Gay marriage: uh-oh.
It's been creeping up on us like a crazy witch in a Disney movie. Now at the forefront of legislation in a number of states, we're forced to face the topic in a head-on collision. Now, more than ever, we need to watch what we're saying. We need to come together as a community and fight for what is rightfully [or so we think] ours.
That being said, this post isn't about gay marriage. I hate popping zits in the mirror.
I feel so strongly about negative terminology: fag, dyke, nigger, ginger, spic. The list goes on. I remember growing up in a suburban Michigan neighborhood where "that's so gay" was more common than a barbeque or alcoholic father. One thing I don't remember is ever being offended by the phrase. However, as I've grown older I have realized that it's not the phrase that is shocking, but how prevalent it has become. I never try to let it bother me too much, I feel the only way we're going to get over derogatory language is to forget it even exists; people would stop using the word nigger if nobody reacted or cared. (Right?)
I'd like to think of myself as setting a good example when I refuse to use words like 'fag' or 'dyke' to describe my friends. Working in the gay entertainment industry especially, I see it's become all too commonplace. Bars, clubs, magazines— they're all guilty of dipping into distasteful advertising. A gay bar that advertises a night called "Fag Fridayz" is not cute. It just highlights someone's lack of creativity.
With that being said: I was asked recently to purchase a shirt (below) for a cause that I'll be attending in February. Needless to say, I have some major issues spending money on a 100% cotton billboard that deconstructs my cause and humiliates me.
I'm gay and proud. That doesn't make it alright for me (or anyone, for that matter) to jokingly demoralize myself via t-shirt. How far do you think Martin Luther King Jr. would have gotten in a t-shirt that said "Nigger?"
It's cute, just not my style.
