Student Vs Apple Over "Gay" Definition

A Massachusetts student has launched a campaign for Apple to remove one of the definitions for "gay" that comes up when using their devices.

Becca Gorman, 15, said she first found the pejorative definition for the word while doing a research project for school last week. According to a screen capture she took of the dictionary application on her MacBook Pro laptop, the third, informal definition of gay was listed as "foolish; stupid," with the example, "making students wait for the light is kind of a gay rule." "At first, I was kind of in disbelief," the Lincoln-Sudbury High sophomore said, adding she couldn't find any other dictionaries that used that particular definition except to denounce it as derogatory. Gorman, whose parents are lesbians, said she's used to hearing the term "that's so gay" thrown around in everyday conversations around her, but was hurt that a "humongous company" like Apple would legitimize it in its own application. "I felt like they had to take care of it," she said.

An Apple representative called Gorman and said the definition would be addressed. According to the above-linked source, the third definition now includes the description "often offensive."