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I have paid some attention to this story since it broke last week, but haven’t found it yet worth writing about until today.  If you haven’t been following it, Dana White, president of the UFC used the word, “faggot” in a pergorative way while verbally trashing a reporter, and it has raised a stir. He then apologized, but the story hasn’t really died, yet.

Here is some text from his apology:

“I chose some words that offended and hurt some people,” he said. “Anybody who knows me knows that I would never, ever maliciously attack somebody who wasn’t attacking me, and as far as the gay and lesbian community, my comments were not directed towards them.”

“I have no problem with the gay and lesbian community; I’m actually a supporter of many of their issues. The last thing that I would ever want anybody to think about me or think is cool is to go out and attack somebody because of their sexual orientation. That was not my intention, that’s not the way I said it, and I apologize for anybody that I offended or hurt.”

The remark for which he is apologizing was to label an anonymous source for Loretta Hunt a fucking faggot and a pussy and a liar. In addition to calling her retarded, a moron, and dumb.

So here is what I want to say about this. Our culture, even “good guys” who support gays and lesbians need to step back and think about the images and words used in the name of testosterone to put down other people. There is a real disconnect between thinking it is OK to belittle someone by calling them a fucking faggot, and not recognizing how this can encourage others to dismiss, belittle and mistreat real faggots.

White says, after talking about use of the word “n*gger”:

If that’s the direction society wants to go with “f*ggot” and its equivalents, wonderful.  I’ll sign any petition or rally behind any tangible effort, even though I tend to agree with the other side of the argument i.e. the only way to make a word go away is to rob it of its significance by pretending it doesn’t have any until it doesn’t.

And there lies the rub. How is it that the word Faggot is robbed of it’s significance as a mob of guys bloodies and beats a young man to a pulp because he is gay, as they scream “faggot at him? How is it that the word is liberated as a group of men kidnap and rape a young lesbian?

It isn’t that there is a direct relationship. Every time someone utters the word “faggot” violence happens. But the degree to which words like Faggot are used pergoratively and as vicious attack weapons, accompanied or not by physical attack demonstrates an underlying lack of respect for all people.

Often this gets labeled as homophobia or bigotry. I’m not sure it is either. Dana White is neither a bigot or homophobic in my eyes. He is however a straight white male acting unaware of how his actions, words and underlying intentions display a lack of true respect for the people he claims to be a supporter. It is the inherent underlying bigotry that operates below the surface- and one of the reason it is so successful at continuing to keep GLBTQ people as second class citizens and the recipients of sexual orientation- related violence.

Sticks And Stones Break Your Bones—Words Are More Dangerous in the UFC | Bleacher Report.