a long time ago, i welcomed a person inside the first apartment i resided in alone, as a guest, out of respect to my friend who wished for this guest to enter. this seemingly innocent gesture resulted in a rare french translation of oscar wilde’s plays being defaced with the word “faggot” in what can only be described as hate speech. the book was a sentimental gift but now it has even greater meaning. the defacement reminds me of the trials and tribulations oscar wilde went through towards the end of his life for his sexual preference, and how those times are far from over. careless use of words in modern times may seem imprinted and defended under context - but remember - the likes of the callous person who defaced this beautiful book have no context at all. this post may have been inspired by recent discussions but is not targeted at any one person. i have simply decided that my own personal silent war against this is not enough, from now on, no matter who you are, i will call you up on your usage of this term in my presence and will do so in person. i truly believe that relinquishing any argument of context and not using the term “gay” as a derogatory term is not only the right thing to do, but enables us to weed out the closed minds and sincere hate-filled beings by not giving them a crowd of pedestrians to camouflage themselves within.
