why LGBT ?

[Shambles]

I was thinking why these things have been grouped together L, G, B, T, and the other parts that have recently been added.. sometimes, i can think of the I and Q. I get that it's something that's evolved over time and will continue to develop over time as time goes by and we become more mainstream and accepted.

Let's break it down alittle as if sexuality and gender are completely different issues there's two distinct spectrums going on here. LGB could be considered as a spectrum with straight at one end, bi in the middle and L and G at the other. While the T is a separate spectrum completely - the addition of any other letters is just a continuation of the T.

I can see a benefit from these minority communities to band together, have more of a voice, feel less isolated but in reality lgbt really just stands for minority.

Do you think that in the future this group of people wont exist? will it become so accepted that becomes mainstream as are you left or right handed or will another term take it's place that's more exclusive of all the points of the spectrums ?

[Christy Lee]

I was thinking why these things have been grouped together L, G, B, T, and the other parts that have recently been added.. sometimes, i can think of the I and Q. I get that it's something that's evolved over time and will continue to develop over time as time goes by and we become more mainstream and accepted.

Let's break it down alittle as if sexuality and gender are completely different issues there's two distinct spectrums going on here. LGB could be considered as a spectrum with straight at one end, bi in the middle and L and G at the other. While the T is a separate spectrum completely - the addition of any other letters is just a continuation of the T.

I can see a benefit from these minority communities to band together, have more of a voice, feel less isolated but in reality lgbt really just stands for minority.

Do you think that in the future this group of people wont exist? will it become so accepted that becomes mainstream as are you left or right handed or will another term take it's place that's more exclusive of all the points of the spectrums ?

I HATE lables, so  confusing when your transgendered, i hope in the future its just like oh that guy he just likes other guys, or that girl just likes other woman, that guy over there likes both men and woman, that person over there is a guy but feels like a girl so is just presenting accordingly, that guy over doesnt like sex at alll..... none of this LGBTQIABCDEFG crap.... i hope they get phased out all together personally




*No Profanity Please*

[Elis]

Even though LGBT culture itself is becoming slightly diluted (gay pubs and clubs are shutting down, the secret language/codes no longer exist and for the most part we're excepted and have some protection legally). But I think they'll always be more to do on the law side of things sadly. The word queer will become even more accepted as a positive term and more people will identify as such as is happening now. So LGBTQ will become the standard.

I think the T should be separate as we have completely different needs to the LGB community but that's seen as too controversial.  Maybe it'll happen when being trans is seen as any other medical condition; not like how it is now. Something we need to do but still seen as odd.

[Kylo]

There will always be a minority of some things as opposed to the average or norm, but hopefully in the future people will not fixate so much on these things. Society does change. Which direction it goes in though... I don't know. I think there will be a resurgence of conservative values which is not good for us or our treatment, unless they can somehow be convinced to accept the science evidence for trans conditions. If the future involves more religious fundamentalism... that'll be grim.

I don't think T belongs in LGB, as it's made people assume being trans is a sexual preference it seems. But I think we're probably going to need the support and voice of numbers in the coming years.

[Dani]

We all know that sexual preference and gender identity as two different things. Both these conditions are in the minority and not societies usual interpretation of normal. Therefore, the culture we live in just groups us all together and calls us LGBT and now lately, I have seen a Q added to the alphabet soup.

This is just a label and I am not defined by someone else's label. I am different from the normal and I accept myself for what I am. Only I must live with my condition. I am now post-op 2 years and I am happy with myself and the decisions I made for myself.

Living with the LGBTQ label will cause some people to regard us as second class or worse. It is our task to inform these people that we are just as good citizens as they are by our actions and every day living.

[KathyLauren]

As long as we are fighting oppression, the LGB and the T are natural allies, so grouping us all together makes sense.  In fact, it is not well known that, in the Stonewall riots that began the "official" struggle for gay rights, trans people were at the centre of it.  It would have been just another routine police raid if they hadn't arrested the cross-dressers, provoking the riot.

Yes, as logical categories, sexual orientation and gender identity are separate things.  But the political and religious opposition to our existence is much the same.  Considering that the LGB are about 30 years ahead of the T in fighting back, we could learn a lot from them.

And there is the fact that most of us are gay or lesbian either before transition or after, or else bi throughout.  So I think we have quite a bit in common.

The alphabet soup gets a bit ridiculous, though.  Now it's up to LGBTQIA2+.  For sanity, it's pronounced "queer".

[V M]

Hi friends 

Let's try to remember to keep site rules in mind when posting, particularly

9. If you disapprove of people who are Transgender, Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual; or activities which cross gender boundaries; take your arguments to a more appropriate website.

10. Bashing or flaming of an individual or group is not acceptable behavior on this website and will not be tolerated in the slightest for any reason.  This includes but is not limited to:
Advocating the separation or exclusion of one or more group from under the Transgender umbrella term. The same restriction applies to advocating the removal of the T from GLBT.
Suggesting or claiming that one segment or sub-segment of our community is more or less legitimate, deserving, or real than any others.
Suggesting that Trans people are not really men (FTM) or women (MTF).
Posting any messages that engages in personal attacks and/or is actively or passively aggressive no matter the provocation.

