words

[Michael]

How weird.
~m.

[Wombat]

Random bump.....

Question...
Can you give up Lent for Lent?

[jfm]

referring back to the first post, i don't think it's surprising. saying "homosexual" puts the emphasis on the sex part of the relationship, and when it comes down to it an awful lot of anti-gay bigotry still has its foundation in a sort of visceral level of disgust with the physicality of male-male sexuality (female-female sexuality tends to get more of a pass, as we all know, although there are plenty of physical-disgust based stereotypes of hairy/scary lesbians). martha nussbaum has an interesting-sounding book out about the role of disgust in anti-gay prejudice.

conversely, when you say "gay men and lesbians," you take the emphasis off sexuality per se and put it on a fuller conception of the person -- which is why gay men and lesbians themselves have preferred that wording for decades. it's less likely to make people think of body parts and emissions and more likely to make them think of that friendly gay couple down the street.