Derogatory use of the word "gay"

[desslock]

This was my response. What do you think about what I said? Was I too hard on them?

Well in my opinion you are being a bit harsh. Look, are you upset at the word, or the idea?

Words by themselves mean nothing. Ideas have power.

Getting into long, convoluted debates over meanings and contexts over isolated words is impossible. And I'm not inclined to tell other straight people how to use or not use a word. They don't know how I will perceive their words, and I sure don't know how they will perceive my words.

If someone is going to demean you, then they will. It is in their personality, often to assert themselves over their own insecurities.

Did you know that if you call someone "mother" to their face, you could not only be calling them a woman who has had babies, but also a living membrane of bacteria that forms on fermented alcoholic liquids (see fourth Webster entry)???

Steve