That is so gay!

[Christian Taylor]

So, an elementary school in Fresno has started punishing students who use the word gay in a flippant or derogatory way. Some are being suspended or put on detention. What do we think? Good thing, or overkill?

[hazyinseptember]

thats the gayest poll ive ever seen ;)

[genkij]

Being a known homosexual myself ...I like to think that it used in the '50 style !! ... It gets the point across quickly

[danny corvini]

I think that's fantastic. I wanna lobby headmasters across the land to do the same thing here. I mean we weren't allowed to say nigger as kids - so what's the difference?

[genkij]

Funny you should mention that I was in trouble JUST tHIS WEEK for using the N word !! .... Danny Tri was taken into his headmasters office in year 8 & told ' I think that it would be best for all if you weren't so ...." his rely was "What GAY ??" the swaggered out ! ...GOLD !!

[taylor-dayne]

i used to teach english to young kids in high school and fuck little kids and be SHITS. seriously, they would always say 'that's so gay' etc and i've been called everything under the sun and it still bothered me that the word was being reappropriated in this negative way.

i remember one day i was teaching an entire class of chinese students and one of the kids said 'i hate gays.' and i just lost it and said, 'that's funny - i hate the chinese.'

the kids just sat there in silence and then i said... 'see - you don't like hearing things like that either. being gay isn't something you can change.'

it got through to them. it was risky - am sure they all went home and told their parents, but still - there was a point to be made.

[pisces9]

Thats "Gold" Taylor-Dane ! I'll use that one sometime!

[Lynda Dowling]

i used to teach english to young kids in high school and fuck little kids and be SHITS. seriously, they would always say 'that's so gay' etc and i've been called everything under the sun and it still bothered me that the word was being reappropriated in this negative way.

i remember one day i was teaching an entire class of chinese students and one of the kids said 'i hate gays.' and i just lost it and said, 'that's funny - i hate the chinese.'

the kids just sat there in silence and then i said... 'see - you don't like hearing things like that either. being gay isn't something you can change.'

it got through to them. it was risky - am sure they all went home and told their parents, but still - there was a point to be made.

Hmmm.... very brave Taylor.
Problem here is the double standard .... teachers are simply not allowed to break the rules. The consequences are dire.
Consequence for a student saying "I hate gays" maybe reprimand
Consequence for teacher saying "I hate Chinese" loss of status and income
Double standards are creating a lot of problems for teachers in schools now, particularly when it comes to disciplining students who verbally bully and encouraging 'right' behaviour free from verbal bullying behaviours.

[MomijiTMO]

I don't say 'that's gay' anymore. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. However I don't get too offended when people say it.

[sTaRiA]

Yeah I do find it offensive and think that punishing it out of the little brats while the're nice and young is a fantastic idea.

I myself use the term 'Thats so lame' alot... but I was recently thinking that its probably just as offensive to people who cant walk... where do you draw the line?

[weathervain]

I correct people when they use it, "By that you mean it is G.H.E. Y. yes, not that it is homosexual but that it is tres lame"
they usually get embarrassed and don't use it again, most kids don't actually realise they are doing it.
My little sister used to do it when she was 7 or so, at the time I was struggling with my sexuality and it really gave me the shits hearing her say "that's gay" every five minutes when she was bored.
Little realising she'd had a Faery Godfather all along(our older sister's best mate)
I said to her, "do you know what Gay is?"
She said "Yep like will and Grace on T.V. really annoying boys who talk with funny voices"
"No" I said to her, "gay is when you like boys as in boyfriend and girlfriend like, or girls"
"like Scotty likes boys" she looked really shocked for about two seconds then she burst into tears, she learnt her lesson from that, after this little talk she never really fell in with what the other kids were doing and always questions it's merits.

So much so that when I decided to defy my parents(they wanted me to wait until she started highschool) and tell her last Christmas I was Gay, she announced to the rest of the skanky frock shop we were at in Blacktown Westpoint instantly and without thinking "I don't care if you're gay! I love you anyway!" then she jumped on me and gave me a big hug all the girls in the store then proceeded to wink at me and ask me for fashion advice lol
Kodak moment

[gbin]

Hmmm.... very brave Taylor.
Problem here is the double standard .... teachers are simply not allowed to break the rules. The consequences are dire.
Consequence for a student saying "I hate gays" maybe reprimand
Consequence for teacher saying "I hate Chinese" loss of status and income
Double standards are creating a lot of problems for teachers in schools now, particularly when it comes to disciplining students who verbally bully and encouraging 'right' behaviour free from verbal bullying behaviours.

Yea definately agree with this!
there are double standards
Since when was their a hierarchy in our education system whereby there is zero tolerance for racism and sexism but homophobia is ok?

Because essentially the use of gay to describe something lame is a homophobic act.
And we know being anything other than straight isnt lame... its AWESOME!

so how do we get our schools to help their students understand this? the general curriculum and sex ed programs don't do it and teachers who stand find themselves quickly put back in place

time for a sense of pride in our schools ey?