Names - what's degrading and what's not?

Hello there!
I'm not a native English speaker and I've heard so many different expressions for gay, lesbian and bi. I never really know what is considered degrading and what not, because some words are both used as a negative word by anti-gay people and by glb people for themselves.
So could anybody give me a short overview which words are negative and which are not? Or give me a link?

Thanks in advance,
Rain

 

Thinking of words off the top of my head I'd say:
fag, queen, queer, bitch, 'mo, fudge-packer, bugger and sodomite.
I'm sure I could think of more given more time

 

hm i have no issues with being called a dyke or a lezza or any other associations aslong as they aint said in a bad way....my best friends pet name for me is 'you big dykey loser' and i love it....makes me laugh every time. not so keen on the word queer, but then others i know dont mind it coz it covers the whole lgbt spectrum

 

oh and muff/carpet muncher i always find quite amusing ah i dont get offended easily....guess everyone has their own boundaries etc

 

I just want to say, your english is wonderfully fluent and you put most english people to shame by how well you speak it!

 

Oh man, carpet muncher just makes me lol whenever I hear it... I can't help it, it's such a weird concept; chewing on a carpet = cunnilingus? lmao.

 

*

 

There is a heck of a lot of difference when someone I know especially someone who is GLBT themselves uses the word queer or fag than if some small minded fool shouts it as I am walking down the street. Homosexual whe grinding off the tongue of the born again preacher on the street corner sounds a heck of a lot different than when my psychologist says it.

About a year or so ago I was really amazed when I met a guy & he said "Hi it's nice to meet another queer" I hadn't yer eraced the word. It as well as fag have been taken now just as black people have taken power of the word ******. The people with prejudice can still manage to use them in a negative way but they have less power than they did before.

I'm not lesbian so I can't really speak to that although I haven't ever thought of it negatively.

I am bi & honestly have never heard bisexual used negatively. We just get lumped with the gays by the small minded, it's all the same to them.

 

We just get lumped with the gays by the small minded, it's all the same to them.
I have, sort of. Like when people say "so and so goes both ways"..it has a pejorative connotation sometimes

Bu you're right according to this article
http://bcn.bi.org/issue2/P9.html

 

I've heard "AC/DC" and "switch-hitter" used for bisexuals. I'm not bisexual myself, so I'm going to have to leave it to bisexuals to say what they find offensive or not.

As a gay man, I prefer the word "gay" as an adjective, and I'll accept "homosexual" as either a noun or an adjective. I refer to myself as a "gay man."

As far as the other words go, I don't like them and especially not from people who aren't gay and people I don't know well.

Not every glb person will agree with any other glb person's list. If you want to be on the safe side, stick to "gay" and "lesbian."

 

Thanks a lot for your replies everybody!