What year is this again!? You have to ask yourself this question if you look up the word “gay” in the Duden (the standard German dictionary). Homophobia is alive and well. It’s bad enough that there are still people who refer to negative events as “gay” and that it’s still the most common curse word in German. But the definitions found in the Duden simply leave one speechless: “Displeasure, annoyance, extremely strong evocation of rejection, unattractive, uninteresting.” They offer another example: “The class trip was super gay.”
Erm yes…. It’s 2020 – you’d think that the concept of homosexuality would have already made its way into our society, wouldn’t you? Well, three podcasters feel the same and have taken up the fight against “Duden discrimination”. In the last episode of their podcast SCHWANZ & EHRLICH (Cock & Honest), they discussed the negative word definitions – and this quickly resonated with many communities on social media who hate homophobia. The hashtag trend #DudenIstSchwul (Duden is gay) takes its inspiration from the German TV broadcaster RTL and their campaign for the show “Prince Charming” (Germany’s first gay dating show). In this campaign, the broadcaster used claims like “cuddling is gay,” “dancing is gay” and “love is gay.” According to RTL, they were trying to remove the negative connotations from the word “gay: “We are finally giving the word “ gay” the positive meaning that it deserves,” stated the broadcaster in a press release.
Lars Tönsfeuerborn (29), Mirko Plengemeyer (30) and Michael Overdick (27) have now made it their mission to highlight discrimination. On their Instagram account, the podcasters have started a survey – and there was a decisive result. Around 89 percent of those asked spoke out against the negative word definitions. How great that books like the Duden are not set in stone.
Do you feel the same way? Then show your solidarity at the hashtag #DudenIstSchwul
