gay interpreters.

Hey y'all,

I'm gay and about to go to ITP school next fall! I picked up ASL wicked fast and my teacher was shocked at my natural ability. My professor who has been signing for eons has told me that there are many gay people in the Interpreting field.

I once read a quote online that said something along the lines of the fact that "gay people were put on this Earth to balance the natural order of things." For some reason I've always liked that quote and maybe we just have a natural connection to communicating because we've struggled to convey how we feel and try to pass on some understanding to our "straight" friends.

I also want to stress that there are various types of gay people out there. I know my avatar is wicked pink, but I did that in honor for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I just want to stress that we're not all feminine and graceful. Most of us are quite masculine and undetectable. lol, not that anything escapes Deaf Eyes. ;-)

Thanks for reading,

iacobus
 
iacobus said:
Hey y'all,

I'm gay and about to go to ITP school next fall! I picked up ASL wicked fast and my teacher was shocked at my natural ability. My professor who has been signing for eons has told me that there are many gay people in the Interpreting field.

I once read a quote online that said something along the lines of the fact that "gay people were put on this Earth to balance the natural order of things." For some reason I've always liked that quote and maybe we just have a natural connection to communicating because we've struggled to convey how we feel and try to pass on some understanding to our "straight" friends.

I also want to stress that there are various types of gay people out there. I know my avatar is wicked pink, but I did that in honor for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I just want to stress that we're not all feminine and graceful. Most of us are quite masculine and undetectable. lol, not that anything escapes Deaf Eyes. ;-)

Thanks for reading,

iacobus
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I have had many terps who were gay, lesbain, or bis and it never bothered me. The most important thing was that they reamined professional and were fluent in both languages.
 
I don't think it would be any more appropriate for a deaf consumer to ask a terp what his or her sexual orientation is than for terps to ask deaf consumers about their orientations.
 
shel90 said:
I have had many terps who were gay, lesbain, or bis and it never bothered me. The most important thing was that they reamined professional and were fluent in both languages.
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Yes, I had bisexual interpreter when I was at high school but I never know about her until I share about my sex orientation.
 
Yes! I do love gay, lesbian and straight interepreters.. They are awesome!!
 
About 90% of the men I've met who are studying to become interpreters are gay. Seems like it is a field heavily dominated by women and gay men. Not sure why that is, but I could care less. Hearing, deaf, straight, gay, we're all human.

One thing though that I have noticed with some gay male ASL students is that they have a very annoying way of fingerspelling. They sign way too fast and they move their wrist too much, exaggerating some handshapes. Also, there tends to be an exaggerated "flow" to the letters in an attempt to make it more graceful, but I just find it distracting. I've only seen this in students though. An accomplished terp gets rid of that gimmickery at some point, gay or otherwise.
 
The reason the field is dominated by gay men is because we love to talk. Think about, being able to talk to someone without saying a word. How Wonderful is that. I'm a 21 year old gay male and I want to get my NIC really bad. I just love being able to chat with people in the Deaf community, as well as I feel that there is a lot to be learned from them. Plus what could be more perfect then talking about a cute guy, without them know about it. :-D
 
agarrison said:
The reason the field is dominated by gay men is because we love to talk. Think about, being able to talk to someone without saying a word. How Wonderful is that. I'm a 21 year old gay male and I want to get my NIC really bad. I just love being able to chat with people in the Deaf community, as well as I feel that there is a lot to be learned from them. Plus what could be more perfect then talking about a cute guy, without them know about it. :-D
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I'm in the same boat...I want NIC master level. Shonna is a great. Mentor if you're in FLA... ;-)
 
agarrison said:
The reason the field is dominated by gay men is because we love to talk. Think about, being able to talk to someone without saying a word. How Wonderful is that. I'm a 21 year old gay male and I want to get my NIC really bad. I just love being able to chat with people in the Deaf community, as well as I feel that there is a lot to be learned from them. Plus what could be more perfect then talking about a cute guy, without them know about it. :-D
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when I was in class for my medicine ceritfication back in August for my 2nd job, the terp was gay. I LOVED chatting with him during breaks..more than the straight female terp. She seemed so prim and uptight so the male terp and I were just chatting away about fashion and crazy s*** (that I wont say here for fear of offending some people). Was fun! Made those 4 Saturdays of classes bearable! :lol:

My aide is a lesbain and I totally love our "talks" :D
 
I had gay/lesbian interpreters in San Francisco area and they were the best ones!!
 
I've encountered a lot of gay interpreters and absolutely love them! Even tried to turn one, who was my dream guy, straight... No success!

I feel more comfortable with gay interpreters than the straight ones for some reason. They're more flexible, easygoing, excellent at their interpreting skills, and we have amazing conversations.
 
I must say, as a professional interpreter, this is the first time I was aware that one's sexuality was important to the job. I can truthfully say that it never came up in any of my assignments.

I'm curious. How do you know that your interpreters are gay? Do they introduce themselves that way? Do you ask?
 
Reba said:
I must say, as a professional interpreter, this is the first time I was aware that one's sexuality was important to the job. I can truthfully say that it never came up in any of my assignments.

I'm curious. How do you know that your interpreters are gay? Do they introduce themselves that way? Do you ask?
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I can tell that some of my terps are gay because of their facial expressions/body languages. Some terps are very open minded to tell me about their sex orientation and some don't want to talk about their personal life, it's part of their job as terp. That's OK. I respect them but I never ask them about their sex orientation.
 
Sosie said:
I can tell that some of my terps are gay because of their facial expressions/body languages. Some terps are very open minded to tell me about their sex orientation and some don't want to talk about their personal life, it's part of their job as terp. That's OK. I respect them but I never ask them about their sex orientation.
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What are gay facial expressions/body languages?
 
Reba said:
I must say, as a professional interpreter, this is the first time I was aware that one's sexuality was important to the job. I can truthfully say that it never came up in any of my assignments.

I'm curious. How do you know that your interpreters are gay? Do they introduce themselves that way? Do you ask?
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No, non of them have never introduced themselves that way and I have never asked. Sometimes I can tell and sometimes I don't. However, whenever I find out for sure was during breaks during chatting. The would say "my boyfriend and my partner"
The lesbain ones never really talk about their personal lives like the men do so it is usually through the community or seeing them at events are when I know for sure.

I just noticed that the gay terps are much more open about themselves than the straight and lesbains. That's in my experience.
 
Reba said:
What are gay facial expressions/body languages?
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Duh, me.. I meant to say I could tell some of the terps because of their body languages/facial expressions.

I will be right back on this one. I need to pee...
 
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