Is homosexual a derogatory term?

[artisan]

Snippy.

I am a homosexual - though I prefer the word 'gay' if anyone desperately feels the need to label me.

 

You have already labelled yourself.

You are a good socialist, and that is all that counts.

Sexuality is between a person and their bedchamber, as far as I am concerned, and it is not too silly.

I still dont like this 'gay' word though.

[Halibut]

You have already labelled yourself.

You are a good socialist, and that is all that counts.

Sexuality is between a person and their bedchamber, as far as I am concerned, and it is not too silly.

I still dont like this 'gay' word though.:(

 

Why ever not? If you were to refer to someone who was a homosexual what term would you use?

[Suffragette1]

You have already labelled yourself.

You are a good socialist, and that is all that counts.

Sexuality is between a person and their bedchamber, as far as I am concerned, and it is not too silly.

I still dont like this 'gay' word though.

 

I generally use the term 'gay', it's neutral and doesn't have the negative connotations of some of the other words. I don't understand why (straight) people find it so objectionable. 'Homosexual' to me is a bit clinical. However, I would take my lead from the person/people to whom these labels apply.

[Alien]

I find it interesting that homo-phobics hide behind the use of the word "gay" as if they are somehow concerned with the misuse of the English language to justify their homophobia, where in reality if the word disappeared off the face of the Earth they'd still be running around as if their Cerebral Cortex just turned to milk screaming..'shirt lifter!' or some other cretinous term.

[depoix]

We are playing with semantics here, the meaning behind words. I shall make my point brief if i can. If you can build up a strong enough relationship with a black person to use that word in a friendly context, then you have liberated it from it's negative semantics. If you use the word as a 100% friendly word, and the person understands it as 100% friendly, you have changed what the word means.

 

Walking up to black people and saying "wassup nigga?" is foolish when the word is still loaded with it's own history.

 

The same with 'fag', 'queer' and 'homo'. It's all about semantics. Is the word used to insult or to flatter? To make friends or to hurt enemies? Language is but mere scribbles and sounds, it is their interpretation that helps us communicate.

almost but not quite ,its talking the way we talked before the ever present politically correct people decided to kick up a fuss on someone elses behalf

[flamingjimmy]

God almighty, try http://www.goodasyou.org.

Nowhere on that website does it claim that the acronym 'Good As You' was the origins of the modern usage of the word gay. Check out their FAQ:

 

"2. Why “Good As You?”

Well, Good As You…G-A-Y…get it? But our name is more than just a convenient acronym, it is the message that influences our every action."

 

It is a 'convenient acronym' not the origin of the word.

 

Also kindly retract the 'trolling' accusation, I won't take it any further unless you persist in accusing me of something that I haven't done.

 

I apologise for any offence caused but I did think you were trolling. I politely asked you twice to back up what you were saying with a link (which shouldn't have been hard at all to find seeing as it would've been in your internet history from 17:00 to 17:06, that's a really small window and it would've taken you no time at all to copy and paste it into the thread).

 

Instead you chose to take the mick, and even now, have not provided anything at all to back up what you were saying earlier. Hence I thought, and still kinda suspect, that you're just trolling me, and if you are, well played indeed, I've spent about 6 minutes typing this!

[harvey19]

I'm nearly always up for a challenge harvey19!

 

The word 'homosexual' is not derogatory in itself. It merely refers to the sexuality of an individual, i.e., someone who is sexually attracted to someone of the same sex.

 

However, as other posters have pointed out, it can be used in a derogatory way - especially if the user of the word is a bigot.

 

Let me give you an example......

 

 

If you substitute homosexual for fag in the above post, you find a bigot using the the word in a degoratory manner, just as the word 'fag' itself is being used in a derogatory manner.

 

As for the ludicrous assertion "use any term it doesn't matter", it actually does matter. The OP fools no-one when he chooses the word 'fag'.

 

I am a homosexual - though I prefer the word 'gay' if anyone desperately feels the need to label me.

 

Hi Redrobbo,

thankyou for an honest answer from someone who can speak with authority and not just theorise.

As stated in my post 57 I think calling an homosexual person homosexual rather than gay is more complimentary, if that is the correct word to use, as gay tends to label the person and put them in a box whereas homosexual is describing one aspect of that person and showing there is more to them than their sexual orientation. Hope this makes sense.

[artisan]

Why ever not? If you were to refer to someone who was a homosexual what term would you use?

 

Why would I use any term to describe them?

They are my fellow human being, as long as I am not involved, their sexuality is their own affair.

I have worked with people of different persuasions, political racial and sexual all my life, and always got on with them.

Live and Let Live is my Motto.

[harvey19]

Why would I use any term to describe them?

They are my fellow human being, as long as I am not involved, their sexuality is their own affair.

I have worked with people of different persuasions, political racial and sexual all my life, and always got on with them.

Live and Let Live is my Motto.

 

My view is there are 2 types of people, sociable and anti social.

This covers people of different religions, colour, sexual orientation etc.

[plekhanov]

This bloody society is not happy unless it fixes a label on everyone. Should I be made to introduce myself as being straight, and if so why? Sheffield Education Authority, circa 20 odd years ago, attempted to label everyone who wasn't white as being black, that lasted about ten minutes.

 

I absolutely detest the hijacking of the word 'gay', it used to be an integral part of the English Language, that never meant homosexual. Dyke is 'An embankment of earth and rock, built to prevent floods', how can it be used to describe lesbians?

 

Oh forget me, I just went on one.

Evidence that the term 'gay' was "hijacked' by anyone please.

 

I have checked this out and you are 100% correct, many thanks for sorting it out.

The 'good as you' thing is not the reason why gay is a synonym for homosexual, as with people who think the "SOS" signal is a short for "save our souls" and declaration of piety the supposed acronyms were invented independently after 'gay' and 'sos' were established. They might make some people feel better but they are not the reason 'gay' means amongst other things 'homosexual' and SOS is the standard morse distress signal.

 

The word 'gay' seems to have gradually developed an association with homosexuality over a period of many decades in the usage of many other terms developed over the same time period. If you have any evidence that there was some kind of plot to associate the term 'gay' with homosexuality by all means present it.