Since the rights of the LGBTQ community are undoubtedly on the rise worldwide, the continued prevalence of gay slurs comes as a considerable surprise.

In the midst of the Supreme Court of the United States’ landmark ruling to legalize gay marriage nationwide and the burgeoning hashtag “lovewins” social media campaign, many of us would like to believe that the days of discrimination and persecution of the LGBTQ community are over. This certainly is not the case though.

Words like “faggot” and phrases such as “no homo” are still uttered blatantly and without remorse or forethought by some, including people on the University of Saskatchewan campus. It is not unusual for the average student to hear such slurs multiple times a day.

When the vast majority of people in both Canada and on our campus seem to be in support of the gay rights movement, there is no reason for us to continually undermine our acceptance and tolerance with what is intended to be an innocuous use of terms and phrases that have been so historically steeped in hatred.

As a white heterosexual male, I can attest fully to the prevalent use of gay slurs throughout both my elementary and high school education. When insulted or called out by a fellow classmate, it was almost a reactionary response to call into question the sexuality of the perpetrator, calling them gay, a faggot or a queer.

Unfortunately, the reactionary use of gay slurs as a defense mechanism seems to have found itself ingrained into the vernacular of many young students, especially males.

I have heard gay slurs used when someone is simply annoyed or speaking of a person they dislike. The use of gay slurs in this respect is unique, as modern society would never permit the use of racial or religious slurs as a way of expressing dislike or annoyance.

It seems as if those who use gay slurs have managed to uphold them as anachronisms that aren’t meant to carry the same meaning they did 20 or 30 years ago. This is a poisonous way of thinking and must be eradicated from our collective psyche.

Recently, I was witness to the casual use of such a slur in the workplace. Two of my colleagues were talking about a trip to Toronto for a workshop at the Dare to Stand Out: Gender and Sexuality Alliance Forum, that one of them had just returned from.

My colleague Thomas Gendzwill, who identifies as a cisgender bisexual male, is extremely passionate about the subject of gay rights. Having heard of his involvement at the workshop, my other coworker regrettably responded with the statement, “Well aren’t you a lovable little faggot?”

Spoken without any malice or perceived homophobic connotation on the part of the speaker, this statement underlines just how deeply rooted this train of thought can be.

In an email to the Sheaf, Gendzwill, who is pursuing a women’s and gender studies degree at the U of S this fall, said the exchange made him feel “like I’m not a person, I’m a faggot. When it’s used in such a casual manner, it feels like this person who I saw as a friend only saw me for my sexuality. ”

This is the power that gay slurs carry. They exist solely for the purpose of demeaning fellow human beings. They’re not to be used in a tongue-in-cheek manner; they are used to discriminate and subjugate a minority of people.

The English language is so vast and varied that to use a gay slur as a means of expressing one’s opinions and feelings shows not only a lack of intelligence, but a complete lack of compassion towards a group of people to whom these slurs are nothing but a torment.

Unfortunately, the use of these slurs remains all too prevalent in casual speech and until we eradicate their use and hold them to the same standard that we hold other harmful slurs, the road to true equality will be hampered by this most unfortunate of speed bumps.

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Lee Bonham