If someone says "that’s so gay," whout a sgle thought towards the LGBT muny, is still offensive? A history on the meang of the word.
Contents:
- WHY GAY IS NOT OK
- "THAT'S SO GAY" IS JT SO WRONG
- COMMENTARY: WHY “THAT’S SO GAY” IS OKAY…OR NOT
- IS IT OK TO SAY "THAT'S SO GAY"?
- WHY "THAT'S SO GAY" IS NOT OKAY
- WHY DO SOME CHRISTIANS BELIEVE ’S OK TO BE GAY, WHEN THE BIBLE SAYS ISN’T?
- WHY "THAT'S SO GAY" IS NOT OKAY
- “THAT’S SO GAY” IS NOT OKAY
WHY GAY IS NOT OK
* that so gay is not okay *
Mike Haley was gay until almost 10 years ago, when he rejected homosexualy. A youth and genr specialist wh Foc on the Fay, he is now active ex-gay youth mistry, leadg semars around the untry.
After speakg to a group of high school senrs about the damage of viewg homosexualy as a normal, alternative liftyle, I opened up for qutns. But how n we unter arguments for homosexualy whout relyg on Scripture, which our opponents may dismiss as valid? While I wasn't ready for my Q&A ssn wh the high schoolers, I vowed that I'd learn to prent a biblil view of homosexualy to nonbelievers.
"THAT'S SO GAY" IS JT SO WRONG
The phrase “that’s so gay” has tradnally been unrstood as homophobic. Stonewall’s School Report argued this posn, and will be discsed their upg Edutn Conference. Stonewall argu… * that so gay is not okay *
Argument #1: "One of every 10 people is gay. They vised a seven-pot sle that placed exclive heterosexualy and exclive homosexualy at oppose pol, wh bisexualy at the midpot. Usg this sle, the rearchers averaged figur supportg their claims that 10 percent of mal between the ag of 16 and 55 were more or ls exclively homosexual for at least three years.
On March 31, 1993, The Wall Street Journal ran an article tled "Homosexuals and the 10-Percent Fallacy.
Gordon Muir reported that he had found "substantial evince ditg that ls than 5 percent of men and women have had any homosexual ntact their lifetime, and no more than 3 percent of men and nsirably fewer women claim to be bisexual or exclively homosexual. Dpe the fdgs, some groups ntue to e the 10 percent figure to make homosexualy sound more wispread. Argument #2: "People are born gay.
COMMENTARY: WHY “THAT’S SO GAY” IS OKAY…OR NOT
The latt rearch on this area, published this April Science, uld not reproduce the fdgs of a prev study which had tied homosexual behavr to certa geic patterns.
IS IT OK TO SAY "THAT'S SO GAY"?
Each of most choose his battl wisely--and I would not die on the sword of a nongeic lk to homosexualy.
Even if rearchers were to suggt a heredary tie wh homosexualy, as they have wh alholism, the right tack wh this argument is not to ntend that 's false, but that promot life-threateng behavr. Consir the mortaly rat for alholics and homosexuals.
Likewise, a recent Cens Bure abstract noted that AIDS aths for gay men the Uned Stat totaled more than 28, 300 1995. " While AIDS is no longer nsired jt a gay disease, s universaly often overshadows the fact that, acrdg to the Centers for Disease Control, "homosexuals ntue to make up the majory of s.
WHY "THAT'S SO GAY" IS NOT OKAY
" Consequently, the 1993 fdgs of three rearchers wh the Eastern Psychologil Associatn, quoted by Jefey Satover "Homosexualy and the Polics of Tth" (Baker), should e as no surprise. Satover wr that "they found that the gay male lifpan, even apart om AIDS and wh a long-term partner, is signifintly shorter than that of married men general by more than three s.
Though rearchers have yet to prove or disprove a geic lk for homosexualy, they have proven one unniable fact: Homosexualy n be adly. Argument #3: "Love legimiz homosexualy.
" That's why so many people e this logic to support the homosexual viewpot.
WHY DO SOME CHRISTIANS BELIEVE ’S OK TO BE GAY, WHEN THE BIBLE SAYS ISN’T?
Unfortunately, many homosexual relatnships do not monstrate one of the key ditors of love: monogamy. Mattison found that even homosexual men "permanent" relatnships tend to stray more often than heterosexual men: "Y, that wayward impulse is as evable man-to-man affairs as man-to-woman, only, for gays, starts chg faster. In "Straight Answers About Homosexualy for Straight Rears" (Prentice-Hall), David Loovis adms that fily is a problem for male and female homosexuals.
This lack of monogamy dit that the "lovg relatnships" scribed by apologists for homosexualy look more like fictn than fact.
WHY "THAT'S SO GAY" IS NOT OKAY
After all, God isn't ncerned wh aligng only the thoughts of homosexual advot to His Word. 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. People still get murred if someone thks they are gay, and not jt other untri. Gay Equals Sex.
“THAT’S SO GAY” IS NOT OKAY
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.
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.