What do you think? Joke I found offensive.

Thumbs down to the producer/director/whoever was running the show, then.
The line must have been spoken at least once or twice in rehearsal, as well as the puff of smoke effect being organised. How could they miss it?

Either that or the bog standard schools my sixteen year old daughter has been to/is still at are not bog standard at all but really unusual.

Which I sincerely doubt.

If my guess is correct, whoever wrote that show may be dead already.

Children are being educated that homosexuality is okay. Gather any bunch of sixteen year olds and talk to them about it and you'll see that, to put it their way, most of them are... like... cool with it. Most of them have homosexual friends and some of them have homosexual siblings. It really isn't a big deal.

Which is not to say there isn't still some prejudice, but I reckon it does not occur mainly in young people.

But Jane10 it's not those of us who are aware of hurt that are the problem it's the many in the audience who will see it as ok to use words or jokes like that
In a child or young persons eyes ...' all the grown ups are laughing so I ll say that and make people laugh too' by using it as a 'joke' in a kids panto it is being given the all clear
My grandson and a couple of friends did a refereeing course last year and have since reffed under 11 s games One of the boys was teased and called a 'paedo' by colleagues because he was reffing young kids games it got so bad he wouldn't go near the pitch stopped reffing stopped playing stayed in his room became depressed Bullying words can ruin someone's life ... luckily his mum eventually found out what was causing the unhappiness and it was dealt with but that lad could have ended up taking his life over something like that

We HAVE to educate the next generation by not including homophobic jokes in mainstream talk so a BIG thumbs down to whoever wrote that show

I was thinking that last night, jane10, but you have expressed it much better than I would have done. I was going to say that if we just ignore words like poof and fairy eventually they'll lose any sting they once had. I honestly think they have lost most of it already. Most people are perfectly accepting of homosexuality nowadays. We've even changed the law to allow same sex marriage. Those who have 'issues' with homosexuality are in the minority and I think the size of that minority is steadily shrinking.

Wondering if the panto was written for this particular performance or if it was an old one pulled out of an old collection. If the latter, that would explain it. I'd be surprised if script writers used words like poof and fairy in such a way in a new-write.

The best way to devalue these words are to render them as comparatively as meaningless as any other adjective. As long as we react to them in the way that they seem 'special' they will be attractive to children to use.
Homosexuality is a fact of life. Its not new. Its time it was just accepted and, to children, just ordinary. By overreacting to any mention of words pertaining to it we keep the prejudice going.

And this
www.nhs.uk/livewell/bullying/pages/homophobicbullying.aspx

For example
www.stonewall.org.uk/sites/default/files/teachers_report_2014.pdf

Completely agree with you OP - as for those of you thinking it's acceptable, haven't you any awareness of the homophobic bullying that goes on in schools today? I wonder very seriously about the 'adult' who wrote the 'joke' - I go to a panto every year and have never heard a 'joke' on these lines.

They are old fashioned terms that I thought they had been wiped out along with 'queer' they belong to a generation who did ridicule gays and treat tham badly and they have no place in a child's pantomime Pantomimes should be fun and teasing and ever so slightly risqué but not cruel or deriding

I think that joke is in poor taste and could easily encourage playground bullying as if it's OK and gets laughs at the panto then it's ok to use in the playground

There's loads of slightly naughty jokes that can be in a pantomime script without words like that being used it's so out of date I imagine that 'joke' was put in by an elderly male who lives in the past and probably still uses the 'm' word for downs kids

I didn't read the OP properly. Hadn't realised it was children acting. Soz.

LSP, among the young people I know terms like gay, bi, hetero, etc are not used as insults, only as descriptions (and only then if it seems necessary; nobody cares except for what might be called 'practical' purposes) and it appears to be fine for one's sexuality to be anything. Mind you, it's possible I only know nice young people. In fact, I'm sure I do.

I don't think the joke was offensive, but in poor taste and not very funny.

That's a good point. An adult writing a script for children ought to have more sense.

Anyway, peace out and happy new year!

No. And it shouldn't be a big deal. So why did an adult need to write this ;'joke' into a script for children to act out?

I wish that were the case thatbags but it simple isn't true, young gay people are bullied because of their sexuality across the country every day. Why is the term Gay, and not Heterosexual, used as an insult? It isn't as bad as it was but it's still a lot tougher out there if you're gay.

I wonder why there are almost zero gay football players if the world doesn't care?

It still matters and just like everyday sexism and casual racism it all adds up.

So lets stop it, eh? I can get through whole years without being homophobic or racist.

This was a kids show and the terms used are insults that are still thrown around at young homosexuals today.

I am sure the panto would not have suffered if they had left out the casual homophobia.

Well said, pogs. And I agree with antonia: young people nowadays are extremely straightforward about homosexuality. It just isn't a big deal at all.

Good job the panto wasn't accompanied by 4 Poofs And a Piano , the smelling salts would be required.

I went to see the latter with a gay relative , they were amusing.

It's not the 'words' but the 'context' of their use that is insulting and to be honest just believing that gay /lesbian people are offended at the drop of a hat is from my contact with friends and family more insulting as this denotes the person finding offence sees 'them' (not a nice word I know) as having ' a problem ' that requires defending at all times.

I think the usual panto brigade such as Christopher Biggins, Paul O'Grady and Julian Clary would let the OP joke go frankly.

[tinhat]

LumpySpacedPrincess, homosexual people are not all bullied and victimised in today's society. They used to be, it used to be a criminal offence, now they can get married and no-one gives a toss anymore. And this was in a panto for goodness sake. If pantos couldn't say anything that could be remotely construed as offensive, they wouldn't be funny.

I've seen 3 this year, 4 last and one at least for the last 30 years. I really don't think I could fit anymore in.

I agree with OP that fairy and poof are unacceptable especially when children are saying the words.

You need to go to more pantos!

I watch panto every year, none of them use jokes like this anymore, why would they?

Would casual racism be okay then?

I'm sure the whole panto wasn't homophobic. This was a one-liner. And I'm sure there were other similar lines. That's what panto is!