Many of us have grown up hearing or using words meant as insults or negative adjectives that were in fact names for social groups. Most of them have gone unquestioned in the mainstream consciousness, but the term Gay in the generally negative meaning has in the past years been given attention as offensive and homophobic, with debates emerging in response over whether or not this is true, particularly on the internet. It is the articles and forum threads from these debates that make out the empirical material for a qualitative study as I ask what these people?s thoughts are about this term and how it is perceived.After a qualitative coding and analysis of these texts, and interpretation of the results based on Erving Goffman?s theory of Phantom acceptance and stigma terms, Judith Butler?s theory of performativity, Ferdinand de Sassure?s theory of signifier and signified and how it connects to the community and Baudrillards theory of simulacra, this is the principal conclusion that I have drawn:For some of the people in this debate, the term Gay and its use is about homophobia and heterosexism, though mostly it?s not overt but a subconscious part of the continued dehumanization and stigmatization of homo- and Bisexual people. This is a position I callThe socially focused skepticism.

Introduction: Men who have sex with men (MSM) is a vulnerable group with regard to HIVbecause of biological factors, lifestyle, discrimination and, in some parts of the world,criminalization. From a public health perspective it is important to include MSM in order to securea high-quality HIV prevention but also to safeguard human rights (HR) for this group. However, itis only recently that the Swedish development cooperation agencies have begun to integrate MSMin HIV prevention. Objective: To examine how employees of Swedish institutions responsible fordevelopment cooperation manage the vulnerable group MSM when providing support for HIVprevention programs and human rights programs. Topics relate to challenges and strategies tointegrate MSM in HIV prevention, which achievements have been obtained, and how to practicallydeal with the criminalization of the group.