As a teacher has launched a crusade to remove the negative use of the word "gay" from schoolyard speak, National MP Tau Henare has raised outrage by tweeting "what a gay story" in response. As it was following the story, GayNZ.com Daily News was contacted by readers who were disgusted and angered by the following tweet from Tau Henare: It's in response to a call from primary school teacher Warren Bowers, who has studied a Masters on gay issues in education and believes New Zealand schoolchildren use the word "gay" as negative slang term more than students in other countries. He says often teachers just let it slide. Bowers has clarified that he doesn't want to ban the word 'gay' altogether, as obviously it's a word people use to describe themselves. "What is not ok is when they use the word in a negative way. It's on a par with racist and sexist language," he says. While Henare may think it's a "gay story", a man who works with queer youth impacted by homophobia in the playground is lauding Bowers' stance. Executive Director of Nelson-based Q-Youth Seb Stewart says he backs the stance 115 percent. Stewart recently toured 18 high schools in New Zealand with Olympian Blake Skjellerup and one of the main messages they tried to get through to young people was to stop using the word negatively, meaning something that is uncool. "The response we got from the students was quite mixed, but I think on the whole they could recognise the association between being gay and hearing the term 'that's so gay' as being harmful," he says. "It is actually a wake-up call for kids using the term and not thinking about what the implications are, for those who identify as being gay. And once they're awakened, they actually so want to stop using that term and encourage their friends not. So that's evidence that education is required and it also impacts on the students on a positive way."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 12th July 2011 - 1:36pm