By: Alex Estes [Staff Writer]

“Gay” is a word that is thrown around among high school students like “I love you” and “hate.” Most high school students don’t realize how much it is said like it’s no big deal, and most of the time, the things that are “gay” ARE no big deal. If your teacher gives a bad grade, she is gay. If a boy’s mom takes away his phone, she is gay. If someone doesn’t like the school’s homecoming dance, it’s gay. If learning Spanish is hard, it’s gay.

The original meaning of the word gay was an adjective describing a person or thing that was happy and elated. Since when was being gay a bad thing? Someone’s sexual preference should have nothing to do with what someone else dislikes. Saying that something bad is gay is associating that bad thing with someone’s sexual preference. When someone thinks something is stupid or upsetting they don’t say, “that’s so straight” or “or that’s so hetero” they say its gay.

Homosexuality is not a bad thing, yet students still toss the word gay around like it’s a tennis ball. The fact that people think so many irrelevant things are gay makes some kids afraid to be gay. If their friends think something is so gay, why would they want to be? High schoolers should be more considerate when they are expressing distaste for something they don’t like, and quit saying the word gay nearly altogether.