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Jordan9
Guest
Thank you! Seeing all these Catholics turn a blind-eye to discrimination broke my heart. But then I saw this post.
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crazzeto
Guest
I think that when people say “that’s so gay”, that it in fact is deragatory against a group of people and in that sense it is wrong. Hey, I’m not exactly Mr. Pro Gay marriage here or anything like that… But by the same token, when you use a term like this you tend to dehumanize this group of people and that in and of it’s self is a terrible mortal sin. More over it tends to lead to other mortal sins, for instance beating gay people etc.
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Charlotte408
Guest
I’ll tell you what…
I’ll stop using the term ‘gay’ in a negative manner…if EVERYONE stops saying ‘HELLA’ or ‘JESUS ******’ and so on and so on…
There is such a thing as freedom of speech, and if I am to limit MY speech to avoid hurting someones feelings, then they should all likewise limit theirs to avoid offending christians. When are we going to have someone stand up and defend us?
We dont call blacks ‘N******’
We wont call homosexuals ‘G****’
and in return ALL GROUPS should never use the Lord’s name in vain and/or use other profanities that disrespect our faith…
Fair is fair
I’ll stop using the term ‘gay’ in a negative manner…if EVERYONE stops saying ‘HELLA’ or ‘JESUS ******’ and so on and so on…
There is such a thing as freedom of speech, and if I am to limit MY speech to avoid hurting someones feelings, then they should all likewise limit theirs to avoid offending christians. When are we going to have someone stand up and defend us?
We dont call blacks ‘N******’
We wont call homosexuals ‘G****’
and in return ALL GROUPS should never use the Lord’s name in vain and/or use other profanities that disrespect our faith…
Fair is fair
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Charlotte408
Guest
whoa whoa whoa…
thats a big jump…referring to a t-shirt as gay, and going out and gay bashing are farrrrrrr from directly related. I’ve used the term MANY a time, being a white girl from california (lol) and I have NEVER thought about going out and beating up someone just because they were homosexual.
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tobbias88
Guest
Language evolves all the time - there is nothing anyone can do to stop it.
Frankly as an EFL teacher I’ll be glad - even gay - if ‘gay’ ceases to mean ‘homosexual’.
I had great difficulty explaining to foreign students that gay does not mean gay any more - no matter what the dictionary says.
I believe 'queer’ is back in fashion with some militant homosexuals. That might be more easily understood by EFL students.
Frankly as an EFL teacher I’ll be glad - even gay - if ‘gay’ ceases to mean ‘homosexual’.
I had great difficulty explaining to foreign students that gay does not mean gay any more - no matter what the dictionary says.
I believe 'queer’ is back in fashion with some militant homosexuals. That might be more easily understood by EFL students.
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Mel_Stones
Guest
Do you have Same-Sex Attraction or do you act on SSA? I highly doubt anyone is going to classify those with SSA in with those who are gay. In my opinion, gay means openly and actively homosexual NOT Same-Sex Attraction.
So unless you are vastly against the teachings of the Church and so not Catholic, you are not a gay Catholic. The very term doesn’t work - like pro-abortion Catholic.
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Mel_Stones
Guest
I agree.
I think it is interesting that in a google define search the first 5 meanings refer to gay’s original meaning and only 2 make a clear connection to homosexuality. (Not that google is the most complete source of knowledge.)
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crazzeto
Guest
No it’s not, there is a direct link. One can not commit a serious crime with out taking the first step of dehumanizing someone. You begin that process by working deragatory terms about the group in to the common language. Does that mean every single person who says “that’s gay” is going to go out and beat up a gay person? Of course not, that would be a leap. But it does mean that this general acceptance that things “gay” have aboslutly no merit plays directly into the mentality which leads to such crime.
I’m not saying it should be “illicite speach” or anything like that. What I am saying is it’s wrong speach, you should choose not to use it. Find other ways to express your meaning. No matter how much you disagree with someone and their life style (I think most of us, my self included are quite opposed to homosexuality as a life style) it does not ever give you the right to dehumanize them or devalue their worth. One should be very careful of this.
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Charlotte408
Guest
I absolutely agree with you. I wouldnt want to make any homosexual feel ‘less than’ anyone else…hence I would never call a homosexual ‘gay’ or ‘fag’ etc…
but a T-shirt?
So if I tell my best friend ‘ohmahgawd girl take OFF that sweater it is SO UGLY’…
Am I dehumanizing those who arent easy on the eyes???
Again, if everyone stops taking the Lords name in vain, if the dude who peed on the picture of jesus christ from that tv show is taken off Tv…I think those are much more blatent forms of DIRECT disrespect that no one seems to care about…
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jmcrae
Guest
It is not physically possible for a t-shirt to have a homosexual orientation, or to be in a particularly good mood, so the term “gay” is completely inappropriate, here.
If the sweater is ugly, then it’s ugly - the word “ugly” just signifies that the object of the sentence doesn’t conform to what sweaters are supposed to look like.
It’s true that some people could be ugly, too, but since people aren’t the only ones who can be ugly, there’s absolutely no connection.
We should never use other people’s sins to justify our own sins. The fact that other people are being disrespectful towards us is no reason for us to behave disrespectfully towards a third party who was just standing there minding their own business.
