Sticks and Stones

One of my biggest pet peeves is hearing people use the word 'gay' as a negative. I'm sure you've heard people say how 'gay' something is when they hate it or when it inconveniences them. It was used that way so often at AMC when I worked there years ago that I started to give written warnings (harassment) to people. Was I overacting? I don't think so.

People are equating the word 'gay' with something negative, and it's very hurtful to be associated with negativity. It means that people think gay men and women are inferior and aren't worthy to be regarded as highly as people who are not gay. It's no different than the various racist terms that people use to associate someones race with something negative.

It's even worse when a gay person uses the word 'gay' as a negative and says that it's okay to say it because he's gay himself. One of the boys who worked at AMC at the time, a big flaming gay boy whose name rhymed with "Shaybraham," kept saying that working long hours was gay. He did it so he could fit in with his friends because he thought that downplaying the obvious jab at homosexuals while being a homosexual himself would make his heterosexual friends feel more comfortable. It's not fair to call yourself a homosexual while allowing people to make fun of other homosexuals.

What he didn't realize that he was actually interfering with all of the progress that gay people have made, and allowing small-minded people to think that it's okay for all the other gay people to be the butt of every gay joke.

I can't stop being gay, the same way a person of color can't take the pigment out of his or her skin. Being ridiculed or denigrated for the parts of ourselves that make us unique is completely wrong, and people should start recognizing that. Fuck you, Shaybraham!