Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender… I?
I heard this used on the radio today, about how the Turkish government is actually friendly to LGBTI issues. (No idea if that’s true or not.)
But… I? Intrasex? Intersex (undergoing transition?) Indistinct (can’t tell by looking?)
Intersex. At least in Australia.
http://lgbtihealth.org.au/lgbti/
I quote from a following page: “A person with an intersex characteristic is a person born with physical characteristics that differ from modern medical norms about strictly ‘female’ and strictly ‘male’ bodies. Intersex is not about gender, but about innate physical variations. Most people with intersex characteristics describe their gender as simple women or men, not as a ‘third gender’.”
How many letters before we just go back to good ol’ “queer”?
That was reclaimed from the bigots a generation ago.
After LGBT. any more gets top-heavy.
Simpler is almost always better.
I was going to guess Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgendered on Ice.
Queer is just something that gets added to the rest: LGBTIQ. Then you get more and more, eventually getting to LGBTQQIAAP: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Allies and Pansexual.
At which point, you lose simply everyone - including the original L/G.
And Intersex is a very different critter than LGBT - it is a physical, not emotional condition and implies no emotional conflict, as do the rest of the letters.
I’m pushing for ABS (Anything But Straight) as a catch-all, which has the benefit of being pronounceable AND sexy-sounding.
Sure, it essentially defines non-straights as “Other” but do you want a decent acronym or not?
Questioning
Undecided
Intersex
Lesbian
Trans
Bisexual
Asexual
Gay
Boom. All the bases covered, and it makes a word rather than a collection of letters.
Except it doesn’t really catch the T or the I.
Quite, and “QUILTBAG” has a curious, slightly sexual ring to it as well, so it’s all good.
Eventually we’ll want to include machine intelligences too. I propose we get ahead of the curve and start using BATGIRL:
Bi
Androgynous
Transgender
Gay
Intersex
Robot
Lesbian
It has the advantage of sounding cool, aside from the costuming benefits.
Now I’m going to have an “Ice Ice Baby” earworm for the next few hours. :smack:
I’ve always understood queer to mean homosexual (when used in the context of alternative sexualities.)
What’s so terrible about advocacy groups focused on resolving the problems of marginalizing minorities being conscientious about giving recognition to all the groups they claim to fight for?
A designation that just gets more absurdly convoluted by the day.
What’s wrong with just NH -‘Not Heterosexual’ ? The intent of these growing acronyms is usually just that - “everything but one man/one woman PIV psychosexual relationships,” so who is demeaned by not being individually listed?
All of us. Part of the point is that culturally, those of us who are not heterosexual/heteronormative have been erased, hidden and ostracized. So, when we form advocacy groups and associations, we try to make sure that each member group is visible and obvious because that’s not a freedom we have historically enjoyed. If you don’t like it, tough, you non-homosexual.
Also, there have been a lot of not unfounded charges that the trailing groups in the acronym have received less attention than the gay and lesbian portion of the community when it comes to equal rights legislation and treatment and making a point to include them there doesn’t fix those problems but it helps to keep us aware of them.
It doesn’t include everyone that the (admittedly unwieldy) LGBT-plus designations do. Transgender people may or may not be heterosexual, for example.
I’m OK with being dumped into “genderqueer” as a sort of “etc, whatever those other people may be” category. I’ve been told I qualify as transgender but if I say transgender everyone assumes I think I was born in the wrong body and wish to transition. With “genderqueer” I may not get a correct guess but I don’t get an incorrect one very often either. “Oh, you’re an etcetera… which version?”
No, there’s “genderqueer” too.
There’s also the idea that “queer” is an inclusive term that basically means “anything but normal”, thus, the LGBTQ community can accept and include these people who don’t belong in the “straight” camp, but don’t quite fit into any of the strictly LGBT categories either. This would include pansexuals, the genderqueer, intersex, asexuals and even BDSM and polyamorous people.