Quote:
Originally Posted by DruSam
Look, it's an insult, but it's not a serious insult.
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Really. Well let me tell ya a little true story then. Someone in the girls locker room, when i was in high school, said "oh my god, that shirt she was wearing was so gay." The other girls laughed, except for me and my lesbian friend did not. Someone around the corner then said "ya, she is probably a dyke too." Laughter again. There was hushed whispering of which someone told them that my friend was a lesbian. Next day, everyone moved their stuff out of their lockers around us then an hour later in the halls, people started throwing stuff at her and yelling slurs and threatening to harm her. The following week people started pushing her physically. All started from a "harmless" joke. Jokes about gays are not harmless, especially when a homophobe looks at that joke as acceptance for hateful behavior.
Volunteer at a GLBT Center and tell me that these jokes are harmless, ask why so many of them stayed in the closet for so long? When everyone around you thinks its funny to insult someone by calling them a fag, doesn't really make you want to tell them you ARE a fag, now does it? I worked with people who have been beaten and taunted mostly by people who think its funny or ok to make fun of gays. Jokes have lead to ridicule, and jokes have lead to hatred. You have advertised you are ok with people insulting gays. Sometimes that is where it stops, but sometimes people find jokes as invitations to act on these insults and actually beat up or murder gays thinking other people will find it acceptable. If people could stop accepting and condoning these slurs or "jokes" it's possible we could save lives from it. I personally know two gay people who were murdered because they were gay, it started out with jokes and insults and ended in murder. You might think 1 joke couldn't harm anyone. But I have seen it happen over and over again. I am not going to bother to try and convince you guys anymore that slurs can and do cause harm.
There are plenty of people who do try to harm or hurt gays, and every joke about gays just adds fuel to the fire. Every acceptance of this behavior increases the probability that hate crimes against gays won't stop.