(Hat tip: Feministing.)
Kudos to Hilary Duff!
I hope this gets a lot of airplay when tweens are watching. I know plenty of kids who use that phrase without thinking about what it means…even in the presence of their friends whose families are headed by same-sex couples. While there’s still plenty of genuine homophobia out there, there’s also a lot of ignorance.
Let’s not forget the anniversary of Matthew Shepherd‘s death is coming up. The Gay/Straight Alliance at my son’s school is holding a candlelight memorial tonight. It was a bittersweet moment when I read that in the daily announcements email; bitter that he died that way, sweet that teenagers today have GSAs and can come together with their communities to remember him, and remind us all that we’re not in some idealistic post-homophobia world.
Broke Hoedown 
Trying to get the kids to stop saying that phrase is like beating your head against the wall. So kuddos for making a PSA about it, but I felt it could have been stronger.
Dude, that PSA is so g… genuine.
Heh. This is weird: Nearly every time I hear the word “gay” as a thoughtless pejorative, it’s one of my gay friends using it. Nevertheless, I’ve taken it upon myself not to use the word except when necessary/appropriate. Next step: “retarded.”
We had a funny conversation about the PSA last night at the dinner table.
“Do you really know what that means? Do you really mean to say that this shirt wants to marry a shirt of the same gender?”
“Do you really know what that means? Do you really mean to say that this shirt wants to marry a shirt of the same gender?”
That would have been a stronger message as funny as it sounds.
At least they’re sending out a message at all.
thanks for posting this! i am so guilty… and geoff – yeah, my retarded fixation needs to be next.
but i think its a good PSA. when am i going to see it on TV????
😉
I can’t believe it, but Hillary Duff just made me feel guilty. I use this and as soon as I say it I usually say “and not in a good way” as if adding that makes it okay. For that matter, my gay friends use it. I guess it’s become so common we don’t even think about it. To me, I don’t even think of it as having anything to do with really being gay, it’s just an expression that sort of connotes something that doesn’t work. Still, if I feel bad about saying it, it must not be okay. Hmmm. I guess I just didn’t think.
Feeling guilty . . . .
It does make ya think, doesn’t it?
I remember being 18 years old, knowing I was bi, and yet *still* using “that’s so gay” in a pejorative way while talking with my lesbian roommate. The look on her face spoke volumes. I still think of her face whenever I hear somebody use the term that way.
I just showed the PSA to The Wachamacallit. His review, “Wow, that’s lame.”
Gee, if you want to chew someone’s ass off for misusing the word “gay”, why not start with those who use it to mean “homosexual”? The word for hundreds of years simply meant “joyful” or “happy”.
Then the word got hijacked to mean “homosexual” and that was no problem. Now teenagers have hijacked it again to mean the rough equivalent of “lame” and NOW this is a major crisis??
BusterHymen, I would feel more of a need to respond to your criticism if your user name didn’t make clear exactly how juvenile (and disturbing) a place your comments are coming from.