Thank you

V M

[Shambles]

Hi friends 

Let's try to remember to keep site rules in mind when posting, particularly

Thank you

V M

Im sorry if this topic was against any rules, please remove or lock if you see fit. I ment no disrespect to anyone by sharig my thoughts. Its just fasinating how these lables get adapted and change with socity tends change, hence the reference to left and right handers.

I dont care how things are grouped together personally as it doesnt change me or my thoughts as im just me but how the community as a whole could be veiwed by the majority of people out there as they come to understand more

[Michelle_P]

Well, the LGB population is primarily built around gender orientation and/or sexual orientation depending on individuals.  Like transgender folks, many of the other folks in the remaining alphabet soup have gender identity and incongruity as a common theme.

We all share in gender-linked issues that conflict with the current Western culture and its emphasis on maintaining a heteronormative male-dominated structure, the 'patriarchy' of feminist literature.  We band together because there is strength in numbers. 

That said, I do find some stresses between the LGB communities and the various gender identity/incongruity folks, primarily from a lack of understanding or simply bad information.  I've done some educational outreach work with local LGB folks that has improved relationships and understanding, but that hardly has a worldwide impact.

There are unfortunate ideological barriers with a few local groups that prevent their accepting any information that conflicts with their ideology, and they continue to be exclusionary of others.  I expect this to fade away over time. (Always the optimist!)

The real issue for me is the deliberate fragmentation of LGBTQ communities into subgroups as a strategy to divide and weaken the individual subgroups.  There are factions within the dominant heteronormative culture that seek to deliberately do this as part of rolling back recent gains in acceptance of LGBTQ folks.  This is readily visible in the recent banding together of alt-right, select evangelical religious groups, and a few vocal oppositional radical feminists to go after transgender and and other marginalized groups so as to splinter the LGBTQ common interest.

It's just 'divide and conquer' strategy aimed at weakening and rolling back rights.

[Colleen_definitely]

People instinctively categorize things, and some people like having something they can belong to.

So what's the biggest group out there?  Obviously, it's the cisgender heterosexual type people.  There are simply more of them than any other group.  So one could have two labels: them and "others" but that seems a bit clinical and dehumanizing.  So people made labels.  But why so many?  Simple: gay guys aren't really the same group as lesbians, then the bi/pan folks make things a little messier, asexual people who don't care at all spread yet more chaos, then add in transgender people that can be any of the previous and then nonbinary people and you end up with a lgbtqfaklja;sdfiasjpdfklasndf;laksdhf2433r4 sort of acronym that looks like it was made by a cat walking on a keyboard.  It also has a good chance of giving your average cis-hetero person a headache trying to figure it all out.  (even I get a bit confused by some of the more obscure labels from time to time)

I'll be the first to admit that I was a bit bewildered by all of the subgroups out there when I first started looking into it.

While being in the "others" category isn't quite as unremarkable to people as somebody being left handed vs right handed, I think we are on the way.  Considering how far society has come over the last few decades the future is bright.  But I don't think labeling will completely disappear for gender, sexual orientation, etc... any more than they have for handedness. 

[Jenny94]

A standard argument for a "community" is the existence of shared experiences: hence, non-hetero and trans people might all have had the experience of being told they're attracted to the "wrong" people. The inclusion of trans alongside non-straight, seems sensible twofold to me: firstly, that a gay man who finds she is in fact a straight trans woman is still a member of the same community and doesn't have to stop going to this or that social group. Secondly, because both groups of people classically presented themselves in a similar (ish) unorthodox way, and when time moved on, there was no good reason to separate one community from the other.

I feel I haven't explained this well. These are just two isolated reasons why queer and trans ought to belong together. Others might be: we experience hatred of a similar kind from mainstream society (though stronger in the trans case), ,we were often conflated in old cultures (though wrongly), a LOT of trans people are non-straight, there aren't enough trans people to make a big university society.....

BTW, I think "queer" is the best term ever. It's the perfect term that says nothing. It's the easiest way to say that you're not cis-het mainstream without having to actually say anything about yourself - the same right that cis-het people have in the rest of society. =D

[Shambles]

What fantstic replies, very insitefull.

You know i must be so sweet and inocent it never occured to me that some people
might want to split up the community though ideas of grandple or worse if from a cis perspective. And it never even clicked that its true most t people would have had interactions with lgb either in the past or present. In terms of lgb with t peolple i can see its very subjective and relies on a central point ie a biological man who identifies as female, if she is into girls that makes them l but that might not show for others if they still present male for iperspecive

Ive always thought the term queer was a negitive term but that might just be my internal struggle but your right it is as good catch all term as any that just means non cis  or non hetro and i shouldnt be afraid of that.

Its easy to see that everyone who replyied has thier own well thought out view on this but thier is a central theme of banding together, support and unity.

Thank you for helping me understand more