HOMOPHOBIA IS GAY VIDEO This video was made by a grade school teacher (who oddly enough spelled a word wrong on her/his video explanation). It's all about the words we use and how they can effect us, including the slang usage of "Gay." I'm torn on whether the use of "gay" as a word to refer to something "stupid" or "sissy-like" is really worth our attention. Words can mean several different things and the morphing of words into other meanings is something you can't stop. The fact is, the more taboo you make a word the more delicious it is for someone to say, especially for young people. The kid who plays the guitar in this video and calls everything gay is being a retard--opps I'm doing it; I'm taking a word that's meant to refer to the mentally retarded in a respectful way and using it as derogatory slang towards a stupid kid. My apologies to the mentally retarded. Or maybe not, because I know what I mean when I use this word in this manner and so does everyone reading this (for the most part). It's hard to control language. I'm more interested in context and in teaching context to kids. It's how you use a word that counts. First of all, the word "gay" or "faggot" or "lesbo" should never be banned. Kids need to be confronted when they use such words so that they start to think about what they're saying instead of just following the herd or using the newest slang or resurrected slang. They also need to know that the word itself is not offensive, it's how they use it. If they use the word faggot and they didn't mean to make fun of a minority group then someone needs to explain that to them. But this is a dangerous area for public school teachers. I remember the hypocrisy involved in the suspension and I believe dismissal of a highschool teacher in Washington who tried to teach the meaning of the word "faggot" and give it context. Unfortunately, he tried to teach a black kid. What he did, in my opinion, was present a perfectly acceptable example. He asked the black kid something to the extent of how it feels to be called a "nigger". And then he compared the word "nigger" to the word "faggot". This is because this kid was calling other kids "faggot" and obviously could not understand that what he was saying was offensive on a different level than just calling someone a slang word. But as usual, political correctness weighed in and because this was a white teacher who dared even utter the word "nigger" he was put on trial for his actions (not literally, figuratively). It's really sad to say that much of the religious, gospel singing black community is very homophobic. They do not like the comparisons between "faggot" and "nigger" because they think the prejudice against them is real while homosexuals are just sinners. The whole debate about whether the slang usage of the word "gay" is good or bad can be settled by the title of this video and a popular T-shirt slogan: Homophobia Is Gay! This is what's so great about language. It can be turned on itself and never quite defined as offensive. If you're a young person reading this, you don't need to go overboard in restricting your language. Please just realize the context you put words into. And simply be respectful of others. I don't think the word "nigger" should be taboo without context, yet in order to be respectful of others around me I don't throw that word around carelessly. And I'm not sure the word "gay" as slang for "sissy" or "stupid" is truly offensive but I also choose not to throw that word around either as many Gay People are already having to deal with a lot of shit from heteros. I mean how would it effect you if the word "straight" suddenly meant "something was shit"? Use your ability to empathize and speak thoughtfully, but fearlessly.