This is all getting a bit too exclusionary to straight people. I say SLGBTQA. Just a big ball of wibbly-wobbly sexy-wexy stuff.
I am all for excluding straight people. From everything. Straight couples BREED, and the last thing that this world needs is MORE whiny little crap-machines.
Asexual? I thought the A stood for "allied". As in people who are straight but still support gay rights. o.o
Hmm.. So since like 2 years ago, I was wondering what I would fall under in terms of orientation. Finally I think I found what I actually am. Demiromantic Heterosexual. Tis all very interesting.
There might very well be an "S" standing for "straight" already in there. I can't even remember. "Ally", however, is in there, and it represents straight people who support other LGBTQA(etc.) members. And yes, labels suck. I couldn't have put it better. If I recall correctly, there are over a dozen of those gosh-darned letters.
I know its arbitrary and not all encompassing, but I just use LGBT a lot because those are the big 4 that make up the bulk of a lot of political items (also its easier to say)... Ideally I try to just avoid using letters at all if I can talk about a specific group for a specific reason tho; i.e. one at a time.
Another problem that arises, and your use of the word spectrum really made it stand out to me, is that sexual orientation and gender identity are totally separate concepts and actually in practice it doesn't make much sense to lump the T in with the LGB, let alone many of the other letters which involve fully internal identification not effected by society at all, or affected in more unrelated ways. Its sort of a collection of several different spectrums. xD
Right! But as they all have common ground, they can be a part of one spectrum. In the LGBT spectrum there are sexual identifications and gender identifications and what have you. Yet they all fit into the same community. That's because they all have one common thread; they're all different from each other. Strange as that sounds, the entire reason for there being an LGBT community revolves around the concept of celebrating our differences in sexuality and gender. That they seem not to fit in with each other for various reasons is, if you'll believe it, the point of the entire idea. Also, on an unrelated note, I believe you meant "affected" and not "effected" (though an argument could be made for either). I'd like to make another point here as well, which has been on my mind for some time: you seem to have said in your post that there are concepts in the LGBT community that are not affected by society. I think that is not only impossible but also near the root of the problem I have with these labels. Let's talk about the "T" which stands for "Transgendered." I would argue that gender identity is largely based in one's individual perception of what it means to be that gender, which is in turn informed by society. Just because a gender isn't stereotypical doesn't mean it isn't influenced by society. So, let me sum that up for you to show why it bothers me. Gender is different than physical sex. A person's gender identity being different from what the societal norm is for their physical sex is often called "transgender." However, what's the point of changing what you call it if those values are informed by societal stereotypes? If I say I'm physically a man but identify as a woman, I'm really only saying that I either identify with my idea of what it means to be a woman or that I identify with the societal stereotypes of what it means to be a woman. In my opinion, the first options of those is meaningless to others because the purpose of language is to convey meaning and if I use a word that only I know the meaning of, it will only confuse others, and the second of those options is silly because societal gender stereotypes and norms are idiotic. As a disclaimer, I don't believe there's anything wrong with being transgendered, but if you use the way you identify as a gender which is different than your physical sex to communicate qualities of yourself and expect others to actually understand what you're talking about, you're buying into an arbitrary and sexist system. I think it's best to just feel however you want to feel and identify as you, not as a label someone else cooked up.
Indeed, and I've felt this is the best way a lot of the time. There are a few instances where labels are a good tool to help explain something in a particular situation, and in this more pragmatic sense there have been times where I've either identified as bi or gay and cis, and other various labels, just to help start a conversation in territory closest to what I actually am and then it's easier to pick out what's unique about me or the limits to which these labels do or don't describe myself more easily. And yes I believe I meant affected, but you're also right in that with enough linguistic gymnastics I could have pretended I used effected on purpose to convey a more mutual relationship between the concepts; haha. (It has been corrected) :derpe:
So Lucky Charms now support gay marriage. And Oreos. And Starbucks. And The Girl Scouts. ALL ABOARD THE DIABEETUS EXPRESS. CHOO CHOO.
I think i lost all kind of hope in ''cure for the diabet'' here, as well as hope in humanity. And the game, especially the game.
