Gay – adjective
\ ‘ga \ gey \

1. Happy, excited
2. Bright, lively
3. Licentious, given to social pleasures
4. : of, relating to, or characterized by a tendency to direct sexual desire toward another of the same sex
: HOMOSEXUAL

Okay so we know what gay means. We know what it means in that the dictionary describes it as above.

But lets face it, not since the 50’s have we used the first 3. Okay maybe that third on occasion, but anyone can be given to social pleasures. I mean a couple cocktails, a sexy dance partner…if they’re smart and well-rounded who cares right?  Go ahead and be licentious.

Most commonly today we know it as that fourth definition. Homosexual. The second letter in the LGBTQ alphabet.

But it’s not always used for the above definitions. Look at those four listed, and which one of those describes the word ‘gay’ as:

Stupid
Idiotic
Loser
Moron
Asshole
Weak

Yet people, okay heterosexual people, use the term ‘gay’ all the time with the above connotations. Typically during an insult, and if they’re really pissed off it’s not just ‘Dude that’s so gay!” its more like “Dude, that’s so fucking gay!”.

As if that were the biggest insult you could give someone.

To call them gay.

Imagine being so mad at someone as to call them bright and lively. The nerve.

But wait a minute, when did the addition of ‘homosexual’ get added to the definition? Because in the 1954 edition of Webster’s Dictionary I have from my Grandmother’s house, that is not listed. Meaning what? We decided at some point ‘gay’ meant not only happy and lively it also meant homosexual.

Does that mean homosexuals are happy and lively?

I mean I’m sure some are. Some straights are too.

According to Wikipedia it was the mid 60’s when the definition changed to update its meaning to include homosexuality, based on the self-reference of men in that time when talking about their sexuality.

So one day some guy, who likes guys, decides I’m going to call this attraction ‘gay’. Next thing you know everyone is using that to describe homosexuals instead of using to describe how light and breezy they feel.

Interesting.

The problem is, it was about the same time that the pejorative use, or slang, came along and grabbed that word for it’s definition.

I’m going to say something unpopular next.

We give people a hard time for using the word ‘gay’ when administering an insult, as if they have no right to just claim use of that word for their own definition of what they want to say.

But really isn’t that what the homosexual crowd did? Didn’t they also just decide they were going to claim the use of a word to describe their sexuality. And use a word that had not previously been used in that regard?

Who’s right?

Why do we get mad that one group stole the definition of a word that another group had already stolen the definition of? Ponder that? What do you think?

Doesn’t matter.

Here’s the reality. Its all really just about word association.

If the second group had instead decided they were going to use the word ‘gay’ to describe the sensation they get when they feel the back of adhesive tape would we care as much?

Instead of sticky, or tacky what if they decided to use gay instead?

Wow that Scotch tape holds really well, its so gay.

Would we care?

Probably not.

Because it doesn’t make sense to call a homosexual sticky (careful boys). And as such its not an insult to them. But when you hurl around the word gay when you really mean lame, weak, stupid or idiotic, you are associating a whole group of people with that definition. Its almost like basic math:

If a=b
And b=c
Then a=c

In that respect then:

If your idea(a) is stupid(b)
And stupid(b) means gay(c)
Then your idea(a) is gay(c)

When you look at it like that it doesn’t make any sense. I mean it’s worse then new math and lets face it no one know how to solve that shit.

What I’m saying is you can’t just take a word and decide you are going to start using it as some new definition when the derogatory meaning of what you are associating that word with is going to insult ANYONE.

This isn’t me being too politically correct.
This isn’t me being overly sensitive.
This isn’t me being, weak or tame or ‘gay’.

This is me being a man and saying cut the shit.

Any other use of the word ‘gay’ other than the above four definitions is uncalled for, rude, crass and guess what? It makes you look ignorant. Why? because of all the other words in the dictionary or thesaurus you can’t think of a more appropriate word to describe someone or something so you use one that degrades an entire segment of society.

And you call yourself a man.

Shame on you.