Gay Schoooool. Prob hanging out afterr. Freeeeeeeeeeeezingggggggggg outside.Little did this person know, misuse of the word "gay" used to be somewhat of a crusade of mine. In 8th grade I made the decision that too many people in my school were calling things "gay" and that it wasn't okay with me. So everytime I heard it, I would say something. I would tell people to stop. Tell people that it wasn't okay. Tell them being homosexual is not the same as being stupid, or weird, or terrible. This continued through high school, but the people in my classes caught on and my interjections became less and less neccessary. And in college, I exclusively surrounded myself with people who didn't say that anyway.
So it had been a while since I found myself needing to take some action on this, but not to worry, I was well armed and not in the least bit rusty.
I quickly responded with links to these three videos:
These ads are really great, and totally get the point across. The tagline, "When you say "that's so gay" do you realize what you say? Knock it off." says exactly what I think people who use the phrase need to hear and does so in a funny, insightful way.
My young friend responded to the videos by saying "hahahaahaaa that was funnyyy," to which I told them that, yeah, it is funny. But it's also serious. Really serious.
I assume that most of the people who read my blog don't say things like "That's so gay!" but if you do, please take some time to think about what you're saying and what it means and how it impacts the people who hear you say it. And if you hear someone say it, be proactive and say something.
