Question for my gay DU friends?

[Gothic Sponge]

I'm not gay, but i always found it a bit offensive when people refer to themselves as "straight." I know many people that support gay rights that use the term straight. I prefer to say i'm hetero. IMO saying straight implies that gays are somehow crooked and corrupt.

Am i being too PC?

[terrya]

1. No, you're not being too PC. I like your thinking.

Thank you. :-)

Hetero works for me (I've been trying to get out of using "straight"). And I have no problems with "homo", since we're doing shorthand. I'd rather be referred to as "homo" than "queer".

[arwalden]

16. "Homo" Makes Me Laugh

It sounds like a word that a Bible Belt televangelist uses... with a southern drawl.

"Those 'hoe-moes' are threatening our traditional marriage!"

-- Allen

[terrya]

23. Yeah...but I still prefer it to "queer". I still can't get used to "queer"

Even after "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy".

[RodneyCK2]

24. HAHAHAHA..... You could also say the same thing about

Lesbians. "You 'Les-b'ns' get your alternative family off my lawn."

[RodneyCK2]

2. Don't get me started...

I try not to put labels on anything, including myself. I feel we are just sexual creatures and boxing us into something means we should obey the rules. Sorry, people, being complex creatures, cross the sexual barriers. I also believe in the Kinsey Scale.

I let some people call me gay or bi, mostly for political reasons. Sometimes it benefits us by separating issues from the dumb-ed down masses, but I prefer it did not occur.

I don't know if I answered your question, just go lightly on trying to define people.

[TXlib]

14. Kinsey Scale? What's that?

[KinkyDem]

17. Kinsey et al

were sex researchers in the 70's (maybe earlier, my Human Sexuality classes were many years ago).

The Kinsey scale is sort of a bell curve idea that says we as humans fall on the bell curve of sexuality, it ranges from Hetero to homo and all permutations between. So if someone says they fall closer to the hetero side of the kinsey scale they mean their straight and really just not into guys (or gals as the case may be) the opposit is true for the other end of the spectrum.

Personaly I find the Kinsey scale two dimensional, I see sex and sexual preferences (used for lack of a better term) as more a three or four dimensional thing. I would also include Dominant/submissive sexual preference. I think that a scale of monogamy/poly would be appropriate as well.

Do a google search for Kinsey report and or Kinsey scale for more detail.

[eyesroll]

20. You'd make a much more interesting math teacher than the one I had,

KinkyDem. ;-) Imagine trying to graph that...

[Bertha Venation]

3. As long as you don't call yourself "NORMAL," I've got no problem.

Straight used to mean not on drugs. Maybe it still does. But if using the word "straight" was good enough for Maya Angelou, it's good enough for me.

Besides, who ever saw a bumper sticker that said "Hetero But Not Narrow?" ;)

[Padraig18]

4. I'm with you on this one, Kim.

It doesn't bother me.

:shrug:

[KinkyDem]

18. I'm Normal!

And so are you and so is she and that guy over there and that chick behind the bushes with that other guy and that dude over there on the balcony ... he looks pretty normal too, I bet his boyfriend thinks he's normal.

What's not normal is people who claim to not have sex ... that AIN'T normal.

[Misunderestimator]

26. I agree BV... for me, "straight" is like "square" ... boring...

with no interesting angles... :bounce:

Doesn't bother me at all to not be defined as boring. :evilgrin:

[Dookus]

5. no problem here, either

I don't mind being "bent" :)

the fact is, I doubt anybody gives any literal meaning to the word "straight". As mentioned above, just don't call yourself "normal".

[Blue-Jay]

7. Oh, get bent.

signed,

Mister Normalcy. :D

[Dookus]

9. just musing here...

of all the birds in the world, I think the blue-jay is the biggest, dopiest cacaheaded doodoofaced dumbwaddest stinkybutted crapfaced one. But I'm no ornithologist. :P

[Blue-Jay]

11. Yes, they're quite beautiful.

In a dopey cacaheaded doodoofaced dumbwad stinkybutted crapfaced-kind of way.

They're also very passive-aggressive.

[Dookus]

12. heheh

noodlenoggin

[Beware the Beast Man]

6. I try not to get hung up on semantics

I never cared for the word "straight" to describe myself, because it alludes that being homosexual is somehow crooked. But for convenience's sake, I use it anyway. "Hetero" just doesn't roll off the tongue. Besides, it's nicer than "breeder!" :P

[Atlas Mugged]

8. Back in my day (*sigh*)...

...calling someone 'straight' meant something entirely different than it does now and it was quite negative. Curiously, calling African Americans 'Spades' was completely acceptable. But, I understand what you're saying and agree. Also, calling heteros 'breeders' bothers me a good deal. Though, on occasion, I'll see a family with 8 or so children terrorizing the grocery store and it seems all too appropriate.

[Magrittes Pipe]

10. I'm heterosexual...

...but I just don't understand "straights."

They are so SQUARE!

[piece sine]

13. you non-homosexuals

are to refer to yourselves in whatever terms you deem to be appropriate.

In my car, tho...we don't drive straight, we proceed gayly forward.

[pagerbear]

15. I don't mind heterosexuals

I just don't want to have to witness their vile affections!

[trof]

19. Our daughter married a heterosexual.

So far, it seems to be working out for them.
;-)

[Gothic Sponge]

21. Blasphemy!

We need to ban these damn heterosexuals! ;)

[hippiegranny]

22. when i hear "straight"

it takes me back to high school. that's what people who didn't party called themselves!

i don't really care what label or nickname people go by as long as they are accepting. i always liked the button "straight but not narrow."

also like this quote: "the only queer people are those who don't love anybody." -rita may brown

[newsguyatl]

25. i think that's being a little too PC

with that said, though, i'm one of the few who sees a difference between "gay" and "homosexual" <-- the latter being strictly a man who desires other men sexually. gay, of course, including an entire lifestyle. i think there are lots of "homosexual" men who lived their lives "straight" -- or at least tried to.

[Rowdyboy]

27. I have no problems when hetero's call themselves "straight"

Hell, I can't even THINK straight.

[bookfreak]

28. Semantics

The idea of calling heteros "straight" actually comes from the other side of the Atlantic (Great Britain or somewhere like that) where us queers are called "bent", hence the other folks are "straight".

Ironically since you are talking about terms that some gay folk find offensive, there are some gays/lesbians that take offense to being called "homosexual" as that is a technical originally term used by the American Psychiatric Association to denote a form of mental illness. Of course homosexuality was removed from the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) as a mental illness in 1976, but still, that is where the term "homosexual" originated.