How can we call something gay bashing when we don't know when someone is gay?
It seems on this board, someone is called gay or a fag just to insult them, while not really
having any foreknowledge that the person is or is not of that orientation. It's just another
way of calling denigrating someone, like calling out someone's mother.
I've never heard someone use a racial slur in that same way. No one would call someone
else the 'n'-word as an insult, unless they KNEW that the person was a person of color.
If they use it otherwise, it's in the same way it is used in urban culture - more as a term of
endearment, not an insult. I've heard urban white kids call other white kids the 'n'-word, but
again, it's all part of the urban, hip-hop culture, not an insult.