Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe LONDON, March 24 (UPI) -- A British television station has decided to alter sign language for the deaf to exclude offensive gestures for homosexuals, ethnic or racial minorities. Vee-TV, Britain's Channel 4 program for the deaf will no longer depict a limp wrist for a homosexual, or Asians with a sign of slanted eyes, The Telegraph reported Wednesday. Advertisement Caroline O'Neill, a researcher at Vee-TV, said the move was to eliminate any possibility of being accused of racism or homophobia. "Before, (the sign for Jewish) was connected to a stereotypical Jewish nose, but now it's a hand sign that mimics the shape of the menorah," she said. The sign for Chinese is the right hand traveling from the signer's heart across his chest horizontally, then down towards his hip, mimicking the tunic worn in China, while the sign for gay is an upright thumb on one hand in the palm of the other, wobbling from side to side. Critics of the move point out in China, the sign for a Westerner is a hand depicting a round eye, which has not sparked any criticism from deaf people in Britain.
