Let's take a look at the use of the words 'Normal' and 'Abnormal' in a societal and psychological level to try to shut this argument of semantics down.
Abnormal is almost NEVER used as a positive thing in human society. The only thing I can think of that might make it positive is when people use it ironically by saying "Look at how abnormal and unique I am! Will you like me now because I did enough weird things to fit in with you guys?" And even then people won't use 'Abnormal' and will instead use synonyms with more positive connotations like 'unique' and 'special'.
All a person ever knows is what being themselves is like, and the factors that make up you are shared with other people. You feel degraded when somebody degrades someone of your group and elevated when your group degrades another because you are like your group. Their successes and failures affirm your traits and make you feel proud to be apart of them. Because your self worth is tied up with the status of your respective groups compared to the other groups, and deep down you feel that your group is the best one, you need a mechanism to dehumanize and in a simple way rationalize your hatred towards another group, other than it makes you feel superior and necessary. For this task you employ the use of the word 'abnormal'. They do this so that they can more easily open them up to ridicule and punishment. Describing someone as abnormal is the perfect way to dehumanize someone without going through the effort of coming up with a suitable slur to do it in a more elegant way. It's also just a benign enough term to squeak past the obligatory barrage of "OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU USED *Insert exclusionary slur here* TO DESCRIBE THAT PERSON!" and get your point across.
While I must admit that the person who originally used the word to describe homosexual people probably didn't do so maliciously, And I am going into the most spiteful usage of the word here. But given the history, and popular use of the word and it's sisters as ways to dehumanize and exclude other human beings, and elevate your status, you should begin to appreciate it's profound negative power, It's not just the god fearing fundamentalist religious factions that use it either. I don't think you could say that you've never dismissed a person from your close circle of friends because they were too weird for you.
Calling a homosexual person abnormal, or unnatural is incredibly insulting in many contexts, and arguably in all contexts as it can mean that they are too different to fraternize with the likes of you, that they exist on the fringes of society and that you are better than them.
So yes, whether or not you describe a person's sexuality as normal or abnormal can have enormously negative or positive meanings. Surely you can appreciate that it doesn't feel nice to have someone tell you that you're abnormal. Normality is often used as an indication of humanity, and to take that away, to say that this person isn't like you, is one of the most powerful insults of all.
Abnormal is almost NEVER used as a positive thing in human society. The only thing I can think of that might make it positive is when people use it ironically by saying "Look at how abnormal and unique I am! Will you like me now because I did enough weird things to fit in with you guys?" And even then people won't use 'Abnormal' and will instead use synonyms with more positive connotations like 'unique' and 'special'.
All a person ever knows is what being themselves is like, and the factors that make up you are shared with other people. You feel degraded when somebody degrades someone of your group and elevated when your group degrades another because you are like your group. Their successes and failures affirm your traits and make you feel proud to be apart of them. Because your self worth is tied up with the status of your respective groups compared to the other groups, and deep down you feel that your group is the best one, you need a mechanism to dehumanize and in a simple way rationalize your hatred towards another group, other than it makes you feel superior and necessary. For this task you employ the use of the word 'abnormal'. They do this so that they can more easily open them up to ridicule and punishment. Describing someone as abnormal is the perfect way to dehumanize someone without going through the effort of coming up with a suitable slur to do it in a more elegant way. It's also just a benign enough term to squeak past the obligatory barrage of "OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU USED *Insert exclusionary slur here* TO DESCRIBE THAT PERSON!" and get your point across.
While I must admit that the person who originally used the word to describe homosexual people probably didn't do so maliciously, And I am going into the most spiteful usage of the word here. But given the history, and popular use of the word and it's sisters as ways to dehumanize and exclude other human beings, and elevate your status, you should begin to appreciate it's profound negative power, It's not just the god fearing fundamentalist religious factions that use it either. I don't think you could say that you've never dismissed a person from your close circle of friends because they were too weird for you.
Calling a homosexual person abnormal, or unnatural is incredibly insulting in many contexts, and arguably in all contexts as it can mean that they are too different to fraternize with the likes of you, that they exist on the fringes of society and that you are better than them.
So yes, whether or not you describe a person's sexuality as normal or abnormal can have enormously negative or positive meanings. Surely you can appreciate that it doesn't feel nice to have someone tell you that you're abnormal. Normality is often used as an indication of humanity, and to take that away, to say that this person isn't like you, is one of the most powerful insults of all.
