If someone used the phrase "girlie men," what comes to mind? Physical weakness, certainly. You might think of the recurring "Saturday Night Live" skit which used that phrase.
But if you're a California Democrat, you think this is the equivalent of calling someone gay. Governor Schwarzenegger called Democrats blocking the state budget "girlie men" because they are being used as supine tools of special interest groups. I can't say for certain if that charge is true -- I suspect it is, since the governor singled out "unions and trial lawyers" as the special interests behind the obstruction, and the Democratic Party gets most of its money from those two groups. I do know that it's kinda funny, and that one shouldn't go ballistic over a little joke, even if you think it's unfair.
Unless you want to tag a political opponent as a thought criminal, that is. Does it fascinate you that when the Democrats in that article hear "girlie men," they hear "fags"? Doesn't this remind you of the famous "Seinfeld" episode where other people think George and Jerry are gay, and they violently deny it, but then quickly add "not that there's anything wrong with that"?
I mean, if the Dems think "girlie men" is a code word for "homosexuals," how can they possibly think that's insulting, unless you think calling someone a homosexual is an insult? If the New York Times and "Queer Eye" have taught us anything, it's that the gay lifestyle is the epitome, the apotheosis of all that is good and right in the modern world. Isn't calling someone "gay" like saying they are cultured, well-dressed, and worthy of our utmost respect and admiration?
You may say, as State Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Neptune) said, that the governor used "an image that is associated with gay men in an insulting way, and it was supposed to be an insult." Effeminate men are associated with homosexuality, and so if you call someone effeminate, you automatically are calling them gay. How does that follow? The CIA used to reject homosexuals because they thought gays were a national security risk; does that mean if you call someone a national security risk, you're calling them gay?
The term "homophobic," like "racist," has ceased to have any meaningful content. It's just a word like "idiot," used as an insult rather than a descriptive term.