Saturday 25 September 2010

"Glad to be Gay: MSP Anne McLaughlin on Coming Out"!

Had it not been for the email I got drawing my attention to the end of my article in this month's Scotsgay, I'm quite sure I would have spotted this headline sooner! I wrote a piece about media reporting when people "come out" and how the language is invariably negative. I talk about a male relative saying he'd been "accused" of being gay and how I explained that as there is nothing wrong with it, it's not worthy of accusation. Therefore I can only laugh at the cheekily misleading headline and look forward to being asked over and over again if it's true :-)

Less funny is the reason for the initial email. Actually I got a few emails from people expressing surprise that at the end of the article I say that I can't wait for the day when nobody "gives a f_ _ _" what your sexuality is. Except the article spells it out. No dashes, no asterisks, just the "f" word in all its glory.

Except that is NOT what I wrote. My words were "when nobody gives a ****"! The irony is that I was thinking of the word "damn" but thought it might be a bit offensive to some so I'd asterisk it instead. So how it changed I do not know. I don't want to kick up a big fuss but neither do I want anyone thinking I think it's acceptable to me to swear so casually - and in writing!

Apart from anything else, to me it just looks like MSP trying to kid on she's "down with the kids"! As you all know, I AM down with the kids but it's very uncool to draw attention to that fact! Anyway why not read the article and ignore the "bad word" at the end?

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