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Mar. 1st, 2008 02:29 amI heard about this story last week and wanted to write something about it, but I had trouble getting my thoughts together in a coherent way. Ellen did a good job, so here's her take.
The one thing I can add is my disappointment at how it was presented on the news (I think I saw it on ABC, but I'm not sure). When explaining what happened, they said it was because the boy "admitted" to being gay. While technically admit means "to concede as true or valid", the connotation of the word "admit" is that someone is confessing to doing something wrong. Hell, even in the dictionary, an example of the definition's context is "admitted making a mistake." This kid wasn't doing or being anything wrong and it's upsetting that a news writer would even think to use that word. What's more upsetting is that probably wasn't an intentional thing- it's just so ingrained that being gay is something shameful that has to be kept a secret so if someone comes out or is outed, then of course "admit" is the right word. Which is sad.
The one thing I can add is my disappointment at how it was presented on the news (I think I saw it on ABC, but I'm not sure). When explaining what happened, they said it was because the boy "admitted" to being gay. While technically admit means "to concede as true or valid", the connotation of the word "admit" is that someone is confessing to doing something wrong. Hell, even in the dictionary, an example of the definition's context is "admitted making a mistake." This kid wasn't doing or being anything wrong and it's upsetting that a news writer would even think to use that word. What's more upsetting is that probably wasn't an intentional thing- it's just so ingrained that being gay is something shameful that has to be kept a secret so if someone comes out or is outed, then of course "admit" is the right word. Which is sad.
