Mr. Universal's Blog

Being on the receiving end of negative and hurtful language can be troublesome for anyone, but the growing epidemic of unintentional harm caused to the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered) community - particularly teenagers - has reached fever pitch in a world of mass-communication. Now GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is hoping a targeted campaign to help educate people about the negative effect of harmful language will get that point across. But by encouraging negative stereotypes to help combat negative stereotypes, is the organization setting themselves up for a zero-sum game?

Keep reading for all the details...

By asking people to get involved in the organization's efforts to help stamp out homophobic language, GLSEN has put forth the ThinkB4YouSpeak Campaign, an ambitious effort to help educate students to modify their potentially offensive phrasing. As explained on the official website:

"This campaign aims to raise awareness about the prevalence and consequences of anti-LGBT bias and behavior in America's schools. Ultimately, the goal is to reduce and prevent the use of homophobic language in an effort to create a more positive environment for LGBT teens. The campaign also aims to reach adults, including school personnel and parents; their support of this message is crucial to the success of efforts to change behavior."

The website offers information to read and download, including a series of Ad Council-approved posters, specifically created to appeal to what the campaign feels are common offenders, including jocks, cheerleaders, and of course, videogamers. Each substitutes the word 'gay' with descriptive generalizations of the offender, including "jock who can complete a pass but not a setence', and even 'gamer guy who has more videogames than friends.'

The problem is, having taken time to sift through the campaign's website and additional information, there's no indication the posters should be taken as satire, but rather gives the impression that certain groups and individuals should be the target of the campaign's message, effectively encouraging stereotyping to combat stereotyping.

Nor does the campaign direct its message towards its own community, the gay and lesbian individuals themselves.  Such efforts are often commonplace with special-interest groups when rallying for or against their chosen cause, often neglecting to police their own communities for negative and hurtful behavior before asking others to curb their own. The message may be sound, but often lost when confronted with such short-sighted hypocrisy.

While efforts to help combat and erase hurtful language towards any person or group should be encouraged, replacing one stereotype with another is simply transferring the problem elsewhere, and often helps reinforce negative behavior towards other individuals and groups. The ThinkB4YouSpeak Campaign seems to have its heart in the right place, but its ceratinly an effort that could stand to take its own advice.

Check out the ThinkB4YouSpeak.com website and decide for yourselves.