Missy congratulates SA ‘that’s so gay’ campaign

Singer and open bisexual Missy Higgins took the time during a South Australian visit to meet high school students who moved to no longer have 'that’s so gay' used by students.

Two months ago Wirreanda High School made headlines when students organised to have their peers sign a pledge stating they would no longer use ‘gay’ in a derogatory manner.

Higgins told journalists that she wanted to congratulate the students in person.

"I just thought it would be lovely to shake their hands and tell them to keep going," she said.

"It's so important that it starts from that level and they're already talking about going to other schools and inspiring other kids and I think that's just wonderful.

"They seem sincerely passionate about equality.”

Flinders University researcher Dr Damien Riggs has studied the negative effects of saying ‘that’s so gay’ and previously told blaze the steps taken by Wirreanda High School are positive ones.

“If we accept 'gay' as referencing an identity category, then to call an object 'gay' with negative intent is to trade upon a presumed relationship between the undesired object, and something else that is by implication treated as undesirable (i.e., gay),” he said.

“In other words, the person using the phrase is not using the word 'gay' to make a positive comparison.

“Rather, they are trading upon the common sense understanding that 'being gay' is somehow negative, and thus that the person they are speaking to will understand the attribution being made about the given object as one that is negative.”