It's OK. I know gay people.

TheMrsC23

Dear Prudence,
My husband and I are both politically liberal, support public radio, donate to the ACLU, and both have gay and lesbian friends. He thinks it's funny, however, to adopt a stereotypical gay lisp from time to time when telling a story or a joke. I hate it and have told him so every time he does it. I tell him that it sounds bigoted and I don't want our kids to grow up thinking that making fun of gay people is OK. He says that it's done in good fun, and the fact that he has gay friends proves he is not prejudiced. Is there any way I can get him to stop, or do I just have to put up with it and try to counteract its effect on my kids with some well-timed lessons on respecting others?

—Looking for Insight

VarunaTT

It's not okay to me.

If you are trying to be an ally, the point is to combat stereotypes that got their start in, "Look at [X} and how stupid/funny [X] is about them!"  Whether it's food and black people, lisps and gay people, periods and women, names of any different ethicity other than Anglo-Saxon etc, it doesn't matter.  

I don't think it necessarily makes the person bigoted, but it does make their behavior bigoted.   

zsazsa-stl

WTF does contributing to public radio or the ACLU have to do with this?

TheMrsC23

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_wedding-woes_its-ok-i-know-gay-people?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:47Discussion:b4216f1a-a3f0-4a79-8422-49ff46c08246Post:ba34175b-32cc-473a-8100-dc334fc37f53">Re: It's OK. I know gay people.</a>:
[QUOTE]WTF does contributing to public radio or the ACLU have to do with this?
Posted by zsazsa-stl[/QUOTE]

<div>When people lead with that type of stuff, it tells me that they're a big old FAKER and/or they don't really donate to those organizations.  They just say they do to look good. </div>