"That's Gay!": Offensive?

It takes about as much analysis as it does to figure out what people mean when they say "get the door".

 

Haven't read all the posts,but I think it's just stupid,and immature."OMG..that car's SO gay"."Wow..his ringtone is SO gay"DUMB!!Yeah;I think it's offensive too.I mean it's used negatively no matter what;so I take some offense.

 

I'm a fucking metalhead I say it all the time , I personal dont find it offenise, hell even faggot doesn't bothever me, I think its because I dont give 2 shits what people think of me, hell people call me gay and that im a disucsting slut who fucks any guy i see, even though im still a Virgin, im bisexual and I'm in love with a girl.

To put it short, People = Dumb

 

Agreed.
words are just words, people get FAR too caught up in them.
Political correctness REALLY needs to fuck off and die.

 

While we CAN say stupid things and political correctness needs to die and people should stop being little fucking homo pussy niggers, etc, etc, some (possibly gay) people get upset by certain expressions and for me respecting that seems a lot more attractive than having my silly little thoughtless expressions and a "fuck you I'll do what I want" attitude.

 

Dude, this poll is totally gay!

 

Some one once told me that gay is a way of life. That all gays are homosexual but not all homosexuals are gay. So for that reason, I do not consider myself to be gay but rather have homosexual tendencies. In any case, I do find it offensive! While people may start to use the phrase with no ill intent meant, it definitely started out as one persons expression for his/her disapproval of gays. Also, when they say, that is gay, I actually see it as a good thing and then get upset when I realize, they didn't mean it to be good.

 

more offensive than not offensive.
There's no reason for someone to say it especially using it in a negative connotation. We don't use any minority group label word anymore unless it actually makes sense.
a rainbow flag is gay yes. wearing pink isnt. we just have to wait until everyone accepts it and then thats when it can be joked around properly.

 

Personally, I identify myself as queer. The word used to mean: odd, uncommon, etc. Then straight people began to use it as a slur against gays. But I still prefer to be called queer: It's a way to turn a negative into a positive. However, I think since many homosexuals prefer to be called gay -- it is very rude to use the word to put something or someone down. A chair isn't gay. A shirt isn't gay. A car isn't gay: A homosexual is gay.

--QP

 

I think it is offensive to gays. I have heard some who say "That's gay" also saying "That's homosexual" in the same context. So it definitely is a slur against gay people.

 

It's stopped bothering me, I suppose, because I realize it is now so accepted that most people don't even think twice about it. Very few mean any harm. But I do disagree with it's usage in this sense, similar to the way 'retarded' is used. It's just totally unnecessary to describe a negative thing using these words. The way I was brought up I certainly do not.

Consider where the usage probably originated from: most likely it was some totally ignorant bastards who fully intended to insult. It's no coincidence that the two words also just happen to be taboo subjects.

 

being desensitized to a dergogatory term does not make the term ok.

thats gay = thats silly or stupid

gay does not equal silly or stupid

 

Here's what I want to know: how did the word "gay" come to mean silly, stupid, ineffective and all these other negative things that have no clear connection to homosexuality in the first place? Even if all of the people who use "gay" as an all-purpose derogatory term insist that they aren't homophobic, the roots of the word being used this way seem extremely homophobic.

In other words, why gay? Why not some other word that applies to some other group of people?

It's not a question of political correctness, but a question of manners. When people use "gay" to mean something derogatory, I get a pretty good idea of the sort of people I'm dealing with and just refuse to have anything to do with them.

 

So what? word meanings change. Gay hasn't always mean homosexual. Deal with it.

With an insult like "fag" it's easier to see how it's offensive because it usually means something similar or relatable to campness or femininity. A lot of the time at least.

 

"That's gay" probably has roots in homophobic thought, but it may have been distanced in modern times. Regardless, it speaks volumes about the maturity of the person saying it. It's what schoolchildren would say.

anyone who says "that's gay" automatically becomes a child in my eyes, homophobic or not.

 

That's just stupid. The word "gay" being used in a negative context is attacking those very same things as well. You say words meanings "change", but seeing as the roots of the term "that's gay" are completely homophobic, I think that dilutes your claim.

When kids are growing up, the message largely is, that being gay is somehow, wrong, or disgusting. (Especially if you're male) The term "That's gay" is borne out of that. So even if the person using the term isn't blatantly homophobic, unconsciously at least, the person thinks that being gay is wrong, or at least inferior to heterosexuality.

 

Completely wrong. The roots of the term gay mean happy or jovial. To say all gay people are jovial is folly, i'm sure some commit suicide the same as any other group of humans.

See how far getting hung up on words gets you?

I'm bisexual and I sometimes use the words "that's gay" So your theory's just gone out of the window.

All this "oooh, look at me, i'm hard done by. Look at how opressed I am" is absolutely pathetic, regardless of which scial group it comes from.

 

Whats so bad about bein a child. I don't wannah grow up

 

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There are some really gay explanations in this thread, wow.

I don't see the big deal, I'm sensitive about not writing it on Facebook with as many gay friends as I have, I don't say, "Wow that movie was really gay," but I will say it around my good friends, everyone does, it's not at all related to something being homosexual. That is simply not what it means. The fact that people use the word gay for that is fine, and it does mean that in other contexts, but if I say, "That was a really gay movie," it just means it was lame, stupid, annoying, etc. It has nothing to do with homosexuality. A movie can't be homosexual, it's impossible, nor can a video game or anything else you may call gay.