Think Before You Speak - Cashier

Almost 90% of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students report being verbally harassed at school because of their sexual orientation. LGBT teens experience homophobic remarks and harassment throughout the school day, creating an atmosphere where they feel disrespected, unwanted and unsafe. Homophobic remarks such as thats so gay are the most commonly heard; these slurs are often unintentional and a common part of teens vernacular. Most do not recognize the consequences, but the casual use of this language often carries over into more overt harassment.

This campaign aims to raise awareness about the prevalence and consequences of anti-LGBT bias and behavior in Americas schools. Ultimately, the goal is to reduce and prevent the use of homophobic language in an effort to create a more positive environment for LGBT teens. The campaign also aims to reach adults, including school personnel and parents; their support of this message is crucial to the success of efforts to change behavior.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• ad
• council
• psa
• glsen
• think
• before
• you
• speak
• that's
• so
• gay

[The505Guys]

So apparently exercising your freedom of speech is wrong....

[Davidsternsucks]

If you're a customer, you don't talk about politics to the cashier that's checking you out. That's bad manners. Gay means happy.

[GojyotheFeared]

@travvanwyck

Which is exactly the point of the commercial.

If people want to use the word gay, fine. But using it as an insult is just plain wrong.

It's like saying, "that's so black" to mean the same thing, which I'm sure has been done during the whole civil rights movement and perhaps before. (whether it actually has or not, I can't say. But it wouldn't surprise me to find out if some rednecks used it to put down black people like the girls in this commercial are doing with gay people

[DERKJ789]

i don't mean to get off topic or anything but isn't one of the cashiers on iCarly Or is it just me?

[colorzebra689]

@The505Guys You misunderstood the point of the commercial. You are still free to say "that's so gay". But just because someone is telling you what you're saying is wrong, that's not violating free speech.

[travvanwyck]

You all make me facepalm. Freedom of speech has its limits, and when it starts insulting people then you've reached its limits. Same goes for "that's retarded". I should start saying "that's so ignorant fool who can't seem to warp their tiny mind around politics."

[RaeuberPozzenfotz]

PROMOTING NEWSPEAK IS A BAD THING MKAY

[Ncorydb117]

@dantesinfernal0 goodgame///been saying that forever now thanks!! :)

[dantesinfernal0]

Gay didn't originally mean homosexual. It meant something happy, joyous and festive. As language evolves words start to mean different things. Gay is evolving to mean something else and the only people who are offended are people who are desperately clinging to obsolete terminology in order to label themselves.

Back before the medical term "retarded" was coined, people who had slow mental faculties were called "idiots." You don't see campaigns to stop the use of that word.

[TiptheMilkman]

So lets PROMOTE "DUMB & STUPID!" to protect the Gays. :D

[StraightFashionMan]

To GLSEN and the Ad council: now that you have this stupid (gay) campaign out of the way, could you PLEASE start one to make it not OK for gays to refer to themselves as queer?

[shadonaruto33]

the only thing that i dislike about this is that they keep on suggesting really long stuff to say i think thats part of why people started saying "thats so gay"