Thread:BunsenH/@comment-29790859-20161225175803/@comment-24577221-20161225185903

I noticed that and thought about it. It's an edge case. The word can be used just as a word, to describe someone's orientation without any negative intention, and of course it can also be used negatively. By itself, as in that thread, it seems to me that it doesn't have any positive or negative loading; it would be bad only if it were associated with other words which were negative... which wasn't what happened. So under the circumstances, to censor that word would itself would be more negative than positive. I'd rather that people just got comfortable with the word and the concept it embodies, that the phrase "You're homosexual!" might be right or wrong but no longer had the power to hurt. At present some people use it as an insult without even knowing what it means. [*rolls eyes*]

People may have noticed that I'm rather emphatic about a sort-of agenda in favour of social diversity. Don't assume that such-and-such monster is male/female, etc.