OutCasting Overtime; Slurs against LGBTQ+ people

This is Outcasting Over Time. For media for the public good, producer public radio's LGBTQ youth programs. Hi, I'm Isha, an outcasting youth participant. On this edition, Outcaster's Chris and Lil, along with Outcasting Graduate Sarah, consider slurs that have been used against LGBTQ people, and sometimes within the community, and how they affect us as LGBTQ youth. The actor Matt Damon made news recently when he said he was finally going to stop casually saying the F-slur for a homosexual, but not until his young daughter called him out on it. The use of these slurs, especially by non-LGBTQ people, can be extremely rude and offensive, and a lot of people think that maybe Matt Damon should have stopped referring to people using the F-slur a decade or two ago, or even longer. In this edition, some of these slurs will be spoken aloud. So if you're offended or triggered by anti-LGBTQ slurs, please listen with caution. Outcaster Chris delivers this commentary. Slurs are words that are used or historically have been used with the intent of harming a specific group. Slurs have historically

been used against the LGBTQ community as tools of discrimination, but the use and meaning of some of these words has changed over time as the LGBTQ community has found more acceptance. Terms that were originally deeply offensive, and were only ever used to harm, have been reclaimed by our communities. The slurs Faggot, Dyke and Queer are part of this phenomenon of words that were originally offensive and during into the everyday lexicon of LGBTQ people. The origin of the word Faggot can be traced back to ancient Greece, where it was used to mean a bundle of sticks used as fuel to light a fire. By the 16th century, the English had adopted it as a derogatory term to describe women and later on the word evolved into a derogatory term for gay men due to their perceived femininity. It's not uncommon today to hear the F word hurled back and forth by teenage boys, not to imply that their friends are literally gay, but that they are acting effeminately or in a way that's just not cool, or to hear gay men bullied, harassed, or even assaulted with this term. At the same time, some gay men use this word playfully or even in a celebratory way as a reclamation of

something that has been directed towards them and hate for so long. But given the hateful and often bloody history of this word, it is never okay to use it to refer to someone you don't already know is comfortable with it, or to use it in a formal or written context as a descriptor. The word dyke is much more commonly used as a personal descriptor, unless commonly as a school yard insult. The word first became popular in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City in the 1920s. It originated as a longer and equally crude word bull dyke, which referred for many years specifically to masculine lesbians. By the 1950s, dyke had morphed into a derogatory term used by straight people towards lesbians in general. It still carries weight today in the mouths of homophobes, but in the 1970s, there was a fairly successful lesbian movement to reclaim the slur, and it's not uncommon for lesbians today to call themselves dykes, or include the word in the names of their organizations. Recently, a student who I know to be bisexual refer to the D-word in class. That surprised me. I have no issue with bisexual women using the word dyke, or with straight people talking

about the dyke march or dykes on bikes. I would never call another lesbian a dyke without knowing she felt comfortable with that as an identifier, and straight people certainly should not either. But something interesting about the word dyke is that I think in some circles it's more accepted by older lesbians than people my age. Young people, like the girl in my class, prefer to err on the side of caution. I do think it's a case of erring here, but I didn't raise my hand to correct her. Everyone experiences these words differently as a symptom of where they grew up, how old they are, and their experience of life, and no one is more right than anyone else. The word queer is even more controversial, originally instilled in some context, meaning odd, it was first used to describe gay men in 1894, after which it became regularly used by American newspapers as a derogatory term for homosexuality, labeling it as odd and abnormal. Today, it is not an uncommon form of self-identification, spalling out the Q and LGBTQ. Some refer to the LGBTQ community as the queer community, while other people still

feel uncomfortable or offended by the word. The word generally seems to be more popular with younger LGBTQ people, but of course age isn't the only determinant of opinion. There are still places in the US where queer is serious and frequent insult from heterosexual tormentors. Also, while some people like queer, Fritz used as an umbrella term to include many sexualities or identities, other people dislike it for that very same reason. The LGBTQ community is large, varied, and unconnected by blood. There is no central authority on what is or is not acceptable, and no guarantee that any two LGBTQ people will agree on anything, from politics to movies, and definitely including their feelings on words that have been traditionally used as homophobic or transphobic slurs. You might meet people who describe themselves as dikes or identify as queer, but I wouldn't use these terms in reference to someone unless you know they're all right with it. Whether or not it's a right to call it the queer community, well, I could give you my opinion, but any other gay person might give you 10 reasons why I'm

completely an utterly wrong. Thanks for listening to Outcasting Over Time. From Outcasting Media, creator of Public Radio's LGBTQ youth programs. Outcasting Media is a production of Media for the Public Good based in New York. This piece was created by Outcasting team members Lil, Sarah, and Chris. Our executive producer is Mark Sofis. Visit us at outcastingmedia.org to get information about outcasting, watch outcasting videos, access our social media links, and listen to outcasting and related content. You can also find outcasting on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, and other major podcast platforms. Thanks and thanks for listening.