hi! is homosexual a slur? i've seen a your posts about people labeling themselves as bi/romantic (I put a slash to keep it out of the tags) and homosexual but i'm having trouble wrapping my head around it. :? I just don't understand haha u___u i'm sorry. you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, it's totally ok! ◥ Anonymous

confide–nemini:

cishits: Yes it is. It has been used by homophobes to inspire hatred and violence against gay people, it has been said with disdain and mockery, it has been used to categorically pathologize and other a historically marginalized group of people. There is no way it’s not a slur. What is wrong with someone labeling themselves as biromantic and homosexual? Or aromantic and homosexual? I see people labeling themselves this way all the time.

If you say you’re ~biromantic homosexual~ you’re not actually gay, and you’re claiming that what makes you “homosexual” is that you’re sexually attracted to the same gender.

Claiming that gayness can be described as sexual attraction to the same gender contributes to the hypersexualization of gay people, lesbians especially.

Homosexual can only ever mean “exclusive attraction to the same gender”. You cannot separate it from romantic attraction or any other kind of attraction. The same goes for the frequency or intensity of the attraction.

People who aren’t gay, aka, people who experience any kind of man/woman attraction, at all, cannot call themselves homosexual. You cannot be biromantic and homosexual. This goes quintuple for people who claim to be ~biromantic lesbians~

Lesbian means women who are exclusively attracted to other women, and this includes nb women, but no one else. Lesbians have set the boundaries, and those boundaries must be respected.

And it’s better to just call yourself aromantic and gay. Of course if you’re aro and gay you can call yourself homosexual, but there’s no reason to use a term with a history of psychiatric abuse and dehumanization.

Just because you see people labeling themselves this way doesn’t mean they aren’t doing so at the expense of gay people and lesbians particularly.