transcription: open letter to the lgbtq. dear lgbtq, you are the most inclusive community i know. it is an honor to hang with you. i think it is time to step up your game and add one more letter. s as in straight. -slgbtq supporter.
THE STRAIGHTS ARE AT IT AGAIN. putting the s at the front of lgbtq is by far the straightest straight person thing i have ever seen
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It’s not difficult to recognize you’re queer. Very few people are 0 on the Kinsey scale. Almost everyone would count as bisexual, if they chose to recognize it and own it.
But LGBT+ is about identity. It’s about having enough introspection regarding your own sexuality or your own gender disposition to recognize that this is an aspect of who you are. And because there are social forces that want to push us out of the community, that identity is also political.¹
But straight is also an identity. Not all mlw folk are straight. Straight means identifying as someone who is strictly heterosexual, often to fit into a society that is uncomfortable with LGBT+ folk. It’s a specific assertion that you are not queer. It’s capitulation to pressure to conform.
For much of my life, I identified as a man who is sexually attracted to women, but I also left room for the possibility that maybe I just haven’t found the right dude.² Not because I felt particularly bi-curious, but having been in a sex positive community, it just felt appropriate to leave that door open. Also having bi- friends and partners, there’s a common experience that people slide around on the Kinsey scale with age.
For straights – people who actively identify as straight – that door is closed.
And in this political clime, closing that door might be necessary; it might be unsafe for you to be anything but straight in your neighborhood without risking exposure to harassment and hate crime.
It’s a liability to present as queer. We do so anyway (when we can, when there isn’t too much risk) as part of a movement to normalize sexual and gender diversity, and promote tolerance in our society. But straights are not taking that same risk.
That all said, the LGBT+ community absolutely invites you to consider with honesty and sobriety what you are sexually attracted to, and how you like to express your gender. And if you find there’s something else there than church-approved cis-gender heterosexuality, explore that and adjust your identity accordingly. Our doors are always open.
¹ Note that LGBT+ isn’t always about behavior, and this can upset some people. For example, there is a subset of the wlw community who only wants gold star lesbians (women who’ve never been with men, ever) in their spaces. They’re a pretty isolated group. The British television series Bob & Rose by Russell T. Davies explores what happens when a gay man falls in love with a woman, and the upset (and antics) that can cause.
² I’d also eventually realize that I’m bi-romantic, which might (also) count as queer nowadays. When it comes to non-sexual love language, I tend to express it with people I’m close to regardless of their gender.
Kinsey scale
I believe on a scale of 0 to 6 I’m an 𝒾
I think it’s ok for straights to be allied and get a bit of recognizement for deconstructing the toxic heterosexuality that has been built from centuries ago, but this… Is just cringe, when a group gets too broad then it doesn’t represent anything and anyone. These people should just create their own collective of LGBTQ allies.
Jokes aside, this would just mean “everyone that like some form of sexual activity” at that point. Like ignoring the political aspect, the term would just cease to have function.
Alliance against the asexual menace.
The menacing horse meme but it’s a horde of 8 billion people menacingly fucking to spite the asexual community
I mean queer and the + also includes ace and aro ppl
The ‘+’ is not present in the meme.
Queer sometimes includes ace people but typically not, which is why you normally see LGBTQA+ in modern contexts. The Q and A being different groups of people. I’m not making a political statement about A != Q just a linguistic argument about how I typically see the terms used.
But the plus also includes ace, so it’s just… Everyone. Big “all lives matter” energy from the straights.
But the version in the meme does not have a “+”
I adjusted my comment because of that exact thought.
FWIW I find using ‘the straights’ as a pejorative like that distasteful. Like when one gay person does something antisocial and people attribute that action to the “the gays”.
Pronounced “slug butt Q” of course.
That was a Godlike shitpost, in a newspaper no less. It’s like vintage shit posting but in modern times. Like when some art chud paints with actual paint and not a draw tablet.
Shitpublishing has an air of superiority to it. Like it carries gravitas. Any idiot with Wi-Fi can shitpost, but you have to be an adult, with bank accounts and stuff to shitpublish.
Before reading the actual text I thought the S might have stood for Steve
just a PSA, anyone reading this as anything other than a funny joke needs to log off permanently
Must… be… OUTRAGED!
↑↑↑This guy internets!
Typical, another Three Arrows antifa
Ah yes , the classic “it was just a joke bro, don’t be offended” defense
- All lives matter
- Blue lives matter
- Not all men
- Why didn’t you speak up sooner?
- …
You know the drill.
