I fucking hate the term banter, it's so over-used and is almost always a way of trying to get away with being a shit to somebody and passing it off as humour.
On the subject of gay being used all the time, I put it down to the fact that the people who throw it around don't know what it means. Not long ago me and a friend came across this rude 11 year old girl who kept calling my friend gay. Granted, he is very camp, but that's not the point. I started shouting over her, asking her what gay even means, and she was unable to tell me the meaning of it. She'd obviously overheard somebody say it and thought it was a good insult. It's ingrained in society as a way of trying to insult somebody, yet has no depth and real meaning.
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