How to say your gay in sign language

MyAmericanSign Language (ASL)* and Deaf studies classes created a mighty foundation for teaching ASL. Classes can only go so far in training real-world vocabulary, however. While my professors may believe that it is essential to teach the sign for “onion” so I can feed myself, I find it more important learn the sign for “gay” so that I can ask a random Deaf stranger wandering the streets “hey, I’m defeated, where’s the queer parade?” I would choose a pride over onion rings any day. The only place that I felt I could appropriately absorb these terms was by socializing with my LGBTQ Deaf and signing peers.

Throughout my immersion in the Deaf group, I feel prefer I have been collecting these signs and developing my own personal sympathy of what they represent. Like English, the words and signs we apply to identify and describe ourselves contain power for ourselves, our audience, and our culture. As our words and signs change,