Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 00:49:30 -0600 (CST)
From: John Aravosis <john@wiredstrategies.com>
Subject: AOL Thesaurus Calls Gays Fags
& Pedophiles
Article: 52173
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Message-ID: <bulk.27236.19990117121530@chumbly.math.missouri.edu>
Fags& Pedophiles: Advocates Demand Merriam-Webster and AOL Be Held Accountable
Contacts:
John McMullen, GAYBC Radio Network, 206/439-8535, john@gaybc.com
John Aravosis, Wired Strategies, 202/328-5707,
john@wiredstrategies.com
Washington, DC—America Online’s (AOL) thesaurus service
offers shockingly homophobic synonyms for the word
homosexual
—including faggot, dyke, pederast and
sodomite—the GAYBC Radio Network <http://www.gaybc.com>
(AOL KEYWORD: gaybc) reported today on it’s Daily Dose news
webcast.
Merriam-Webster, which provides the thesaurus to AOL, offers the same bigoted synonyms on its online thesaurus <http://www.m-w.com>, according to Wired Strategies <http://www.wiredstrategies.com>, an online advocacy firm in Washington, DC. In addition, GAYBC staff found similar references in a Webster’s print edition.
We are shocked and disturbed to learn that terms like pederast and
fruit are among those offered by a respectable resource guide like
Merriam-Webster’s thesaurus,
said John McMullen, president
of GLOradio Corporation (GAYBC Radio’s parent company). One
of our listeners made us aware of the inclusion of these terms and we
felt that it was appropriate to give the matter national
attention.
In addition to the blatantly offensive nature of the terms, some
raised even greater concerns. AOL is the world’s largest
Internet provider, and Merriam-Webster’s a primary source on the
English language,
said John Aravosis, president of Wired
Strategies. When a tag-team like that broadcasts to the world that
gays are fags and child molesters, the dehumanizing impact is
overwhelming.
This was the exact search result from the AOL/Merriam-Webster
thesaurus when the word homosexual
was entered in the search
engine:
Synonyms ||fag, ||faggot, ||fruit, ||homo, invert, ||queer, uranian, uranist Related Word transvestite; ||fairy, ||nance, ||nancy, ||pansy, ||queen, ||swish; ||dyke, lesbian, sapphist; pederast, sodomite
The thesaurus can be found on AOL at keyword: thesaurus, then by
typing in the word homosexual
and selecting the search result
homosexual noun.
Screen captures of the AOL and Merriam-Webster
search results can be found at
<http://www.wiredstrategies.com/thesaurus.html>.
With so many members from the LGBT community, AOL should be ashamed
that this information exists on their site,
said McMullen.
Using a word like pederast as being relative to homosexual
perpetuates the gross lie that we are child molesters. When we looked
up racial and ethnic words like Black, Jew, Hispanic and Chinese, we
didn’t find bigoted terms like the ’n-word’ or other
slurs The homophobic references by Merriam-Webster are nothing more
than a tool to perpetuate hate speech towards sexual minorities,
he added.
When asked whether removal of the anti-gay synonyms could constitute
censorship, Aravosis responded: AOL and Merriam-Webster clearly
made a decision not to include slurs against other minorities in their
online thesaurus.
Searches for the words black
and
Jew
did not return any ethnic slurs. Aravosis concluded,
All we ask for is equal treatment for gay Americans.
John Aravosis
Wired Strategies—Online Advocacy Consulting
Washington, DC
202/328-5707 tel.
202/328-5708 fax
http://www.wiredstrategies.com
mailto:john@wiredstrategies.com