That’s so not Marquette
On the side of a shelter at the bus stop across from Straz Tower, a poster reads “That’s so gamer guy who has more video games than friends.” The advertisement is part of the Think B4 You Speak campaign, which “aims to raise awareness about the prevalence and consequences of anti-LGBT bias and behavior in America’s schools.”
While the campaign is primarily focused at stopping hateful language at the high school level, it has relevance right here at Marquette.
Here’s a real-life example, overheard in McCormick dining hall last week.
“Dude, the ice cream machine is broken.”
“Uuugh! That’s so gay.”
While the Think B4 You Speak campaign raises one point in its advertisements — the ridiculousness of using a term relating to a group of people as negative slang – there are plenty more reasons to evolve your language.
1. It sounds unintelligent when you misuse a word. Here is the Merriam-Webster definition of “gay”:
gay
1 a : happily excited
2 a : BRIGHT, LIVELY
3 : given to social pleasures
4 a : HOMOSEXUAL
Please note that the first three definitions are quite positive, and the fourth relates to sexual orientation. There is no mention of stupid, lame, undesirable, unpleasant, etc. If you don’t mind sounding unintelligent, perhaps you should ask yourself why you are seeking higher education.
2. The English language contains hundreds of thousands of words. Why express yourself with one word, which is inaccurate (see reason 1), hateful, and non-specific? When you say ‘gay’, what do you mean? Adjectives are fun. Expand your vocabulary.
3. Not only will you appear dense (see reason 1) and boring (see reason 2), you will offend and hurt people around you. There are two reasons some find this to be a non-issue.
The first reason: “I have gay friends and they don’t care if I say it.”
Even if this was absolutely true (doubtful) you are essentially arguing that the people you know represent an entire demographic. Think about the people in your own demographic. Do they all share the same views as you? Are they hurt by the same things that hurt you?
The second reason: “I don’t care if I offend anyone because I don’t mean it that way.”
While this Mind of Mencia mentality might be cute to some people, you might ask yourself if this same mentality applies to every other slur on a group of people that exists.
Are you truly apathetic about offending people around you? Do you support the use of hateful language? Do you mind appearing ignorant and homophobic? Sexual orientation is a personal matter. Perhaps one of your closest friends is gay and afraid to open up to you because of your use of hateful language.
Here at Marquette, we ‘care for the whole person.’ The plain fact is that saying ‘gay’ as negative slang around campus suggests that our community does not care for some based on their sexual orientation.
Click here to see a video from the campaign: Think B4 You Speak with Wanda Sykes
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