Is it time to drop the alphabet soup and embrace the word QUEER?

[suzifrommd]

Is it time to drop the alphabet soup and embrace the word QUEER?

http://instinctmagazine.com/post/it-time-drop-alphabet-soup-and-embrace-word-queer

Adam Dupuis | July 2, 2015

I don't know if it is time to embrace the word Queer, but you have to admit, it is a powerful and unifying term.  Who has yelled, "we're here, we're GLBTIQ, get use to it."  But sometimes I wonder if all of our letters and all of our separate flags do more to divide us than unify us.

How proud were we all to see the Rainbow Flag flying high, being plastered all over everything that didn't move.  It was such a unifying moment for us all. Would QUEER do the same?

[amber roskamp]

I feel like having the lgbtqia acronym actually highlights the existence of the less visible groups of people. I feel like just calling it queer makes people just think LGB. Adding a letter to the acronym always opens the door to discussion when people are not sure about what some of the letters mean.

[Ms Grace]

Can't say I'm a fan of the idea. I just don't identify as queer.

[Cindy]

I'm not a fan of the LGBTIQ acronym. I'm certainly not fond of QUEER. I prefer woman.

[Beth Andrea]

I don't think I'd ever call myself queer. "LGBT" and all its variants actually (imho) creates an "us vs them" atmosphere.

Currently, I am a woman with a male body, and transitioning to a female body. That works for me, but it may not work for others.

[Devlyn]

Is it time to drop the alphabet soup

No, that would say "We're not accepting your type to the club.

and embrace the word QUEER?

Sure, if that's what you embrace. Each of us has their own perspective. There's no universal fit to this.

Hugs, Devlyn

[katrinaw]

Currently, I am a woman with a male body, and transitioning to a female body. That works for me, but it may not work for others.

That just works for me....

Katy xx

[Swayallday]

At this point I find gender and sexuality pretty fluid like water.

People never tend to agree and that is fine. I guess the acronym will only grow though haha.

[Beth Andrea]

At this point I find gender and sexuality pretty fluid like water.

People never tend to agree and that is fine. I guess the acronym will only grow though haha.

Grouping the lgbtqiia is a bit like herding cats....LOL

there isn't a single definition that would fit all of us, except "human", and some of us would challenge even that!

[amber roskamp]

I do want to say I identity as queer. I use that to describe my sexuality because I honestly don't think I'm a perfect fit in the lesbian or bisexual category.

I just don't think that it is a good word to describe the whole community. You could say queer/trans but that still leaves out intersex people. So I think the acronym works better.

[CollieLass]

I am simply 'a Woman' or 'a Person'.........Socio-political communities can call themselves what they will; but in my personal experience, labels often demean and serve to identify and magnify perceived 'difference' in the eyes of those whom ordinarily struggle to be open to what is {simple} human variance.

[Joelene9]

I'm not a fan of the LGBTIQ acronym. I'm certainly not fond of QUEER. I prefer woman.

The same here.

Joelene

[kittenpower]

Queer? Sorry, but I'm not feeling it.

[stephaniec]

I like Stephanie, sorry your going to have to find your own names, but you can use Stephanie too.

[Valwen]

Not totally relevant but my therapist once used the term SOGI for sexual orientation and gender identity.

[LordKAT]

I'm not a fan of the LGBTIQ acronym. I'm certainly not fond of QUEER.

Ditto

[Lady Smith]

I remember when I was early into transition there was an event called the 'Freaks ball' in the town where I was living at the time.  Someone asked me if I was going and I replied, 'No, because I'm not a freak.'  I feel the same way about the word 'queer', - I'm not queer, I'm me.  Being an intersex transwoman I don't give a fig for efforts to stuff all manner of letters after LGB in an effort to fit everybody in under the same umbrella.  Human being is a good umbrella for me to stand under, - I like that one.

[GendrKweer]

I'm as out-loud and proud a queerling as they come. I love the term but even I would hesitate to use it as a blanket statement with respect to transgender issues and people. Simply because queer does not and should not imply a physiological or psychological medical problem, which being transgender I believe is. We have corrective surgery and hormone therapy or regular therapy or for non-ops, we still 'correct' the issue however we psychologically can. Queer to me is a sexual and preferential thing, meaning anyone who has a sexuality outside the norms. I'm proudly queer because I'm in a lesbian marriage, because I'm open to males occasionally, because I firmly believe in polyamory and multiple consenting partners for both myself and my wife, but not because of my SRS surgery (because that was only correcting a physical problem that wasn't my choice to have) anymore than I am queer because I am somewhat tall and most aren't.

[Cindy]

 I think your post stats something that is forgotten. Trans* is to do with gender. LGBTI QUEER is to do with sexuality.

They are different.

[suzifrommd]

I like the term queer because it doesn't tell the story. Saying I'm "pansexual" or "lesbian" or "trans" is telling more about myself than I want to tell.

Saying I'm "queer" (usually said when someone asks about my ex-spouse and I use a female pronoun) doesn't tell more of my story than I want to tell.

I don't like LGBTQQIAAA. It's turning people off to our cause, at the very time we want to win people over.

I've said it over and over again. Language is powerful. If you don't have a term people can use, they won't want to talk about LGBT rights, and if people don't talk about LGBT rights, they won't happen.

Non-queer people are reluctant to use the ever expanding alphabet soup because they're getting harder and harder and harder to remember.

I also think it marginalizes people who are not clued in (which, face it, is most people). They don't know what the second Q means or the third A and it makes them feel out of the loop. It shuts them out. These are the people we *want* on our side - people who don't pay a lot of attention, but who vote and have influence.