That's so gay.

        I've used this term for years. When I first heard a few kids saying it when I was in middle school I thought it was so stupid. But then it caught on and everybody was saying it, even me. Just two weeks ago I said it and i didn't even realize until my mom pointed it out to me. I got so bad my younger sisters started saying it. I'm really close with them so they often pick up on my mannerisms and sayings. Now, I've seen the commercials and I've ignored them. I've made excuses such as "it's just a slang term it's not meant to hurt anyone". I stood behind this excuse fully and believed it.
        But just last night I was thinking about it. I was also thinking about the N word. I use the same excuse for people using that term even though I don't like or use it.  I realized that it is setting our people back. We've been through too much to be acting and speaking this way. I also made an analogy. What if people started saying "That is so shaunquisha" to describe something ghetto. "Shaunquisha" being the assumed ghetto/hood/black female name. I realized that would be totally ridiculous. Especially at this time when we are in the process of uplifting black women and blacks in general. So I should feel the same way about the term "That is so gay".
        I'm guessing at the time it was first said being gay was considered wrong so anything wrong or not agreed with by the person saying it was "gay". At this time when we are all for equal rights and overall equality in our nation it is counter-productive. I will control myself from saying this because it is truly stupid. If I want to describe something I don't agree with there are so many other words I could use. Maybe we should eradicate all slang terms/phrases that don't really make sense. They confuse our youth.