Part five in my series of posts on the expression “that’s so gay.”   Wanda Sykes speaks out on the subject:

No, it’s not what you’re thinking. They didn’t ban gay people. They banned “The Gays.” That is, people with the last name “Gay.”

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that the Australian version of Facebook (the social networking website) rejects membership for anyone with the last name “Gay.” The paper reports that any attempt to register a Facebook membership under the last name “Gay” results in the following error message:

“Please enter a legitimate name.”

Ouch! As if the inevitable playground taunts weren’t bad enough for children with that last name, now this.

Clearly, Facebook isn’t trying to discriminate against The Gays. The problem is no doubt the result of some oversensitive software filters. I’m sure Rudolf Lipschitz would have faced a similar challenge had he survived long enough to create a Facebook profile.

On the other hand, why is “gay” on the list of terms that are filtered out? I’ve made the point before, but the word “gay” is not a profane term. It doesn’t need filtering.

You would have thought that the software filter gurus would have learned this lesson after the “Enola Homosexual” incident. This incident occurred on September 5, 1994, when the Northwest Herald (a paper in suburban Chicago) ran a story with the following headline:

“ATOMIC BOMBERS CRITICIZE ENOLA HOMOSEXUAL EXHIBIT”

This nonsensical headline resulted when the word “gay” was mistakenly replaced with “homosexual.” The Northwest Herald’s story was actually about a planned exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution, where part of the fuselage of the famous plane the Enola Gay was to be placed on display. For younger readers, the Enola Gay — not the Enola Homosexual — is famous for being the B-29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare, over Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945.

FREE BONUS MATERIAL!
Training material for newspaper editors and Facebook IT employees:
How to tell when “gay” means “homosexual”

Example 1: “Gay” doesn’t mean “homosexual”

Example 2: “Gay” means “homosexual”

*This entry is part of a continuing series, dedicated to using the phrase “that’s so gay” as a compliment rather than an insult. Eat your heart out, Rebeka Rice!.*

Take yourself back to a time when Liberace was seen as an eccentric heterosexual with a penchant for fur and candelabras.

The video below was produced during the waning days of what I call the Paul Lynde Era — a time when a person could appear on television in full gay flame, and still be considered heterosexual by the most people.

That Era is clearly over. When you watch the video below, try and take yourself back to the mid-1980’s, when it was still widely believed that George Michael was a heterosexual. I don’t think this could happen today.

(Not sufficiently gay? If the opening sequence doesn’t convince you, make sure you check out the shorts and gloves he’s wearing near the middle of the video.)

Regular readers may know that I have an ongoing series of blog entries featuring my favorite bits of corporate jargon (click here to read them). I’ve decided to start a new series, entitled That’s So Gay!

Unlike my teenage nemesis, Rebeka Rice, I use the phrase “that’s so gay” in a purely complimentary way. The idea behind the That’s So Gay! series is to use the highlight funny or clever things that are, well, really gay.

The first entry in the That’s So Gay! series is available HERE.

If you have suggestions for future entries, please let me know by posting a comment here, or by emailing me at:

Only rated-G or PG submissions, please :-)

Rebeka Rice, a high school student in California, was disciplined by the school principal after using the phrase “that’s so gay” in a derogatory way.

Her parents have sued.

Rebeka Rice argues that she wasn’t being hateful. Instead, she said that she only meant: “That’s so stupid, that’s so silly, that’s so dumb.”

Hmmm. Isn’t there something hateful about using the word “gay” as a synonym for “stupid, silly, or dumb?” That’s so Rebeka Rice, if you ask me. And by that I mean, “what an idiot.”

I think it’s time to turn the phrase “that’s so gay” into a compliment. Why not? I love The Gays! In that spirit, I submit for you what I believe is the gayest music video I’ve ever seen. I mean that entirely as a compliment. Love it or hate it, how can you watch this video and not think “that’s so gay?”

(Don’t worry, it’s rated G. Or at least PG.)