They did dodge an SS at the end, maybe important when doing acronyms
SLG is a good acronym for the trans exclusionary ppl tho
(bisexuals you know we’re on the “not real queers” chopping block, probably after enbies)
find a reason to add a U in so they can be called SLUGs
I find funny (and sad) when some LGBT people exclude other queers because “they ain’t the real deal”, it’s exactly what straight and cis people mostly did for a long time and they suffered for it, yet, they act the same. I can try to understand why they do not understand other genders since it’s a actually kind of a more complex matter but sexuality is the easiest matter of all, it’s not that much different from liking a type of choccolate vs another or liking them all. :/
I think 90% of it is aging. If you just accept falling behind the bleeding edge of counter-culture and that even though you don’t understand something it can still be a net positive for some people and society at large, then most of the “We weren’t like that!” goes away.
I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I’m with isn’t it, and what’s it seems weird and scary to me, and it’ll happen to you, too!
Xenogenders were the first thing like that for me. I don’t think I’ll ever get it but they seem to enjoy it so what do I know (also I respect the drip, the frog hats and all it looks sick. haven’t seen any in a while, hope the frogkins are still going strong).
There’s a lot of stuff that I don’t get, I just happen to not care about what people identify as. I don’t have to understand to support the other people in the community, and I think that’s what matters. I think that older people could also do this pretty easily.
successful troll
Heteros that care have a little “a’ after the “+” for ally.
too bad we can read bigotry.Idk I’m still mad about all the “Allies” that have tried to take the A away from Ace people. Hell, I’ve had a concerning number of queer people try to tell me that I didn’t count as queer because “Non-binary isn’t Real” and Asexual isn’t part of LGBTQIA+ because the A stands for “Ally”
Serious question (trying not to troll here). At what point is the acronym too big? And, even accidentally, dropping any letter earns you the ire of that group. Is there more inclusive term that covers the spectrum of “I support everything, as long as you wash your hands”?
Well they missed 2S above so basically dead to me.
But to seriously answer your question, if it’s too long you can just say queer.
It’s a best effort every time and highly contextual besides. So more explicitly inclusive is better, but if someone says ^LGBT$ full stop and they’re not obviously being a TERF or signalling excluding folx in other ways then it’s just whatever.
It’s like this:
LGBTQIA+ aI’ve had a concerning number of queer people try to tell me that I didn’t count as queer because “Non-binary isn’t Real”
yikes😬, I hope you’re able to emigrate from them. Us siblings have to stick together🤝🫂.
Or… We just call it gender and sexual minorities like the rest of the world 🤪
fyi, I edited this comment like 7×, I had misread Macchi_the_Slime’s concern like 3×. My 🧠 was in inclusion mode, not “friendo, there’s bigotry even among queer spaces.”
All enbies are valid✊🏿and yes, I comprehended your linguistic snide, which is my I reacted w/“😭”
lemmy doesn’t receive pylova reacts.
I edited this comment like 7x
See that, now my comment no longer makes sense.
In general, though, I think labels like “queer” or “gender and sexual minorities” are better than trying to list a bunch of identities because you both make the acronym way too long to be useful and also you’re bound to leave someone out no matter how long the list is.
it depends the scenario, zeitgeist, & language.
Macchi & I are enbies. We are also polyglots. English itself borrowed a lot of lavender words from European languages, so we can include ourselves when speaking in queer spaces. Macchi, my wife, and I (3 different people) have experienced enby rejection & exclusion from queer spaces, physical & online.
Now when talking to receptive cisfolk, and a generalization is required, I can see the utility of saying “genderless.” But when we want to be included, say during socialization, just add us in to solidarity with us. We are supposed to be inclusionary, not separatists. Statists usually use “sexual minorities” derogatorily, not inclusive at all. So I’d be careful when and how I am excluded when referred as a minority.
I’m so confused. Clearly you’re having another conversation that i’m missing context for. 😅
I’m sorry that you’ve been excluded from queer spaces and I feel fortunate that I haven’t experienced that myself (perhaps that’s due to me rarely interacting with cis people other than at work - all the queer spaces i’m in are made by and for trans and nonbinary folks). I hope you have a great day!
Well, it’s a smol a.
It does make me wonder why the L is placed first and the whole thing isn’t alphabetical or something.
IIRC the acronym was originally GLBT then after the AIDS pandemic it was changed to LGBT to thank all the lesbians that helped out the AIDS patients
“They put us first, so we put them first.”
Because lesbian nurses were the only ones who would care for aids patients during the epidemic.
This. Good on you. Only learned this this year.(Again, possibly)
Also, phonotactics.
Gbltq reads like fblthb the lost. Same for most other orderings. Might just be my warped view, though.
It’s ordered by volume, there are more Lesbians than Gay people I guess.
/s
It’s giving Pink’s “What about us” vibes 🤮
Ootl: what she do this time? (Already exhausted)
When legalising same-sex marriage was the hot topic she wrote a song (from the perspective of the downtrodden) about how the queer community were left abandoned and “sold-out” while being one of the most wealthy privileged straight white women in the world.
How dare wealthy artists try to help social movements
A suffix would roll of the tongue too, but we should not uplift the crazy voices. Makes you feel less safe.
