so gay

A day doesn’t seem to go by when I don’t hear people who would describe themselves as  being “accepting of LGBT people” use the word ‘gay’ to suggest that someone or something is effeminate, dramatic, cheesy, corny…… etc.   

  • “That’s such a gay outfit.”

  • “That was the gayest movie I ever saw”

  • “His taste in music is so gay.”

I was enjoying reading the many clever and humorous comments people I admire and follow on Twitter were making during the recent Academy Awards presentation until one of my favorite pundits, Bill Maher tweeted something to the effect, “This must be the gay part of the show.”

If you want to describe someone’s sexual orientation or use gay to describe the emotion of joy, that’s fine.  But when you start using gay to mock or denigrate someone’s behavior, inanimate objects, a style of clothing-music-vocabulary-humor, etc, etc. you are insulting me and all LGBT people who are proud to call themselves ‘GAY!’

Please stop. 

I think Ash Beckham of Boulder, CO makes the point probably a lot better than I have.