How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
F**got is one of the many words that I know are used instead of the pleasant-sounding gay, whose definition has totally eluded me tonight. There are a bunch of these words: queer, queen, fairy. How come I know this awful list and not very much else about what gay means? (6.68)
What does it say about our society when marginalized groups are known more by their derogatory slang than their actual identity? Or does this statement make this book dated because that kind of ignorance would be surprising in today's era of awareness?
Quote #2
Michelangelo was gay. Oscar Wilde went to prison for being gay (he died in Paris) but was married and had children. It used to be against the law for men to have sex with each
other. People got arrested, lost their jobs, were abandoned by their friends, were put in mental homes, or killed themselves. A math genius who helped Britain beat the Nazis was rewarded by losing his security clearance when the government found out he was gay.
(7.6)
Society has always feared those who are different, and though it's come a long way since Oscar Wilde's imprisonment, gay people still face a considerable amount of discrimination.
Quote #3
Now it's not a big deal. There's AIDS to worry about or getting attacked by a redneck, but that's about it. Only people who don't know better still think it's shameful or wrong to be gay, but not people we know. Not smart people. Which makes me think there's something seriously wrong with Link. Why the nuclear meltdown at my asking if he and James were a couple? James said Link was afraid. Afraid of what? Link's too smart to think like the people I've read about. The religious zealots and other people who don't know better. (7.7)
Did you read this passage and cringe? To think that being gay is no big deal is pretty dismissive of something that probably feels pretty darn "big" to the person who is struggling to figure it out. We are going to be generous, though, and chalk this up to Ellen's naïveté.