Sign language for gay

MyAmericanSign Language (ASL)* and Deaf studies classes created a sturdy foundation for learning ASL. Classes can only go so far in teaching real-world vocabulary, however. While my professors may believe that it is crucial to teach the sign for “onion” so I can feed myself, I find it more important learn the sign for “gay” so that I can ask a random Deaf stranger wandering the streets “hey, I’m lost, where’s the gay parade?” I would choose a parade over onion rings any day. The only place that I felt I could appropriately absorb these terms was by socializing with my LGBTQ Deaf and signing peers.

Throughout my immersion in the Deaf community, I feel verb I have been collecting these signs and developing my own personal kind of what they represent. Like English, the words and signs we employ to identify and describe ourselves own power for ourselves, our audience, and our culture. As our words and signs change,