Is "gay" a pejorative?

[bismarck]

It totally depends on how it is used.

Not to mention, where it's coming from.

If a straight man gets his chest waxed after getting a manicure, that can be called "gay" with no offense taken, since gay guys, embarrassingly, do that more than straight guys.

Not sure what grooming has to do with sexual preference, but ...

If a straight man says he wants the Broncos to win the Super Bowl, and his Patriot's fan buddy calls him gay for his choice in teams, that is very offensive. Using gay in this instance is taking a term that a large chunk of the population define themselves by and using it as an insult.

regardless of which team these rhetorical guys support, and regardless of their sexual preference, supporting NFL instead of rugby is pretty gay in and of itself.

Even if the Patriots fan wasn't consciously putting down butt pokers, that was his result by using gay people's choice in how they refer to themselves in society as an insult.

Not being homosexual myself, so I may be wrong here, but I would think "putting down butt pokers" would be considered more offensive than merely saying, "Oh! That's gay.".

How would Methodists respond if "being Methodist" meant being stupid?

I'm guessing you think it means that anyway. They probably don't care, because you're going to hell and they're going to heaven. Pwned!

How would black people respond if "that is sooooo black" meant the accused were cold-hearted, old fashioned, or had bad taste in shoes?

Isn't there a faction that's already riled up because of all the negative uses of "black", like being black balled, black heads etc etc?

How would straight men respond if "being straight" meant to be kind of unclean, poorly dressed, and out of touch with common social courtesies? Oops. I think that is what "straight" means. Sorry... I guess I am really gay for saying that.

To each their own. Not a member of the fashion police, but I've seen horrendously dressed people of all sexual preferences. I don't think being homosexual is a guarantee of suave fashion sense and social etiquette, nor is vice versa true by any means. Regardless of what Versace, Hugo Boss et al would have you believe.

[Confuzius]

If a straight man says he wants the Broncos to win the Super Bowl, and his Patriot's fan buddy calls him gay for his choice in teams, that is very offensive. Using gay in this instance is taking a term that a large chunk of the population define themselves by and using it as an insult. Even if the Patriots fan wasn't consciously putting down butt pokers, that was his result by using gay people's choice in how they refer to themselves in society as an insult.

I knew a rabbi's son who when something sucky would happen (I am distinctively recalling him playing MarioCartWii online and getting pwnd by a blue turtle shell or something, or if cut off in traffic, missing a parking space etc) he would say "ahh fuck, that's so Jewish!" intentionally not saying "gay" in a bad way but to use a word that described himself.

I thought it was quite witty.

[Confuzius]

Isn't there a faction that's already riled up because of all the negative uses of "black", like being black balled, black heads etc etc?

I have never heard of black balls, just blue balls.

But aren't black heads a kind of pimple that well, has a little black head? Aren't other kinds of pimples called white heads cus they are um, white?

That reminds me of this, where in the UK schools have been told to replace the dresses of toy witches dressed in black with those dressed in purple so black will not be associated with witch craft. Though I would imagine wiccans and pagans quite pissed off that witches are considered negative:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/u-k-schools-ban-witches-black-hats-for-promoting-racism-among-children/