Watch Ash Beckham Explain Why “That’s So Gay” Is So, So Wrong

A.E. Osworth —
Mar 7, 2013
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Ali’s Team Pick:

This talk was given at Ignite Boulder, a presentation event that’s kind of reminiscent of TED except that the slides on your presentation automatically advance after 15 seconds, and you’re limited to 20 slides. There’s one in Boulder, C.O. every two or three months, if you’re interested. After Ash Beckham’s talk, you’ll probs be interested.

Ash takes down the use of “that’s so gay” as a pejorative. After some of my students at a French technology university said this phrase in one of our English classes, I made them sit in a circle and talk about why that wasn’t a good expression to say in English. In a solid hour of discussion I could not make this point better than this five minute video.

This video has everything: good looking presenter, flow charts, humor and a point. I laughed, I cried. It was marvelous. Play this for anyone who uses “that’s so gay” in their colloquial speech patterns. Even though this is billed as LGBTQ acceptance in schools, I’m pretty sure we know someone at every age who could benefit from this message.

Did you love it? Follow Ash on Twitter or like her on Facebook. Or both! And according to Upworthy, Ash also wants everyone to check out GLSEN (The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) on Facebook to help further the cause. Four for you, Ash. Four for you.

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A.E. Osworth

A.E. Osworth is part-time Faculty at The New School, where they teach undergraduates the art of digital storytelling. Their novel, We Are Watching Eliza Bright, about a game developer dealing with harassment (and narrated collectively by a fictional subreddit), is forthcoming from Grand Central Publishing (April 2021) and is available for pre-order now. They have an eight-year freelancing career and you can find their work on Autostraddle (where they used to be the Geekery Editor), Guernica, Quartz, Electric Lit, Paper Darts, Mashable, and drDoctor, among others.

A.E. Osworth has written 542 articles for us.

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