That's Mister SissyPants, to you

"Although I am mellower in my Senior Discount Years, I still play this game with my editor which none of you readers ever get to see," confides Ben Williams, a columnist with the queer weekly Salt Lake Metro. "I capitalize the word Gay and my editor or proofreader lowercases it." This game has been going on for more than a year, and Williams then explains the politics behind his stubborn streak.

"I proudly, as a Gay person, remain steadfast in adhering to a resolution that was voted on by the Committee for Homosexual Freedom in November 1969. They decided, way back then, to 'request all publications to hereafter capitalize the word Gay.' Advocates of Gay rights argued that Gay is a proper noun and proper adjective when describing a people. Libbers were reclaiming the lexicon used to define us as a people, rather than adhering slavishly to how the straight world wants to define us. At this historic meeting it was strongly felt that heterosexual writers and lexicographers were, by lowercasing the word, aiding and abetting in 'the psychological oppression of homosexuals.'"

Williams is appalled that self-respecting queer reporters "can accept this political decision to lowercase the word Gay."

"But if we are a people -- if we have defined ourselves as a distinct community or folk or tribe, then we are indeed proper nouns and adjectives and, damn it, Gay!"