How not to offend

I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned this angle before, but it's easy to make jokes about gay people without really realizing they're offensive. We see them all the time in movies and TV, and we laugh and don't really think about them too much.

I know this isn't exactly the same thing, but it can still be relevant. Daniel Franzese from Mean Girls wrote a letter (to himself) that really made me think about things a little bit differently. You can read it here.

Or, to just bring you the relevant part:

However, I did turn down many offers to play flamboyant, feather-boa-slinging stereotypes that always seemed to be laughed at BECAUSE they were gay. How could I go from playing an inspirational, progressive gay youth to the embarrassing, cliched butt-of-a-joke?

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So, basically, just keep the jokes from being at the expense of transgendered people as a whole, I suppose. If it's between close friends in the story and they're both comfortable with it, then that should be generally fine. I don't really want to speak for the LGBTQ community, though.

Not really sure how helpful this is, but I personally found Daniel's account helpful in thinking about these issues, and it was the first thing that came to mind reading your OP.

I can see an author wanting to be funny, edgy, provocative, or all three.
I can see an author using taboo language and attitudes, taking the risk of being offensive to get his point across.

I don't see an author wanting to look like a horse's ass, which is what happens if you approach sensitive material and don't know what you're talking about.

GuitarShank said:

I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned this angle before, but it's easy to make jokes about gay people without really realizing they're offensive. We see them all the time in movies and TV, and we laugh and don't really think about them too much.

I know this isn't exactly the same thing, but it can still be relevant. Daniel Franzese from Mean Girls wrote a letter (to himself) that really made me think about things a little bit differently. You can read it here.

Click to expand...

I like that letter. Thanks for the link! I think he brings up a good point about the difference between laughing with LGBT characters and laughing at them. I think jokes often become offensive when the fact that someone is LGBT, in itself, is supposed to be the funny part.