Hilary Duff fights homophobia one girl at a time…
This post is gay.
now admit it to yourself how did you read that last word, did you think this post was homosexual in tone or content or that this post was bad, naff or uncool?
The recent semantic change of the word gay is one of the most worrying things that has happened to the english language in the last couple of years. I don’t want to sound like a preaching homo but when I hear people use the word to mean that something is bad, worng or a little bit crap it makes the 14 year old scared confused boy I once was cry himself to sleep again. I don’t mean to bring anyone down or over emotionalise it but it’s gotten to that point. Homophobia amoungst youth isn’t going away, and people who are different will always be picked on but that is no reason not to try and stop it and we should, it’s going to be hard as we can’t pledge £3 a month or parade a dying child infront of the camera. The campaingn has started in the USA by GLSEN (the gay lesbian and straight education network) to try and let young people know that it hurts people and here it is…
Hoorah! (there are more adverts and a whole site here)
I am well aware that language is an organic and that the meanings of words change all the time, the word ‘gay’ itself the first time, for example, but this change, this time doesn’t need acknowledgement and use in mainstream media, keep it slang and it will die like ‘Rad’ or ‘Bummer’.
Chris Moyles was let off using the word gay about a crap ringtone, this is a post all to itself but to quickly put it into perspective if he’d have used any other word describing another minority group in a very flippant negative context he would no longer be working at Radio 1 the same way Ron Atkinson is blackballed in the British media.
The reason that the gay community isn’t all over this issue is because we know how it will be portayed in the generally homophobic media, we’d be classed as silly bitchy moaning queens or bucth militant dykes. What’s worse is that members of our own community use the word not realising what harm it does, they think that they’re reclaiming the word, they aren’t the word ‘nigger’ was recalimed by the black community as a term of endearment, we took back ‘Queer’ in much the same way. This time it’s very very very different we are being abused daily by children learning that gay is bad, and that is not a way to make it easier for those young teenagers realising that they might not be what is expected, and that feeling is known only to those who go through it. It is a difficult and painful time, they don’t need the extra hassle I promise you.
So please stop calling things ‘Gay’ unless they’re having relationships with the same gender.
And thank you Hilary Duff.
