Dirty Dishes	Dirty Dishes Archive

Regular readers well-know Dawn's abhorrence of so-called "hate speech" codes whereby schools and universities erroneously equate words with sticks and stones. Thus, a case from Santa Rosa, California's Maria Carillo High School fascinates.

It seems that a few classmates of Rebekah Rice teased her about her Mormonism with taunting questions such as, "Do you have 10 moms?" Rebekah reportedly shot back, "That's so gay!"

Bekky's retort landed her in the principal's office and resulted in a note of reprimand in her scholastic folder. Her parents then sued, claiming Bekky was not referring to anyone's sexual orientation, and that the phrase "that's so gay" only means "that's so stupid, that's so silly, that's so dumb" and does not slur any particular group. They added that the phrase "enjoys widespread currency in youth culture."

W

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hile the Rices' logic here appears disingenuous (would they claim that speaking of "Jewing someone down" was no insult, that it only means to bargain shrewdly? or that racial slurs are validated as long as their use is sufficiently "widespread"?), Dawn is fundamentally sympathetic to their position. And not just on the principled ground that defending freedom of expression means tolerating offensive utterances. No, Dawn urges the Rices to assert the substantive veracity of Bekky's remark and take the tack that she was only defending religious tolerance and multiculturalism!

Having 10 moms certainly has gay potential, a fact that Mormons themselves well recognize. There exists a schism amongst Mormon polygamists between those who believe a husband can go to bed with more than one wife at the same time, and those who believe practicing "plural marriage" involves a one-wife-at-a-time codicil, expressly to avoid the lesbianism inherent to beds containing more than one woman at a time. Perhaps Bekky and her parents are simply adherents of the first school of thought; in that case, having 10 moms could indeed be very gay, rendering Bekky's reply literally true and making her accusers the real bigots....