2 – It’s GLAAD’s job to blow the whistle on these issues, big and small because…

3 – It leads to, if nothing else, conversations like this very thread.

How are we to define
-what is and is not offensive
-what is and is not helpful
-what is and is not homophobic

if we don’t talk about it??

This conversation is taking place all over the internet and in real life because GLAAD blew the whistle. I’d say they did their job, they got us talking, which is the real point of their work.

Silence = death

Whether you agree with GLAAD or South Park, the important thing is that we’re talking about this stuff.

Anyway, I thought the show was offensive at first, but it became so absurd towards the end that I couldn’t help laughing. Then, I realized their redefinition had really sunk in and it is hard now not to think of bikers as “fags”. In the end, I’m not sure it is a bad idea. That word, “fag”, hurts straight and gay people terribly when used as a dehumanizing insult. It would be nice to be able to look at the bullies like they are on a different planet and say “I’m not a biker, idiot.”

However – I have seen “fag” used elsewhere as a simple insult akin to “dweeb” or “loser.” Internet slang calls someone new to a forum a “newfag” and someone who’s been around is an “oldfag.” Really the term “fag” is unavoidable in this case, and has nothing to do with anyone being gay OR manly.

The South Park episode did not attempt to do this. They associated a word not categorically denied for use towards gay men, to something very negative. People already know how the word may apply to gay men.

This is no better than saying not all blacks are the “n” word. Not all Jewish people are the “k” word.

I’m sorry that some gay people will accept disrespect, and not see that we deserve better.

please enlighten us poor non-creative professionals on the brilliance of this master stroke of wit.

This dispute over words inspires in me:

Where Humanity’s been, what Humanity’s done
Words were made for all under the Sun
They answer to all, and they answer to none.

But language don’t bend to, like, the fury of hell
By the people, for the people, it is our thoughts’ own shell,
For the strength of words, no word can tell.

That said, I’ve seen a bunch of comments saying they’re trying to shift the meaning of “fag.” Newsflash, kids-it’s ALREADY shifted. I’m 27, and I have a few friends that regularly use “That’s so gay” as an insult. These are the same friends that invite my boyfriend and I to various events, support full marriage, and are all-around classy people that I consider amongst my best friends.

We don’t try to bury or hide each other’s differences. We make light of them, joke around about them, and realize that they’re inconsequential. At the end of the day, the Asians, the blacks, the whites, and the gays that all get together on Monday nights for football, good beer, and good food at Neel’s apartment don’t care about the Black/Asian/Gay things, but we don’t ignore them and pretend they don’t exist either.

GLAAD really overreacted and obviously was part of that group that was too stupid to get it. Call me a fag. I won’t care, even though I don’t own a Harley.

The only reason they are using the word fag to denigrate a person is because it has a built in insult to one’s masculinity.

Gay people are generally hated, looked at with disdain and basically treated and looked at as inferior, so by using the word fag, the users transfer those qualities to the insultee.

You truthfully argue that the”not all fags are gay” is an intelligent argument?

Sounds like internalized homophobia, to me.

GLAAD got this one right!!!