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Charlotte408
Guest
Main Entry: 1gay
Pronunciation: \ˈgā
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French gai, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German gāhi quick, sudden
Date: 14th century
1 a : happily excited : merry b : keenly alive and exuberant : having or inducing high spirits <a bird’s gay spring song>
2 a : **bright, lively ** b : brilliant in color
3 : given to social pleasures; also : licentious
4 a : homosexual b : of, relating to, or used by homosexuals
It could be a horrendous kiwi lime green and magenta sweater and the word would be completely appropriate…and notice how homosexual is the LAST description for the word?
If ugly is the word that I feels best discribes the garment, then so be it, if ‘hecka gay’ is the term- freedom of speech…I’m talking about a sweater.
Well I dont know which of my sins your referring to…??? What I’m ‘justifying’…by describing a sweater using a word thats been in the english language since the 14th century and only now came to be offensive…to brillant and vibrantly colored things…
Forgive me father, for I have sinned against…the sweater.
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jmcrae
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If you’re so out of touch that you really think it’s about the sweater, then obviously there is no sin, since understanding is required before there can be sin.
But if you understand that “gay” is normally understood these days to mean “like a homosexual person,” then don’t use that word. It’s not what’s in the dictionary that makes the meaning - it’s what the other people standing next to you think you mean, that makes the meaning of it.
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Charlotte408
Guest
If you’re so out of touch that you really think it’s about the sweater, then obviously there is no sin, since understanding is required before there can be sin.
But if you understand that “gay” is normally understood these days to mean “like a homosexual person,” then don’t use that word. It’s not what’s in the dictionary that makes the meaning -** it’s what the other people standing next to you think you mean, that makes the meaning of it./**QUOTE]
well whats the point of me saying anything then, i should just let everyone else speak for me.
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Lynxdk
Guest
~tsks~well whats the point of me saying anything then, i should just let everyone else speak for me.
That’s ~so~ Charlotte.
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Lynxdk
Guest
More seriously though, to quote one article I came across: “As odd or funny as the phrase sounds, imagine what it feels like to be in a setting where you consistently hear it used to describe something undesirable or stupid, and it also refers to you.” So it does offend some people.
My brother uses it all the time, some stupid commercial comes on the TV, and that’s the first thing out of his mouth, but I also remember when I was younger we used to say “that’s so retarded” and I don’t much recall there being many people who said to stop… except my mother… but there wasn’t a country wide campaign against it…
There’s a bit of a misunderstanding about how language works, I think, so when some people hear “that’s so gay” in one context, they’re seeing something stupid or ugly, etc, but even within a few sentences, if they hear the word “gay” used in a different context, as in referring to a person, they don’t hear “gay as in stupid”, but “gay as in homosexual”… that’s just how homonyms work… just this particular one happens to be part of a rather sensitive topic…
My brother uses it all the time, some stupid commercial comes on the TV, and that’s the first thing out of his mouth, but I also remember when I was younger we used to say “that’s so retarded” and I don’t much recall there being many people who said to stop… except my mother… but there wasn’t a country wide campaign against it…
There’s a bit of a misunderstanding about how language works, I think, so when some people hear “that’s so gay” in one context, they’re seeing something stupid or ugly, etc, but even within a few sentences, if they hear the word “gay” used in a different context, as in referring to a person, they don’t hear “gay as in stupid”, but “gay as in homosexual”… that’s just how homonyms work… just this particular one happens to be part of a rather sensitive topic…
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Joe_5859
Guest
That’s a good comparison I didn’t think of before. People would probably ridicule us if we launched an ad campaign to encoruage people not to use the Lord’s name in vain. People say “Oh my G**” in response to things that they think are stupid, surprising, etc. That is also offensive to anyone who believes in God.I’ll tell you what…
I’ll stop using the term ‘gay’ in a negative manner…if EVERYONE stops saying ‘HELLA’ or ‘JESUS ******’ and so on and so on…
There is such a thing as freedom of speech, and if I am to limit MY speech to avoid hurting someones feelings, then they should all likewise limit theirs to avoid offending christians. When are we going to have someone stand up and defend us?
We dont call blacks ‘N******’
We wont call homosexuals ‘G****’
and in return ALL GROUPS should never use the Lord’s name in vain and/or use other profanities that disrespect our faith…
Fair is fair
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Lynxdk
Guest
The people who started this campaign were, I’m sure, worried about ridicule against them as well.
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crazzeto
Guest
“Gay” has become a deragatory term refering specifically to homosexuals. More over, it’s used in popular culture to refer to anything which we do not like, appriciate or is otherwise viewed as being “stupid” or whatever else you want to throw in there. The link is made, becaue the reference is back to homosexuals and homosexuality as being all of these things.
There for, your little example here. Is neither here nor there.
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tobbias88
Guest
So if ‘*gay’ *has joined the ranks of *'queer, fag, fruit, *****, sissy, girlie, queen. 'etc etc as an offensive, non-PC word, what do homosexuals call themselves these days?
More to the point, what do ordinary people say as in the phrace,’ How interesting my son, so you have decided you are ------------?’
More to the point, what do ordinary people say as in the phrace,’ How interesting my son, so you have decided you are ------------?’
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tobbias88
Guest
PS:
Ha! how interesting the word for *‘wood kindling’ *is now SO offensive that CA automatically deletes it. What is the world coming to? What happened to freedom of expression?
Ha! how interesting the word for *‘wood kindling’ *is now SO offensive that CA automatically deletes it. What is the world coming to? What happened to freedom of expression?
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