When I hear the word 'gay' I immediately think of...

If any of the above are the first thing that pops into your head when you hear the word 'gay' (apart from "nothing in particular"), then at a minimum you have some serious anti-gay prejudices that cloud your understanding of who we are.

(Hint: We're unique individuals. Learn to treat us as such)

 

Happy clowns.

Then I think of the derogatory use of the word as in "that was so gay" like a poorly made cheesy movie or a boy band that cannot play instruments or sing without lots of studio work.

Then I think of all the incredibly talented and intelligent people I have known who are homosexual.

And I smile.

 

The Flintstones theme song!

 

Stupid description...The homosexuals I have know are definitely not 'gay.' Most are serious, good people and decent human beings. I just don't agree with their lifestyle but then....It's not really an issue unless they want to make it one. Most of the people I know are heterosexuals. They are also serious, good people and decent human beings. Their lifestyles may also be different than mine but, unless they want to make it an issue or are doing something criminal, I could care less.

 

Honestly, the first thing I think of when I hear the word gay when the context isn't blatant, is that someone is calling something stupid, lame, etc.

That's just how kids used the word when I was growing up, and I have to be honest, I still use the word in that way at times. For me personally, it's not even that I'm saying something is dumb because it's "like a gay person", it's really just a holdover. I admittedly use the word retarded in a similar fashion sometimes.

Am I going to Ach Eee Double Hockey Sticks?

 

Gay used to mean "happy" prior to the homosexuals commandeering the definition. I still think of the pre-AIDS definition.

 

I am between nothing in particular and very nice, well spoken. I guess because the ones I know are like that. I know it's not right to pre-judge or have some type of ''type'' in your mind, but since I do not meet all that many my thoughts go to my two cousins and my kids friends,,cant help it.

 

This pretty much sums it up. The ironic part is that gay used to mean something completely different to our grandparents when it meant happy. The gay movement then absconded with it and essentially changed the definition. Of course they then complained when my generation, (generation X I think, can't keep track of which is what anymore) changed the definition once again to describe something like a bad joke or horrible movie etc. The funny thing is that alot of people just say it out of reflex and don't think beyond it even if they are perfectly fine with gay people.

I think the top two choices are basically the same thing and the post is missing the obvious choice of gay people.....duh.

 

I love the polls on this site. The results frequently are not what I would expect. I answered "Nothing in particular" which is the majority view thus far. It really makes me think that the gay bashers are thankfully just a squeaky wheel and not the status quo.

Perhaps there is hope for humanity after all...

 

"We'll have a gay ole time". Oh how times and the meaning of some words has changed.

 

Depends on the context. If someone says "oh man that exam was gay" then obviously he's using it to mean bad/undesirable. If someone says "John is totally gay" then obviously he means homosexual.

 

If Someone says 'Gay' I just think 'Homosexual' and that's it.

 

i think of Hilary Duff.

 

Well, let's tackle a few misconceptions and whatnot:

Gay people did not "abscond" with the word, and the meaning did not suddenly change from "happy" to "homosexual". The connotation of immorality goes back at least to the 1630s. In the 1890s there's a shift toward an association with promiscuity. The association with homosexuality is known by the 1940s, though it may have been used among homosexuals themselves as early as the 1920s. The use of gay to mean homosexual doesn't really begin to be popularized until the 1950s though.

It's no secret that homosexuals have been judged and stereotyped as immoral and promiscuous. A group that experiences societal marginalization will sometimes adapt the pejoratives used against them for their own use within their isolated group. Thus the "n word" being used by some black people, or the other "f word" being used among gay people. But if someone outside the group uses the word, it will almost certainly be interpreted by those inside in accordance with the originally pejorative use. It would probably not be going too far out on a limb to ponder at least the possibility that 'gay', used pejoratively to mean 'immoral' or 'promiscuous', becomes applied to homosexuals and then used by them in a similar scenario.

A word does not belong to anyone, so it cannot be "stolen". The meanings of words can only shift through popular adoption of a new usage. Sometimes that 'popularity' is limited to a small group, such as the jargon common to some profession but not well known outside it. Eventually usage may spread outside the original group.

 

effeminite lisping weak men, nothing in particular, and something else.

I'm a bigot now? with a due respect, that's retarded.

 

Next:

The use of gay to mean 'stupid', 'lame', 'weak' etc.: While people using it that way now don't necessarily make the association with homosexuality, there's little doubt in my mind that this newer usage springs from the negative stereotyping of gay people, and the ability to then use the word as a way to insult someone who isn't necessarily homosexual. From there the meaning broadens to mean not only a person alleged to possess the negative traits of 'a gay', but to inanimate objects and actions that are judged to be inferior or stupid in some way. Knowing that linkage, it's should come as no surprise that many gay people find this usage offensive. It's also not surprising that some gay people (especially younger ones) are oblivious to the progression of this shift in meaning, and have no problem using it to mean either a gay person in one context, or an action/object they judge negatively in another.

 

Without respect because I see none being due, take a flying leap off a high cliff with jagged rocks below.

 

hmm.. no, you definitively didn't improve my view of (*)(*)(*)(*) now.

 

Then allow me to clear up any confusion:

While child molestation involves predation, predatory behavior doesn't necessarily always target children. Hence the second option.

 

The first thing that comes to mind for me is simply guys who are romantically involved with one another. I've enough friends who are pan-, bi-, or homo-sexual that it doesn't really strike me as anything controversial or weird anymore. To be fair, I am not someone devoid of prejudices... but at least I know when to tell my subconscious that it is being bigoted and to shut the **** up. I.e. one cannot always control how they feel, but at least they can control what to do in response to such in-deliberate, intuitive feelings!

 

The purpose of this thread isn't necessarily to make bigots stop being bigots, but to expose them. I only represent myself, not every gay person in the world. And you're ignored because I'm bored with your (*)(*)(*)(*).

 

I truly believe the assumption of anybody on the right being Homophobic is really exaggerated, mostly for political gain the typical....

''Oh those conservatives are Horrible people'' They group people, exactly what they profess they are against, especially with Gays, they stereotype!

Truth being there are more than just some against things like Gay marriage and adoption rights for Gays and many from the left. Although I am not one that thinks those things should be not available to them I do believe many do so with good hearts and not some type of hate. Most seem to feel marriage is a traditional type of thing and traditionally it's been a man and a women. They look to preserve that Tradition, religiously or not. The matter of adoption seems more of a individual concern.

 

Youre one of those drama queens (*)(*)(*)(*) arent ya? Thats the worst kind. But you know, i only called your assertion that because i think of lisping weak men when i hear gay im somehow a bigot retarded. And thetes thruth to that, it is truly retarded.

 

When I hear the word 'gay' I immediately think of... how I would like to be lively and exuberantly merry but have to be a straight man, second, depending upon the conversation I think I need to ask for the sense of the word (“is he gay or a homo?”), third, I think of (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)s and irrefutable bigots against the “B’s” because they only want the bolded of LGBT to be able to marry and fulfill their destiny.

 

When I hear the word "gay", I immediately think of:

The Twilight Saga