Okay, readers: I seriously need to vent. I have gotten SO sick of some of the anti-gay BS I've seen lately. Much of this is actually embodied in the very words people use. Even when people aren't trying to take away our rights under the guise of religious freedom (AHEM, Indiana), they're carelessly tossing out words that are hurtful to gay people. There are dozens of them, but I'm just going to list a few that have been getting under my skin lately.
Gaelic: Supposedly "Gaelic" is a group of languages associated with Celtic culture and history. But it's hard to deny that the root word in "Gaelic" is "gay." Even though the term "gay" didn't exist hundreds of years ago, it exists now, and associating homosexuality with an ancient language is NOT okay--as if homosexuality is ancient and somehow not "valid." Homogenize: This deceptively innocuous word means "a process in which the fat droplets are emulsified and the cream does not separate." "Emulsion" means "a mixture of two liquids that can't be completely blended together." Which makes it sound like homosexuals cannot, in fact, be mixed--like our relationships are not valid. Same deal as the word "Gaelic." I'm sick of it! Daikon: A "daikon radish" is a vegetable, but the way it's pronounced is "dyke-con." True, I may say the word "dyke" from time to time, but I don't want OTHER people to say it, especially when they're referring to a flavorless vegetable shaped like a phallus. The Queen of England: Okay, Great Britain, it's 2015. While it's nice that you have a name for your female figurehead, the term "queen" is now used in common parlance to mean effeminate gay men of a certain type. Continuing to use it to refer to the original "Queen," the Queen of England, robs the gay community of a valuable cultural reference point. The Tooth Fairy: My objection to this outdated name for the fictitious winged creature is similar to my objection to the Queen of England. Shouldn't we drop this term before children begin thinking that little gay men are flying under their pillows and stealing their bicuspids? Heeheeheeheehee.... April Fool's! If you believed this, I got ya! Happy April first, dear readers. And apologies to the Queen.
2 Comments
Barry Weitzenfeld
4/1/2015 05:32:08 pm
That's a good one. Nice to hear from you.
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4/9/2015 11:58:58 am
Loved this so much. At first I was really trying to understand your point of view and why these words might be offensive...but I caught on. :)
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