By Morgan
Yesterday I was on the train when I overheard a teenage boy talking to his friend about gay parenting. He said “I think it’s fucked up when two men or two women try to raise a kid. Their child is bound to end up fucked up.”
His friend replied “Word. If I didn’t have a mom and a dad who raised me I don’t think I would have ended up normal.” […]
By Amy
We are so influenced by the gender roles society gives us that many of the things we say are based on this strict role without being conscious of it. Often, when words come out of our mouths that really are based off of this gender role, we offend those around us who are part […]
By Morgan
“That’s so gay.”
“We have a pop quiz? Gaaaay.”
“This song is so gay!”
The funny thing is, I truly do believe most people when they tell me that they don’t mean the term in a derogatory manner. I am frequently assured that “well, when I say ‘gay’, I don’t actually mean ‘gay’…I mean stupid.”
Yeah, that’s reassuring. You don’t mean “gay” as in homosexual when you use the term, you simply, innocently mean “gay” as a way of referring to things that you don’t like. Nothing personal.
I will believe you when you tell me that you don’t mean it, but that doesn’t mean that I respect you. (Okay, I don’t respect the way in which you chose to express disdain and disapproval. You are probably a pretty cool bro, we should hang out sometime.)
I don’t believe that any further analysis is required. The overwhelming tendency of today’s (presumably accepting and socially liberal, as homophobic teens are a whole different story) youth to use the word “gay” in reference to that which is unpleasant, unfavorable, or simply completely shitty is not due to lack of knowledge or lack of education.The term’s use is perpetuated, even by those who have gay friends and family and teachers and employers and who consider themselves (and, in their hearts, surely are) caring, non homophobic people, simply because they are too lazy to change their (uncomplicated, unintelligent, unacceptable) ways of expressing themselves. […]
By Morgan
Imagine the perfect civil union (provided such a thing could exist) in which gay couples truly do have the same rights as those which heterosexual married couples have enjoyed since the institution was first established. The implications of this civil union are such that a gay couple can share all of their assets, can maintain completely joint custody of their children both in their partnership and provided that they split up, can be covered under each other’s healthcare, can visit their dying partners in the hospital (may the atheist god forbid), etc. Every technicality of the legal contracts (which straight husbands sign with pens and which gay husbands sign with lipstick) are the same. In layman’s terms, everything is “fair”.
Let’s assume that marriages and civil unions, in the “utopia” which I have illustrated, are indeed as equal as I have painted them to be. All of the fine print is the same, and one might even say that, sans same sex pronouns, these two contracts are virtually indistinguishable from one another. If this is so, then what is the function of a different name for gay people and straight people’s ‘identical’ unions to their significant others in the first place? For an institution which is designed to promote equality, does it not seem counterintuitive that there should be a different word for what is said to be the same thing, based solely on sexual orientation? […]
By Donte
Recently in the news, President Barack Obama signed the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” repeal meaning the policy prohibits military people from discriminating against or harassing secretly homosexuals or bisexual service members. I found it was more justice for LGBT people since they can be proud and open with their sexuality while in the services, so I’m happy for them ‘cause we should be who we are without […]
Check out the TORCH Peer Leaders’ video for the “It Gets Better” project!
