Alphabet soup
Transmissions
Published 10/21/2010
by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
http://www.ebar.com/columns/column.php?sec=transmissions&article=148An essay last week written by Winston Gieseke on
Gay.com blasted the use of the acronym LGBT, shorthand for many as referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. The argument was a simple one, the acronym has become too diluted as other terms have been added to it: queer, questioning, intersex and others have made it an acronym that is difficult to relate to, and unwieldy to use.
In a straw man argument, Gieseke writes, "[LGBT] reads like a bunch of dissimilar misfits grouped together. And if that's the case, should we throw in battered women and the Amish? They probably have sex, too. And what about WWII-era Japanese Americans? Then it could be LGBTQIAOPBAAWW2JA. Talk about a mouthful."
