An LGBT+ youth organisation in New Zealand has produced a new video aimed at calling people out for being casually homophobic—drawing attention the way the word ‘gay’ is often misused.
The hilarious clip shows a group of farmers, with one man sighing in frustration, “Aw, gay”, when his meat pie falls to the ground.
“Actually, Nigel,” his friends corrects him. “That’s not gay at all.”
“It’s deeply disappointing, but it’s not gay”.
He then continues to say, “Look, bro, unless that pie is a man who loves another man, then it’s not gay.”
Another farmer carrying a lamb passes by and chimes in: “Or a woman who loves another woman."
The clip is the first national ad campaign from the Auckland-based organisation , and has now reached over 500,000 people.
Executive Director of Rainbow Youth Frances Arns tells SBS that the group are overwhelmed by the extremely positive response the video, and the group are "so excited [to be] spreading such an important message."
"We wanted to address the importance of inclusive language as it is critical for giving visibility to different identities within the community and something that is often overlooked," explained Arns. "The use of identity-affirming, inclusive language is an important step in making different spaces and environments safe. In this case the focus is on the word gay, an important word within the rainbow community that people use to express their identity and sexuality. It's a positive and empowering term. Sadly, it is commonly used as a pejorative, to describe something negatively.
"This perpetuates homophobia, and can be especially challenging for young people as they’re developing their identity."
The video has been widely praised for the clever way the issue has been tackled.
One Facebook user wrote: "'It's deeply disappointing, but it's not gay' is the most iconic phrase ever spoken aloud.”
Another wrote: “Awesome someone finally addressing this, and with perfect execution 👌 Hopefully I won't have to explain this concept in the classroom much longer.”
You can watch the full clip below:
