What Will Middle and High Schools Be Like Once They Have Come to Accept Gays?

[TheReasonator]

For the past, as long as anyone can remember the main insults in middle and high school have been words to imply or even explicitly state the other person is a homosexual-"faggot", "sissie", "queer", "homo"...Now, that society is swinging over into the direction of accepting homosexuality at some point homophobes will be received by society, including our children in their schools the same way racism is received and "that kid's a faggot" will be more likely to turn into "dude, you hate gay people, that is not cool. hey, everyone let's beat up this bigot and teach him a lesson!" or even "that is our word not your word, straightie!"

So, what will become the new main thing to imply a person is, and that people use as a convenient excuse to bully(even when you're not), and that becomes social suicide to admit in most schools?

Will it be sexually related?
Will it be something we grow to tolerate and accept? And will it be something that we should?

[Old Viking]

The new target will be book-readers.

[Søren]

Jews
Redheads.
People that speak with a lisp.
Yo mamma.

Who the fuck knows?

[Caeliys]

In my experience, the focus will turn to Trans insults.  The anti-gay fundies have already kicked up the pace for producing their anti-trans bs as they loose more on the fight to keep gays marginalized.

[Osama bin Bambi]

In my experience, the focus will turn to Trans insults.  The anti-gay fundies have already kicked up the pace for producing their anti-trans bs as they loose more on the fight to keep gays marginalized.

Seconding this. The people at my school are generally quite accepting of LGB people, it's the T they have a problem with.

Also, I doubt that people are going to be beaten up for being a bigoted asshole. I do think that school rules against such behavior is going to be stricter, however, and more enforced.

[Sleepy]

People at my high school still resorted to racial slurs, sadly, but also casually used "faggot" and various other phrases to imply homosexuality. I think it'll probably evolve to using "tranny" as an insult to a guy, if he doesn't look or dress manly enough.

[Her3tiK]

Echoing the transphobic slurs, though I wouldn't be surprised if Viking were right, and intelligence gets singled out to a degree. I also saw this great comic once that depicted a kid getting insulted for being skinny by a bunch of obese peers. While it was more of a shot against childhood obesity becoming the new norm, it wouldn't wholly surprise me if it happened, what with the differences in peoples' looks/behavior being what gets them singled out and all.

[Sylvana]

Personally I don't think the old ones will ever really go away.
When a slur like faggot is used it is used as an attack on a straight guys sexuality. Hence to said straight guy it is still and insult. A homosexual being called such is not an insult it is just a statement. Children attack other children with pretty meaningless insults but the insults still hurt. Hence the "your mother" insult. It has no relevance and is almost always factually incorrect, however its effect as an insult still works.

With regards to the next group to be actively oppressed and bullied, I agree with the trans sentiment to a degree, but I think I may be leaning more towards children with learning disabilities. Transgender children are rare occurrences, and in the event that they are allowed to begin transitioning while still in school, it is such a controlled event that I can see most children around the trans person being informed and educated about it to the degree that it reduces actual bullying. With the assumption of homosexual acceptance, most trans children will just be lumped under their banner and for the most part go unnoticed. Of course that assumes that children will stop bullying LGBT kids to begin with, given that the premise of bullying is supporting social cliques and targeting a minority "other" regardless of the personal beliefs of the people involved. This has more to do with our tribalistic nature than actual societal acceptance.

In short, I think everything will remain mostly the same unless population demographics change considerably.

[Sleepy]

I have to disagree with "faggot" not being an insult to someone who is gay. It's still a degrading term that singles the person out for his sexuality.

[Distind]

I'm pretty sure I heard people being insulted for being Irish in my school, the old insults never really seem to go away. As for transsexual insults... frankly most of what people would come up with is to complex to be any good, though I did hear he-she, Tranny, and the reverse of the original a few times. So it's not like it's an up and coming topic. That was ten years ago.