By Dan Hanley
Or the disgraceful word used for gay men by bigots.
I am thinking of the word that we hear every day. We hear it used by friends and family, by educated people, by compassionate people, and by people who are simply just used to saying it.
The word is fat. And this blog post is all about calling us out on the use of the word (and more specifically on using it as a judgment).
That girl is a fat _____. He is so fat he ___ ___ ______.
I recently saw a photo on Facebook posted by someone I know to be loving and compassionate. The photo was of an overweight person and came from a website of "funny" pictures. The text was nothing to laugh about. I was totally bummed to see the photo, especially knowing the person who posted it.
Our words affect people. Our words hurt people.
I don't ever want anything I say to hurt my voice for the voiceless. People stop listening when the same person speaking about animal rights or human rights also makes fun of or judges people.
And the bottom line for me is that I never want to be a person who puts others down or belittles another person. Ever. I want to be the person who embraces each persons humanness and light.
Now that you have read this, be on the lookout. Do you hear it as much as I do?
Thanks for reading!
This post originally appeared on Dan Hanley's website The Gay Vegans. Republished with permission.
