National - FFS!

[fungus pudding]

How they choose to live their life? Do you think being gay is a choice any more than being straight?

I don't. But I think using the euphemism 'gay' is a choice, and a poor one. They are not 'gay'. They are homosexual.

[Balance]

I don't. But I think using the euphemism 'gay' is a choice, and a poor one. They are not 'gay'. They are homosexual.

Gay used to be such a lovely word - used to describe someone who is light-hearted, carefree and jolly.

[couta1]

I don't. But I think using the euphemism 'gay' is a choice, and a poor one. They are not 'gay'. They are homosexual.

Agree, having or showing a merry and lively mood does not belong solely to the homosexual/lesbian community, in fact some i have known have been the exact opposite, that is angry/troubled and not at ease.

[Bjauck]

I don't. But I think using the euphemism 'gay' is a choice, and a poor one. They are not 'gay'. They are homosexual.

Perhaps "gay" became a self-identifier to counter-balance others who used pejorative labels as discriminatory put-downs. Maybe it was part of Polari - the code language of British Homosexuals used to avoid discrimination and imprisonment (Homosexuality was deemed unlawful in the British Empire)

Maybe "gay" was used by others pejoratively and then claimed by the LGBTQIA community in the same way the "N" word was reappropriated (to an extent) by African Americans?

[Bjauck]

I don't. But I think using the euphemism 'gay' is a choice, and a poor one. They are not 'gay'. They are homosexual.

Like "straight" is a euphemism for being heterosexual?

[Bjauck]

Agree, having or showing a merry and lively mood does not belong solely to the homosexual/lesbian community, in fact some i have known have been the exact opposite, that is angry/troubled and not at ease.

One third of NZers have had mental distress. The gay rate is twice that. The youth rate and Maori rate are higher than average too.

https://www.cph.co.nz/your-health/mental-illness/

[artemis]

Like "straight" is a euphemism for being heterosexual?

Then there was the 'confirmed bachelor' euphemism.

[fungus pudding]

Like "straight" is a euphemism for being heterosexual?

I don't think it is. 'Straight' people don't seem to recoil from being called heterosexual or hetrosexual. 'Straight' is another term but not a euphemism. 'Gay' is definitely a euphemism. I think you will find most homosexual or lesbian people are quite open to being called 'homosexual or lesbian'. They don't find it offensive. But then along came the politically correct do-gooders who have decided their description should be changed to 'gay'. That is offensive. Like the blind who some years ago were pleading to be called 'blind' but couldn't defeat the PC lunatics who insisted they be called 'visually impaired'.

[Bjauck]

Then there was the 'confirmed bachelor' euphemism.

My grandmother used to refer to maiden aunts and their "companions". However that could easily have been because of the killing fields of WW1 wiping out many men from that age group.

[Bjauck]

I don't think it is. 'Straight' people don't seem to recoil from being called heterosexual or hetrosexual. 'Straight' is another term but not a euphemism. 'Gay' is definitely a euphemism. I think you will find most homosexual or lesbian people are quite open to being called 'homosexual or lesbian'...

I guess heterosexuality between two consenting adults was never illegal in NZ within living memory so was never the description of a proscribed activity.