FAGWATCH: Part 1

So I wanna just preface my next blog, which may be a few days in coming, with a little bit of background:

I have promised never to use the word "fag" or "dyke" again. Why? Because over the last month I've heard them used by queerfolk in anger and hatred to or about other queerfolk.

1) At a bar in Cbus, I was called a fag by a lesbian who jumped in front of me in line. Instead of ignoring my joking and sarcastic spiel, she decided to unlease a string of vitriole (sp?) including above word at me.

2) At a bar in Oxford, the guy I had earlier in the day been on a date with called a good friend of mine a fag ... when I objected, he then proceded to try and justify the usage -- as if it were ever ok when you use it negatively.

So, since we queerfolk cannot use the word properly -- in a campy and humorous manner only amongst ourselves and instead decide that we are going to fill the world with more hate than we already have -- I am striking the word from my life. This is about respect and the realization that maybe, just maybe, that word may mean something other than an insult.

And, using it as a way to attack someone's gender expression or their sexual expression... well, that's just against the movement isn't it...

Wait for Part 2...