I feel this is sort of a sad story.
Mr. Stephen Henry was suspended from teaching when he approached one of his middle school students recently and explained to her that the word she was using to describe something she didn’t like to a classmate – “gay” – is just as offensive to some people as the word “nigger” is to Black people.
365gay.com reports, “The student’s mother said she believed Henry was not intending to insult the girl but middle school students are too young for such a discussion.”
The girl is not too young to employ social-profiling phrases in her speech, and old enough to engage in judging and maligning what she doesn’t like. Why is a girl able to handle this level of wordliness with comfort, too young to learn that gay is not a phrase to apply to something you don’t like?