Look, you can sort of understand why conservative organizations insist on putting the word gay in quotes when referencing gays and lesbians. It’s a term of positive self-identification, and anti-gay bigots are spiteful little assnuggets.
But what I don’t get is why they don’t make a movement to reclaim the word, like feminists did “bitch” or black people did “potpourri”. Wouldn’t you love to see the word “gay” normalized as a method of pro-fundamentalist discourse?
Dr. James Dobson tells you how to put the gay back in your marriage.
The National Review invites you to its 2008 Gay Caribbean Cruise!
John McCain: As Gay As George W. Bush?
The reason I use these examples isn’t to make a series of bad gay jokes, but instead to point out that they’re rebelling against the use of a word that they have no interest whatsoever in using for any other purpose. It’s like the jackass at work who insists on calling you Katie for months after you told him, repeatedly, that your name was Karen, and then justifies it by saying he was just putting you in your place. No part of what he’s doing is okay, and every subsequent part makes every previous part that much worse.
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Black people reclaimed potpourri? I thought that was reclaimed by the Scandinavians, who then lent it to the New Jerseyans, only to have it outsourced to India? It’s hard to keep up.
Have a gay old time.