Wanna see me get mad?

[rootofnewt]

If you're a friend of mine and you use the word "gay" as a synonym for stupid, wrong, lame, etc, please understand that *every single time you do this*, it cuts me. And when I say kids die because of word choice like that, I mean it. When you say something like math homework is so gay, you demean human beings. How would you like it if your gender, race, or religion were a synonym for stupid, dull, and lame? Sure, the witty part of my brain rejoinders Math must be pretty damn cool then, but that's only because I'm an adult with a reasonably well developed sense of identity and self-worth. I also happen to like math, but that's not important here.

When you keep using gay like that, people start to believe it. The gay kid sitting next to you believes it. The kids around you who might or might not be gay believe it. The belief that gay people are somehow abnormal persists and it can lead to pain, violence, and death.

Some stats show that 30% of all teen suicides are LGBT youth. LGBT teens are two to six times more likely to commit suicide than their non-LGBT peers. There are many reasons, but the near constant barrage of homophobic comments that so many people toss off without thinking contributes to the decay of self-worth (it also contributes to violence perpetrated against LGBT folk) and the isolation many gay people experience.

So when I say that using words like fag and gay as pejorative terms kills kids, I mean it. And I hold anyone who uses them responsible for the pain, violence, and death those words inflict whether directly or indirectly.

Comments

[gigglinggorgon.livejournal.com]

my students call things that don't work right are seem lame to them 'jewish'. All such terms piss me off beyond comprehneion, but no matter how often I explain it, how many examples I give, they just don't get it. It infuriates me.

[krasota.livejournal.com]

I grew up in an area where there were no Roman Catholics, much less Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, etc.

One day, a friend of mine who had never even *met*, *thought about*, or *seen* a Jew said that "Jews are evil and cause all the trouble in the world." I have no idea what prompted this. We weren't even discussing religion.

We were sixteen. My jaw dropped and stayed on the floor for a minute until I pointed out that, Jesus was, in fact, Jewish. She was so pissed off that she went home. Her mom called MY mom awhile later to complain that I was being un-Christian again. My mother asked what prompted this and I told her. She called the other girl's mother back and said that if being un-judgmental and thinking for oneself was un-Christian, she didn't want to be one, nor did she want me to be one. Then she pointed out that I was right--Jesus *was* Jewish.