Does gay as a derogatory term offend you?

[Dimitriov]

Nope. Doesn't bother me.

I am not the most sensitive person mind you...
but I leave you with this!

I guess the way I see it is these words are meant to be derogatory... that's how we've been using them for a while now, and certainly not restricted to their supposed meaning of homosexual.

So now that society for the most part doesn't have a problem with 'gay' people (and I certainly don't have a problem anyone) that doesn't mean we're just going to stop using the damn word as we have always used it.

To clarify: I certainly am not equating something to homosexuality when I use 'gay' as a negative term anymore than I am talking about temperature when I say a game looks cool.

 

[Dangit2019]

Not really, no - then again I'm not gay. So.. should it?

Yes it should. If not you're a horrible person and you are to be executed by impact with nyan cat.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

This thread needs a poll! It's actually good to see that people here are still sensitive to discrimination, but aren't (in general) offended by an immature insult, when it's taken out of context. Like a few have said, it's the context which is offensive, not the word.

OT: No, I have never really been offended by it, calling something/someone gay is just whatever, I still consider it immature because I have heard/used it since I was probably about 12 years old. Though nowadays if someone keeps trying to run with it going "yeah I bet you do, don't you, love the cock every night" then it's just like, seriously? But one-off name calling like fag, gay, fudge packer, knob jockey, etc. doesn't really get me, but maybe that's because I went to a school with a lot of farmers. Had the reputation of being a pretty foul-mouthed bunch.

 

[spartan231490]

No. Anyone who thinks a word is offensive has much bigger problems than that word. Like Louis C.K. says, "I would never dream of calling someone a ****** cuz they were gay. I call people a ****** because . . . because they're a fucking ******."

 

[BarbaricGoose]

I wouldn't say it offends me, but I tend to think less of people who say it. It implies that being gay is bad, and it's just a stupid thing to say. Surely there are better words to describe something? And surely someone would have to be stupid to use "Gay" instead of a more appropriate word. Open up a dictionary for once in your life.

Louis C.K. can say it all he wants, though.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Well considering there is plenty of swears that include both male and female anatomy and are therefore sexist slurs....shouldn't we all be getting offended all the time?

I don't mind it when someone says 'These screenshots are gay' because they don't mean it in a way that they think gay people are bad. The word has changed it's usage. Hell, gay used to mean ecstatically happy.

However if someone calls a homosexual person a '******' or otherwise I take offence to that of course.

 

[godofslack]

It doesn't bother me, fag or ****** do, largely due to their explicitly hateful meaning. Calling something bad isn't directly hateful, where as the words I don't use are. And frankly when I hear the word gay I think of the derogatory term first, the sexuality second.

I'm sure it used to mean Homosexuality is bad, but not anymore every sane person accepts homosexuals as equals.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Nope. I very seldom use it myself because it happens not to be a sentiment I portray very often, but I have used it before in comics and the like for other characters. The thing is...it doesn't relate to sexuality in that context. We all know what it means, and it has nothing to do with actually being gay, so can we just grow up? Louis C K did a segment on this, Google it if you want, it's basically what I said but hilarious and with swearing.

EDIT: Also, bastard is virtually never misconstrued as implying the person is illegitimate, just because that's a less prominent topic. But no-one thinks twice about using 'bastard' in case someone takes offence.

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

As a LGBT member, nah. I've got other things to worry about. Then again, I also don't care when some 80-something Protestant tells me I'm doomed to go to hell.

I'm secure enough in myself not to care what other people say. Or maybe I'm just too lazy to give a shit. Probably a bit of both.

 

[deserteagleeye]

It annoys me because it reminds me of Eli Roth movies.

 

[mattig89ch]

I can honestly say that I don't take Offense to this. I know a few strait people who have jumped on me for using it, so we managed to reach a compromise where we don't use gay unless talking about a homosexual, and we don't use religious jokes around each other.

It was not easy adjusting my speech to no longer include gay as a derogatory term, but once I did, it made my friends happy. And when my friends are happy, I'm happy.

Thinking back, I can honestly say that I don't remember the last time I used gay in a derogatory manner.

 

[Nieroshai]

Despite being bi, I've honestly never been bothered. Mostly because my straight friends called me that kind of name back when they didn't know and now it's like an inside joke.

 

[MissGinaKid]

It doesn't offend me but I do have to roll my eyes whenever someone uses it. Not because of it's meaning but it just makes you sound like a really dumb teenager who can't think of anything better.

 

[ultrachicken]

Thing is "Gay" used to mean "happy", and then homosexuals took the word to mean their sexuality. Now others are using it to mean "lame". You cant complain that the words usage has been changed, you already changed its original meaning already.

So, because some people I've never met and who were born long before me managed to change the etymology of a word (I'd like a source to back up that claim, by the way), I am somehow responsible?

Either way, i dont think its needed, you dont need to use remarks pertaining to a persons sexuality, religion or race just because you think something sucks or that you got beaten by someone in a game.

This I agree with.

I find using gay to mean bad very annoying for a variety of reasons. The usage of gay to mean homosexual is just as prevalent, and so regardless of one's actual intent behind the word, you are drawing parallels between being homosexual and being bad. Not everyone will take it that way, but we currently live in a culture where gay people are very much persecuted, so for many of us the term hits a nerve. Not to mention that it's just a very lazy and vapid choice of words.

The point is, though using "gay" as a substitute for "bad" is far from the worst thing gays put up with (hell, many don't even mind), it is, at least in some way, contributing to popular anti-gay sentiment.

 

[nexus]

Stop acting offended unless you're deliberately being harassed. Do you want to live in a free society or not?

 

[Ljs1121]

Not really. I think it's kind of stupid to use a word that defines sexuality as an insult, but I don't get offended by it.

 

[renegade7]

Not really, but it does make the user look pretty damn stupid.

From my senior year of HS:

Me: Can you hand me a pencil?
Idiot classmate: Fuck no I don't got any pencils, pencils are gay.