Ah, high school: dances in the gym, standardized tests, and the relentless mockery of difference. If your high school was anything like mine, sometime around seventh grade, the word “gay” entered the lexicon as an insult, a synonym for “bad,” “broken,” or “weird.” Like the pop quiz, the malfunctioning computer is “so gay.” It’s this kind of subtle homophobia that contributes to depression, marginalization, and alienation in gay teens coming to grips with their sexuality, while sowing the seeds of deeper homophobia in straight kids who just don’t know better. But for a decade now, like the pep rally, it’s been a fact of high school life.
Kudos to the Ad Council for fighting back, with a campaign it’s calling “Think B4 U Speak” (har har, it’s like a text message). The television spots are punchy and to the point, reminding viewers that using gay as an insult cuts to the core of gay teens’ identity:
I’ll add one point: no-one would dare refer to a bad situation by saying “that’s so black,” or, God help us, “that’s so n*****.” But for gay teenagers, the “that’s so gay” line is just as demeaning. It’s long past time for it to stop.
CNN interview with Hilary Duff on the subject, below the line:
Ah high school. You just brought back memories of the innumerable homosexual slurs that were casually tossed at me and just about every one else back then. Glad to see someone is addressing this very pervasive prejudice in today’s youth culture.
Posted by Jello | December 28, 2008, 12:34 pmOne of my friends – and an erstwhile contributor to this site – stood up in morning assembly one day and delivered essentially the same speech. I was so proud but, unsurprisingly, most people just laughed :(
Posted by Ames | December 28, 2008, 1:35 pmTrying to make teenagers change the way they speak? Yeah, well, good luck with that.
Posted by Lanfranc | December 28, 2008, 2:34 pmLet me just say that this commercial is “freaking gay”…what happened to free speech? You can only say what you want as long as someone isn’t offended by it. People just need to get over it! This isn’t hate speech…but I have no doubt that someday it will be…the ad counsel should be eliminated!
Posted by mystery | January 25, 2009, 7:52 pmFree speech means you *can* say something – it doesn’t mean that you *should.* Please, learn the difference between politeness and free speech.
Posted by Ames | January 25, 2009, 8:01 pm