Dear Washington Post, please stop calling me a "homosexual"

The Washington Post published a pro-gay editorial today about marriage. And that's great. But they called us "homosexuals" throughout the piece, and that's not great. It's degrading and offensive and archaic.

I've written about this before, and some have disagreed. But I'd argue that those who disagree don't understand the nuance of language or of this particular phrase. Ask any gay person, regardless of whether they agree or disagree that the word "homosexual" is archaic and offensive, whether they use the term "gay" or "homosexual" to described themselves. I.e., "I'm gay" or "I'm a homosexual." Just ask them. Unless they're living under a rock, gay people rarely if ever use the word homosexual. (My gay-friendly straight friends, however, use the term all the time. In the same way that I still hear friends use the word "oriental.")

Why? First, because it's become archaic. Usage changes, and just as Negro and colored changed to black and African-American, just as oriental gave way to Asian, homosexual has become gay. But second, and more importantly, the word homosexual is offensive in the same manner as negro and oriental. Sometimes archaic words sting. In the case of homosexual, I think the main problem is three-fold. First, the clinical nature of the term. It's a scientific word that mildly dehumanizes gay people by suggesting that they have a medical or psychological condition. Second, the words "homo" and "sex." Both words connote something negative, or at least something that shouldn't be spoken out loud, to a lot of Americans. Third, and most importantly, homosexual is the word the religious right uses expressly and uniquely in an effort to dehumanize gays. Anti-gay religious right activists have said publicly that they will not use the word "gay" - rather, they insist on using "homosexual." Why? Because for some reason or another they figure that the word homosexual helps their cause. And while I don't agree with the religious right on many things, their ability to gay-bash swiftly and effectively is unqestioned. If they think the word gay helps us and the word homosexual hurts us, who am I to argue?

Again, I don't mean to opinionated about it, but if you don't hear the negative nuance in the word homosexual, it's either because you're not listening, or more likely, you don't have an ear for language. There's a reason that colored and Negro and oriental weren't offensive terms years ago, yet are today. The nuance of words changes over time. And while gays were once thought to be mentally disturbed - that all changed in 1973 - the language has not changed since that time.

PS Don't believe me? Read what a communications professional has to say about this. (Actually, I hadn't read his piece until after I wrote mine, but the logic is remarkably similar.) Also, check out this recent editorial in the lead gay newspaper in the US.

John Aravosis is the lying sack of crap who deliberately spread false information about Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and attempted to organize a campaign to harass the executives of Paramount Pictures Television until they agreed to cancel her 2000 television talk show before it had aired once.

Schlessinger had for years referred on her radio program to homosexuality as "a biological error," which, of course, IT IS. It defies logic to believe that there is not an error if a body designed to engage in the reproductive process has a brain that resists desiring it. But Aravosis created a website -- StopDrLaura.com -- in which he insisted that Schlessinger referred to homosexuals as "biological errors," and thus was suggesting they are sub-human.

Here is what Aravosis posted to a USENET board the day after StopDrLaura.com went online:

1. Call Paramount Chairman Kerry McCluggage in Los Angeles at [redacted], and ask your friends to call too! This is the DIRECT LINE to his office and they can't change the number without losing all his business contacts. If they try passing you call to a voice mail or another person, don't let them - demand that they take a message for you. Tell them that you are outraged about Paramount's plan to launch the Dr. Laura TV show and demand that they treat the glbt community with respect. We need to ensure that his staff is busy ALL DAY LONG taking complaints. (Does anyone have other phone numbers for McCluggage or his fax number?)
2. Email Paramount Chairman McCluggage. We found his direct personal email address - send lots of email to: kerry_mccluggage@paramount.com - and send this email address to all of your friends! Put something that sounds business-like - like "re: phone call" or "update on script" in the subject line to confuse them - otherwise they might filter the emails out if the computer sees "Dr. Laura" in the subject line.
While you're at it, send a second email to McCluggage that doesn't even mention Dr. Laura at all. Why? Because Paramount's computer people will try to set up an automatic filter that looks for messages that include the words "Dr. Laura" or "biological error." So, instead of making their job easy, send them a ton of emails about your favorite baseball team, the weather, or what you had for dinner last night. There's NO WAY they can filter out emails if they aren't even about Dr. Laura - and the more emails you send, even about unrelated topics, the harder it is for Paramount's leadership to find the real emails they need, and continue business as usual.
3. Help us get contact info for Paramount and Viacom (Paramount's parent company). Are you in Los Angeles or New York City? Do you have friends there? Please ask around and see if you can find a staff listing for either company (preferably with phone, fax and/or email addresses) and please forward it to us. We need to find the direct phone lines, direct fax numbers, and personal email accounts of any and all senior staff so we can target different people each week ALL YEAR LONG. And if anyone knows their home phones, addresses or favorite restaurants and hang-outs in LA or NYC, please let us know so that we can ensure that we local activists on the ground give them an earful about their unholy union with Dr. Laura.

The TV show aired on time, but was swiftly cancelled. What many thought would be a cross of Judge Judy and Oprah was a lamer, cuddlier version of her radio show; it was doomed in any event.

After suffering the loss of major sponsors while Aravosis continued his character assassination campaign, many thought Dr. Laura would vanish from the airwaves. They were wrong. She's not going anywhere.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot:

Hey, John! You're a H-O-M-O-S-E-X-U-A-L-!!!

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