i don't think it can hurt though. The money isn't really a problem.
Frankly, for me, it reflects much worse on the people who say it... so anything that encourages them to up their game can't be a bad thing.

I guess it really all depends on who you are talking to, where you say it, how you say it, why you say it, The context and meaning of it. A lot more complicated then just the word it's self.

In brief, ask an overweight gay man why he has been threatened or assaulted and he will not tell you it is because he is fat. Your parents will not disown you for marrying someone who is overweight. You will not be kicked out of your home, forced to live on the street, selling sexual services because you are overweight. Etc, etc, etc. Obese people enjoy all their deserved rights and freedoms. There are plenty of reasons the GLBT community might appear to be more sensitive to flippant derogatory comments. I recognize the sheer volume of fat jokes out there and I sympathize, but frankly, equating our two struggles is erroneous and offensive.
That is not to suggest I don't have a sense of humor. The gay fish song from South Park is currently my ringtone. As someone mentioned, context is an important factor.
-And that is about all the internet I have for today.

we need a "Gay Discussion" section of the forums
edit: woo! two stars.

I'm afraid I don't agree on this one. The way I see it, people who are truly inclined to be hateful and spiteful and just downright mean will do so regardless of whatever external stimuli happen to be thrown in their direction. They may choose to polarize themselves around a particular subject, they may choose a particular "banner," as it were, to center their hatred around, but the actual people they choose to persecute? Who their targets are? That's meaningless to them. It could be anyone.
These individuals are sociopaths. Now, for the sake of argument, let's say there was no such thing as homosexuality. I'd put forward the notion that these people would still find something to hate, something to be angry with. Why? Because this is what they -do.- So if it wasn't the Gay and Lesbian community, it would be some other minority... some other target that they felt they could "safely" attack. They would find some other unfortunate scapegoat for their aggressions.
My overall point being that I think what a lot of people in these minority communities that take a lot of flak from others seem to think of as directed attacks against their lifestyles or against themselves, are nothing more than the inane rantings of people who are just too stupid to know any better. Why give these people power over you? Ignoring their rantings reduces them to stark raving mad lunatics, howling into the night, to an audience whose ears are deaf to anything they could possibly have to say. It renders them completely powerless. But by acknowledging that their words -are- a direct attack on your way of life, you give them what they want. Now they have your attention, and now they can cause whatever discord they like.

I have no problems imagining that quite a few overweighted gay guys/gals out there are/were at one time or another denied a job solely for being overweighted even before they've had a chance to disclose their sexual preferences, so i wonder if overweighted people are really enjoying their rights and freedoms as you claim.
But you will definitely end up selling sex on the streets if you're kicked out because you're gay ? How do you figure ?
If someone ends up on the street selling sex to get by, the underlying reason why they've found themselves kicked out of their homes and forced to live on the streets it's beside the point. The choice they make at that time regarding how they move on with their lives boils down to personality and circumstance, nothing else.
You're making it sound like everything bad/unpleasant that happens to gay people can be traced to a point of origin, intolerance in one form or another, and as such gay people get sorts of a 'free pass' to make bad judgement calls and scream for equality when faced with some injustice/hardship instead of fending off for themselves like everybody else has to.

I think I can put my hand up here as one who has.

All equality is equal but some equality is more equal then others.
EDIT:
actualy im not sure that makes sense but never mind

Hmm, well as I said, I've had a fair amount of abuse over the course of my life for a number of different reasons I threaten stupid people but without fail, the very first attempt at an insult is a derivative of fat. Every single time. Stupid people go for visual difference before ANYTHING else
Interesting you mention the kicked out of home thing, thats the exact reason (or excuse to be more accurate) that a friend of mine was kicked out of home although her parents were monumentally fucked up. Then again, the same can be said about someone who rejects their children based on who they like to shag

Yeah i was speaking only as a fat guy

Fixed?

These are the sentences of your divine words that caught my attention. In truth, I have in fact seen this happen to MANY of my out of the closet friends. I'm serious. I find it rather...pathetic....that the parents of the out of the closet child(ren) would do this. I've had maybe 5 friends at the most who were tossed out because of this. Now, I am gonna also say this: My friends and I go to a ghetto back words school where sports dominate and if you even wear the wrong label (AKA, nothing that is FUBU or South Pole or Air Jordans oriented.) you are immediately an outcast and join our ranks, which is purely the Goths, Nerds, Emos, Punks, Polytheistic Religious People, and same Sex Oriented People. It is even worse for them here because people learn about it and do TERRIBLE things to them. I can't describe how hard it was to comfort them because even though I am a good listener, that is a little too much for me to listen to.
Now, getting back on the subject, I feel that many of my friends are too pressured to even give their parents a HINT about their life choices. I have nothing against people like this, and neither should America. But then again, it comes to it being either 1 or 2 things:
"The Bible says it's immoral and an abomination."
or, my personal favorite,
"It's just weird and I don't want to accept it."
WAKE UP fucktards. Your MOM might be like that for all you know!
@ Aliasalpha, the weight thing is something I can kind of relate to since my youngest brother can wear my clothing and I am probably a stick compared to most people. Everyday he comes home bawling about people calling him stupid and fat, and I just sit there with his head on my shoulder while he cries. The poor kid, it isn't his fault. Fucking condition and HIS parents over feeding him. Sorry you had to go through that dude, but hey, those people are probably on the corners for all I know.

Nope, I'm not that, I'm not metabolically challenged, I'm not plus size or any of those other lame shitty terms, I'm fat.
I hate it with a passion so this is no pride bullshit, I just detest calling a spade anything but a spade (or maybe a shovel)

You'll get no argument from me on that one cause i know exactly what you mean.
But the question mark was actually meant to provide you with enough room to totally deny the 'gentleman' bit :)

All this has thrown up an interesting thing. I think it's possible the severity of the discrimination against homosexuals is greater than that which is chucked against overweight people, but it's FAR more acceptable in society to discriminate against weight than it is against sexuality.
Those who are gay may well disagree with this assessment, but I think that overall sensible people will agree that attacking sexuality is a pretty fucked up thing to do. I've seen an awful lot of anti-fat jokes in the media and it seems to be generally far more acceptable. Perhaps it's an attitude that weight is self inflicted and thus it's OK to attack it. I dunno, either way It does seem to be far more acceptable to have a go at fat people. A scene in Men In Black suddenly springs to mind - Will Smith's character chases down that alien at the start and the overweight and aggressive (so we find it easier to hate him) cop gets out of breath. Back at the station there's a bit of an argument between them and Smith makes a couple of fat jokes. Imagine if that cop was gay and he made a couple of homophobic jokes - there's just no way it would happen.
I wouldn't even begin to attempt to work out what's worse, I think that'd be a pretty pointless exercise. As a former fat bloke I'm all too aware of how acceptable people have found it to have a go.
I've kinda forgotten what my point was so urm. Free Tibet!