In last week's edition of The Miami Student, you ran an article titled "Event celebrates Olympics, responds to homophobia". In this article, the authors used the term homosexual on six different occasions. While I praise The Miami Student for covering the bigotry and violence toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) athletes in Russia, I implore those writing about LGBT issues to avoid using the term homosexual.
Several style publications, including the American Psychological Association, condemn the heterosexual bias prevalent in the language the authors use in referring to lesbians, gay men, bisexual persons and transgender persons. In the past, the term homosexual has been associated with deviance, mental illness, and criminal behavior. Furthermore, homosexual is ambiguous in its reference and it is assumed to refer exclusively to gay men, thus rendering lesbians and bisexuals invisible. These negative stereotypes are perpetuated by biased language used when discussing LGBT persons.
Writers need to be sensitive to social changes that affect the use of language. From the American Psychological Association, lesbian and gay man refer "primarily to identities and to the modern culture and communities that have developed among people who share those identities," which should be distinguished from sexual behavior that is implied with the term homosexual. In the future, writers need to consult style publications for proper language usage. Thus you would be "spreading awareness of the plight of gay men and lesbians in Putin's Russia" as well as asking questions about "the issues of LGBT rights across the globe."
For further information, writers can refer to http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/language.aspx for style guidelines for avoiding heterosexual bias in language.
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