The Phrase I Despise Most

Ok, so the buzz of a new blog is yet to wear off, hence the frequent posting.

Recently, I came to an unpleasant realisation and it all started with an all too common phrase...

"That's so gay", Jeremy said coolly.

It was just three monosyllabic words, but it reverberated throughout Sam's body. It shook him to the core. Funny thing was that he didn't even care about the stupid advertisement, that Jeremy had been trying to insult. There was no urge to defend it; it meant nothing to him, but the words- they meant a lot to him. He'd known Jeremy for nearly as long as he could remember, but he'd never noticed this before. He wanted to yell at him. To tell him how the use of that word in that way disgusted him. But, he didn't do that. He was too scared, which upset him even further.

Immediately, Sam became more self-conscious. He took extra care to subdue his own behaviour so that Jeremy wouldn't catch on. He'd gone from feeling comfortable to the very opposite in just seconds.

Sure enough, more examples of Jeremy's homophobic attitude emerged as the day progressed. He belittled those like Sam, inferred there was something wrong with them. But it wasn't serious, it wasn't like he was being racist or anything. That was the stupid justification for his actions. You know, everyone did it, so it was ok to use gay as an insult. Sam knew that Jeremy wasn't doing it maliciously, but he was still doing it and Sam couldn't accept that. But it didn't make Sam feel ok. It made him feel unsure of himself. It was hard enough to work things out without his "friend" discrediting the characteristics central to what made him, him. 

On top of this, Sam had to deal with the fact he had lost all respect for his long-time friend. He wondered why he hadn't noticed what a jerk Jeremy was before this. Their friendship was over, he knew that much, but he wasn't sure how he felt about it. Disappointed? Relieved? Angry? Sad? That could wait til later, right now, Sam had to get away from him. 

"I'm not feeling too well. I should probably head home.", he explained. In actual fact, it wasn't that far from the truth. With that he drove away, never to speak to the person he'd shared the last 10 years of his life with, again.

There is no justification for using gay as an insult. I implore people to stop using it as such, and further, to do what Sam couldn't and let others know that it's not acceptable.