"That's so straight": Clever Comeback or Hypocritical Backlash?

Well, after years of apathy from the general public and a lack of respect from most youth we have finally made some sort of a breakthrough (a small one but a breakthrough nonetheless); “that’s so gay” is no longer going unnoticed as an offensive and disrespectful word. School teachers have begun to implement rules to prevent the use of it, GLSEN’s “Think B4 You Speak” campaign has begun to get through to many and the glorious Facebook group that I admin for has just exceeded 165 000 members (which was a proud day for the internet community if I do say so myself). As one might have guessed though, with progress comes a few snags and bumps.

In order to combat their peers’ common negative use of the word “gay”, it seems that many have started to turn it around and say “that’s so straight” when they’re referring to something stupid. Now I’ll admit that when I first heard about this it wasn’t really bothersome; it can be an effective way to explain to somebody how ridiculous using “gay” negatively is. Apparently it has now become widely used as more than just an explanatory tool and more of an all out backlash against the heterosexual community for creating the slang term in the first place.

There are a few things wrong with this assertion; first and foremost, in spite of the fact that “gay” as a synonym for “stupid” was started by heterosexuals it can be perpetuated by anybody, gay, straight or otherwise. The huge issue with this is that it’s beyond hypocritical and more of a detriment than a benefit to what we’re trying to accomplish. I can understand why it seems like a good way to educate and retaliate against those who say “that’s so gay” but honestly, how could anybody take someone seriously when they can’t even follow their own advice?

We’ve made plenty of progress in attempting to decrease the use and spread knowledge, but every time we take a step forward things like this push us three steps back. There’s enough resistance as it is and saying “that’s so straight” decreases your credibility and makes you look just as ridiculous as they do. I mean really, who could trust a hypocrite? Think about it.