How Gay Is It?

Here's a quote from the TV show Roseanne:

Leon: What if I'm not even gay?
Roseanne: You couldn't be any gayer if your name was Gay Gayerson.
Leon: Think about it. I hate to shop. I'm positively insensitive. I detest Barbra Streisand. And for God's sake I'm a Republican!
Roseanne: But do you like having sex with men?
Leon: Well...
Roseanne: GAY!!!!!!!!!

Listen to Roseanne people! (And eat stink and die for making me say that.) What this comedic exchange highlights is something disturbingly prevalent of late; it seems the whole stupid "oral sex isn't sex" folks of the 1990s have moved into the new millennium with the slogan "gay sex isn't gay!" One particularly smart-impaired person cited the manga Gravitation on a website about the sexually ambiguous lyrics of The Killers' song "Andy, You're a Star" as proof that men can fall in love with and have sex with other men and not have to be the dreaded "g" word (Roseanne: GAY!!!!!!!!!). This trend has actually shown up in polling which shows that, even though those who went before them opened doors that were tightly locked and barred so that they could enjoy their lives, gay teenagers are less likely to identify themselves gay. On the one hand, I can actually understand reluctance to embrace the word in the sense that it has been appropriated for so many things beyond its literal definition, exemplified in Leon's flippant remark; being seen as "gay" seems to carry with it expectations that one has certain habits and affectations as well as certain required political leanings, philosophies, and values, but ceding the word entirely is ludicrous. To wrap up, let's see what today's letter of the day has to say:

Dear Non-gay Gays,

You're here; you're queer. Get over it.

Love,
The World