When I posted about gay middle-school student Lawrence King's murder in my previous entry, it became abundantly clear that not enough people know about it.The national media has been all but ignoring this story. Let's get Lawrence as much attention as Matthew Shepard. That kind of attention makes a huge difference in combatting homophobic violence.
The Washington Blade has a good piece about Time magazine's inane article claiming that King's murder is an abberation, that homophobia is not so much a problem in schools anymore, and that "we may never know the real motivations for King's murder." Time misinterprets many of GLSEN's conclusions about homophobia in schools; here's what GLSEN really says.
Never mind that faggot and gay are still the put-downs of choice. Never mind that even with the support of GSA's, it's very hard to be an out queer or gender-bending kid.
Lawrence King was harrassed non-stop at school. The "motivation" is insidious and ubiquitous. Hate and belittling of "difference" are toxins in our society.
3 comments:
I am seriously asking about the term gay. You use it in the first sentence, then say it is a "put down". The men I know here use it and not as they would use say "queen"or "queer" - a kind of insider only word- . What exactly is non-offensive and not dependent upon the subjective interpretation of tone? Homosexual sounds clinical. Where I live, saying that conjures up touching people with laboratory gloves on. Wish this weren't even an issue- wish that this whole damned post wasn't necessary. It's not just in America. The phobia is the mental illness. - Question above is serious.
Hi,
I didn't mean to imply anything other than you are saying here.
In my part of the world, gay is not a put-down--only when used as one (such as : "This is SO GAY" is used all the time in schools to mean "This is so HORRIBLE.") But to say "I'm gay" or "My best friend is gay" is not.
You're so right about the phobia being the mental illness. And the phobia is fortified whenever anything queer is positioned as negative in our approach to language.
Thanks for the input & for stopping by. I'm glad to have the chance to talk about language and queer issues across cultures.
That Time magazine article burns me up. I've put my post up on my blog. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
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