGATIVELY?
• PORTLAND DISSENTSUBSCRIBESIGN {"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","URL":","MAENTYOFPAGE":","HEADLE":"IS 'GAY' A BAD WORD?","SCRIPTN":"AND JT WHAT IS 'QUEER?'","IMAGE":[],"DATEPUBLISHED":"2022-07-31T18:55:28+00:00","DATEMODIFIED":"2022-07-31T18:55:28+00:00","ISACCSIBLEFORFREE":TE,"THOR":[{"@TYPE":"PERSON","NAME":"RICHARD CHEVERTON","URL":","SCRIPTN":"THIS TOWN NEEDS MORE VOIC, LS SGG THE CHOIR. MORE ARGUMENT, LS NFORMY. WE'LL BE GMPY, DISRPECTFUL OF THORY, QUTN THE BELIEFS DU WE WON'T BE BANNED. ","INTIFIER":"ER:852343","IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"}}],"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"PORTLAND DISSENT","URL":","SCRIPTN":"LET'S SAVE A GREAT AMERIN CY. ","TERACTNSTATISTIC":{"@TYPE":"INTERACTNCOUNTER","NAME":"SUBSCRIBERS","TERACTNTYPE":","ERINTERACTNCOUNT":100},"INTIFIER":"PUB:491612","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"},"IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"}}}SHARE THIS POSTIS 'GAY' A BAD WORD?COPY LKFACEBOOKEMAILNOTOTHERIS 'GAY' A BAD WORD?
• "THAT'S SO GAY" IS JT SO WRONG

WHY "GAY" ISN'T A BAD WORD FOR CHILDREN

There is a nversatn that needs to be started about the word “gay, ” and why you don’t need to ver the kiddi’ ears once you start a child, I grew up thkg that “gay” was a bad word. When I was six, I was nvced that my Male book was sudnly appropriate bee ntaed the word “gay” you, I had no ia what the word gay meant.

So image my surprise when I showed my book to my father and he reassured me that “gay” actually means “happy” is a funny story, nsirg that today I intify myself as a lbian. I, like so many others, grew up beg ndned to thk that homosexualy — or any sexualy bis straight — was a Horrible Sndalo Thg.

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

Most importantly, no one sat children down to expla what “gay” or “homosexualy” is.

Consequently, kids nclud om their environment that homosexualy was perverse, and that the word self n be ed as an you or people you know have the impulse to sudnly lower your voic around kids when you start discsg homosexualy? If children heard the discsns, or were exposed to any fashn, they would bee “affected, ” as if homosexualy were a disease you ught by simply hearg about or seeg (which is obvly not the se nsirg LGBT folk still exist this heternormative world) thg is, you don’t have to make the nversatn sexual to start a discsn wh your child about acceptance and love.

And yet growg up, there was virtually no gay reprentatn for children of my generatn to view and intify wh. Ruby (left) and Sapphire (right) om the h rtoon Steven Universe by Rebec Sugar more recently, Beth David and Esteban Bravo (who both intify as homosexual) om the Rglg College of Art + Dign have created the animated short “In a Heartbeat, ” which has bee a great h among dienc.

PORTLAND DISSENTSUBSCRIBESIGN {"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","URL":","MAENTYOFPAGE":","HEADLE":"IS 'GAY' A BAD WORD?","SCRIPTN":"AND JT WHAT IS 'QUEER?'","IMAGE":[],"DATEPUBLISHED":"2022-07-31T18:55:28+00:00","DATEMODIFIED":"2022-07-31T18:55:28+00:00","ISACCSIBLEFORFREE":TE,"THOR":[{"@TYPE":"PERSON","NAME":"RICHARD CHEVERTON","URL":","SCRIPTN":"THIS TOWN NEEDS MORE VOIC, LS SGG THE CHOIR. MORE ARGUMENT, LS NFORMY. WE'LL BE GMPY, DISRPECTFUL OF THORY, QUTN THE BELIEFS DU WE WON'T BE BANNED. ","INTIFIER":"ER:852343","IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"}}],"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"PORTLAND DISSENT","URL":","SCRIPTN":"LET'S SAVE A GREAT AMERIN CY. ","TERACTNSTATISTIC":{"@TYPE":"INTERACTNCOUNTER","NAME":"SUBSCRIBERS","TERACTNTYPE":","ERINTERACTNCOUNT":100},"INTIFIER":"PUB:491612","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"},"IMAGE":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","URL":","NTENTURL":","THUMBNAILURL":"}}}SHARE THIS POSTIS 'GAY' A BAD WORD?COPY LKFACEBOOKEMAILNOTOTHERIS 'GAY' A BAD WORD?

Society lov to hypersexualize any display of homosexualy, claimg that LGBT people are bbg their fac. When I was growg up, I noticed somethg about the word “gay”. A word that origally meant happy and reee beme a ntral label to scribe homosexualy, and end up beg a term ed to ppot somethg people don’t like, fd embarrassg, or want to distance themselv do this mean that young people are more homophobic than ever before?

He says: “We fd schools have high levels of sual homophobic language, and high rat of homophobic bullyg. ” However Durham soclogist Mark McCormack argu the way the word “gay” is beg ed do not rry homophobic tent. “But ’s very hard for people who heard ‘gay’ as beg solely homophobic, like I did growg up, to see that n mean somethg different to a different generatn.

“The problem wh sayg ‘that’s so gay’ is that even though you and your iends might know you’re not beg homophobic, if you’re g a public or semi-public space, other people might see you as homophobic, ” he jt my stunt overdraft as my budget, I cid to make a documentary explorg how this piece of language had evolved, and speak to people both gay and straight to see how they felt aboutthe word takg on a negative gay people I spoke to were ntent wh the word evolvg, while there were straight people who were outraged. Younger people, whom we might have expected to have more awarens of what means to intify as gay bee of media verage, were often the mographic fendg the negative e of this olr people I spoke to felt strongly that should not be allowed to be ed negatively. The language we e, nscly or subnscly, n reflect our feelgs towards “rgh, that’s gay” reveals a lack of llective unrstandg of what means to intify as gay.

"THAT'S SO GAY" IS JT SO WRONG

Equal marriage legislatn may suggt that society has advanced s thkg, but there remas a gap s grasp of gay inty, culture and the week leadg up to the premiere of my documentary, The Gay Word, s trailer was shown a London cema. Staff noticed how the dience’s body language often shifted and beme awkward on jt seeg the word gay projected on Soho, I hand out stickers promotg the film and reactns were mixed.