The Language Police at GLAAD Have a Whole New List of Words We're Not Allowed to Say

If you’re having a hard enough time keeping track of what is considered racist these days, well, get ready because the insanity continues. Only this time, it’s not about what random thing or word is racist.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has now taken a stance against the use of the term "homosexual," labeling it as "derogatory and offensive." This ridiculous assessment was made in GLAAD's updated Media Reference Guide, which outlines numerous terms the organization deems... homophobic. Is that still okay to use?

Here’s exactly what the 11th Edition of GLAAD’s Media Reference Guide says about the term “homosexual.”:

“homosexual” (n. or adj.)
Because of the clinical history of the word “homosexual,” it is aggressively used by anti-LGBTQ activists to suggest that people attracted to the same sex are somehow diseased or psychologically/emotionally disordered – notions discredited by the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association in the 1970s. Please avoid using “homosexual” except in direct quotes. Please also avoid using “homosexual” as a style variation simply to avoid repeated use of the word “gay.” Many mainstream news outlets’ style guides restrict use of the term “homosexual.”

Apparently, the use of the word “homosexual” has become increasingly taboo in the media. Who knew? But the 2021 AP Style Guide made it clear that “gay” and “lesbian” were "Preferred over homosexual,” though it didn’t go so far as to say “homosexual was essentially a slur.

While homosexual is now a term you must avoid using, GLAAD wants you to be familiar with a whole bunch of made-up terms, like allosexual, gynesexual, and pansexual. I don’t know what any of those mean. I don’t care and won’t even bother sharing their definitions with you because I most certainly won’t legitimize this nonsense by learning them.

There’s also a term in the glossary called Same-Gender Loving.

I won’t bother with that one, either.

To further illustrate the absurdity of these guidelines, while “homosexual” is now a term to avoid, the term “homophobia” actually is not. Also, the guidelines say that the terms “gay marriage” and “same-sex marriage” are also to be be avoided because they "suggest marriage for same-sex couples is somehow different or less equal than other marriages."

Maybe because it is?

Even the word “lifestyle” is frowned upon because, they say, the word implies that "that being LGBTQ is a voluntary or a 'choice.’"

Another big no-no, according to GLAAD, is "Associating LGBTQ people with pedophilia, child abuse, sexual abuse, bestiality, bigamy, polygamy, adultery and/or incest,"

Get ready for this one.

Being LGBTQ is neither synonymous with, nor indicative of, any tendency toward pedophilia, child abuse, sexual abuse, bestiality, bigamy, polygamy, adultery and/or incest. Such claims, innuendoes and associations often are used to insinuate that LGBTQ people pose a threat to society, to families, and to children in particular. Such assertions and insinuations are defamatory and should be avoided, except in direct quotes that clearly reveal the bias of the person quoted.

So, get the message, media: if someone in the LGBTQ community... I’m sorry, the LGBTQ+ community—gotta be inclusive—is ever accused of pedophilia or child abuse or even commits adultery, you better not report on it because it reinforces negative stereotypes... or something.

I guess now you understand why the mainstream media turns a blind eye to such stories.

In other news: I don’t give a crap about GLAAD’s guidelines.