Welcome

Hello, my name is Johnny and I am a straight 16 year old guy in Los Angeles. I feel very strongly on the subject of gay rights.

I named my blog "That's So Happy" because the phrase "That's so gay" is thrown around a lot. The word "gay" means happy. So what you're really saying is "That's So Happy." I hope one day this will be true.

Whether you are for or against gay rights, I urge you to leaf through the site and see the views of someone who truly cares about this issue.

I would like to ask you not to post any offensive comments.

If you have questions, comments, concerns, suggestions for topics...anything, don't hesitate to email me at jlazebnik@gmail.com.

Enjoy.

February 3, 2010

A Safe Environment: No Hate Speech

Something very important in a happy healthy gay person is a comfortable environment.

Everyone should watch their language; you never know who will take offense at what you say, or be wounded.

If you are a conservative father, and you say the f word (the one pertaining to a gay person) constantly around your in-the-closet son, you are sending the message that gay people aren't welcome in your house, that they are mutants, abominations, devils. Obviously, this cannot be good for your son's mental health.

Percentages of suicide are much higher among GLBTQ teenagers. Can you guess why?

Home is where you should feel welcome. Family and friends are supposed to love you for who you are.

As soon as your friends start slinging "that's so gay" around, as soon as your mother gives you a lecture on how God hates gay people, as soon as everyone says "no homo" after everything they say, you crumble.

You are unwelcome where you thought you would always be welcomed.

You shelter that part of you, and, like a horrible fungus, it grows, and destroys you.

Don't be fooled by the purple prose. This is serious.

For the sake of everyone around you, please don't use words that could be potentially offensive or harmful to people.

Just, don't!

And, of course:

Stay happy.

:)

2 comments:

  1. Most of my family don't seem to approve of homosexuality, although they have said that will love me no matter what job I end up with, as long as I'm happy (I'm 16) so I assume the same would probably apply with sexuality. We also aren't religious at all, so I've never really cared if God loves me or not.

    But personally, I find it more annoying when my male friends are really careful with what they say to make sure they don't sound gay, than when people use derogatory terms. Although people using such terms is still annoying and sometimes quite hurtful.

    Very interesting blog, keep up the good work.

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  2. Interesting. I think that it should grow to be a natural way of speech--not necessarily monitoring every word around your friends, because that might make you feel unwanted, yeah. But I think that if those words just disappear from your vocabulary in general, that's the best. At least they care about what they say.

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