SF "Geezers Ball"

San Francisco:
" GEEZERS BALL"

Each year in San Francisco, California, several nonprofit groups co-sponsor the Geezers Ball, a dance party for midlife and elder gay/bi men, and their male friends.
And, each year, somebody complains about its name. In the Bay Area Reporter, 5 June 2003, Stan Farwig quotes three dictionaries to show how "geezer" is an insulting "ageist put-down".
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Senior Unlimited Nudes (SUN) replies to such complainers:
"Yankee, beatnik, fag, bitch, hippy, queer, pagan, pervert, crone, dyke, geezer -- each is a dysphemism which some recipients reclaimed.
As oysters turn irritating sand-grains into pearls, the oppressed may try to wear an insult as a badge of pride.
SUN applauds the linguistic warriors who organize and attend SF's annual Geezers Ball.
Even so, the Geezers Ball has a major flaw --
in that it occurs just once a year.
In the other eleven months, elder gay men have lamentably few social opportunities, even in queer-friendly San Francisco."
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