Ok, what is LGBTQ?

[frustrated_lefty]

Saw this on posters in Philly today and my mind melted.

I want to be considerate and thoughtful and all that good stuff, but what the ***k is a "Q?!"

[hyphenate]

1. I don't know for sure

but perhaps "queen" as in drag queen?

[flvegan]

2. Queer, questioning

as I understand it.

[Not Me]

3. Questioning

nt

[Nikki Stone 1]

5. Ah...

Thanks!

[Nikki Stone 1]

4. You got me curious now. Q?

I can't wait to see it.

[Tony_Illinois]

6. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer

An all-inclusive acronym.

[conflictgirl]

7. I thought it stood for queer

Basically anyone who feels that they are other than heterosexual but doesn't fit into any of the LGBT categories. I could be wrong though.

[kansasblue]

8. lesbian, gay bi transgender, questioning

[Kolesar]

9. What if you saw PRNDL Q?

What would you do?

[frustrated_lefty]

11. Ignore it?

PRNDL has no meaning to me. Adding a "Q" to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender suggests, to me at least, that something new is being recognized. If it stands for "questioning," that's really lame and distracting.

[Drum]

20. PRNDL:

I recognize it as

Park-Reverse-Neutral-Drive-Low

The basic automatic transmission

[mwooldri]

14. RUN? (n/t)

[mwooldri]

15. A PoRN DownLoad Queue?

Sorry I guess I have a smutty mind. Depending on the kind of porn I might wait for it to download so I can watch it... if it interferes with the Voip phoneline I might throttle it back... if it's uninteresting I might kill it... if it's too slow I might replace the item in queue for something else.

Or I might do something else, like spend time with the family.

Mark.

[liberalpragmatist]

10. At my school it's now LGBTIAQA

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Asexual, Intersex, Questioning, Ally

WAAAAAY too many letters, if you ask me. GLBT worked fine; or just go with "Q"

[melnjones]

17. wow...

I've never seen anyone include asexual.

[liberalpragmatist]

19. I also don't know how "intersex" is different from "transgender"

:shrug:

[bicentennial_baby]

21. ...

An intersexual or intersex person (or animal of any unisexual species) is one who is born with genitalia and/or secondary sexual characteristics of indeterminate sex, or which combine features of both sexes. (The terms hermaphrodite and pseudohermaphrodite, which have been used in the past, are now considered pejorative and inaccurate and are no longer used to refer to an intersexual person.) Sometimes the phrase "ambiguous genitalia" is used.

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex

Broadly speaking, transgender people are individuals whose gender expression and/or gender identity differs from conventional expectations based on the physical sex they were born into. The word transgender is an umbrella term which is often used to describe a wide range of identities and experiences, including: FTMs, MTFs, cross-dressers, drag queens, drag kings, gender queers, and many more. ...
http://www.web.mit.edu/hudson/www/terminology.html

[melnjones]

27. intersex has to do with birth defects,

genetic problems, etc. Like a genetic male who is born with female outer genitals. See this link... http://www.isna.org/

[HuffleClaw]

24. bwahhahahahhaa

give it another year or so and it'll end up in the guinness book as the 'world's longest acronym'.

[ContraBass Black]

12. I thought that "queer" included LGBT.

[Ms. Toad]

16. Naming is pretty complex

A lot of younger folks embrace Queer, but it is also extremely offensive word to some of the older generation. In an organization I belong the folks for whom Q(ueer) was offensive agreed to accept Q(ueer) as long as it was not a replacement for LGBT, as they do not feel included in the label Queer.

[ContraBass Black]

18. I don't think I've been in a situation that required more specificity

Than "gay." I hope I continue to be that lucky until it becomes clearer what is acceptable and what is not.

[Ms. Toad]

28. Although as a lesbian being called "gay" doesn't offend me,

and I think it is probably less crucial now, for a long time using the generic "gay" made lesbians invisible in the same way using the generic "he" made women feel invisible. Many lesbians felt very strongly about being specifically named, and there were struggles that nearly (or perhaps in some cases did) split early gay groups. B and T were added for similar reasons, although the reasons were tilted more to questions of real acceptance by the community than invisibility. In my experience Q has generally been added to try to be inclusive to unnamed groups who feel allied with LGBT folks, but don't want to claim (or don't fit into) any of the named groups, in an attempt to head off extending the alphabet soup name.

What is important is that individuals/groups be able to name themselves. You may really not have been in a situation where more specificity was required - or you might not have been picking up on cues that using a generic gay wasn't comfortable or acceptable. I haven't found anyone who is offended by being asked how they prefer their sexual orientation or gender identity to be referred to.

Its similar to the refugee/evacuee question following Katrine. Refugee seemed perfectly acceptable to me, and the first folks I heard objecting to the use of refugee were right wing nut jobs so I continued using refugee until I heard directly from the evacuees that they preferred to be called evacuees.

[MADem]

13. Christ on a bicycle, when will the day come when we call "them"

simply PEOPLE?????

When will these designations become as unimportant as things like shirt color, or a preference for cucumbers over beets? I guess not until all the hatemongers keel over...

[GrumpyGreg]

22. They started the group,they gave it the name,and that's what they want.

Everyone belongs to some group or other,

What difference does it make?

[MADem]

23. You missed my point entirely--right over your head.

The reason for the group is to secure the rights they deserve as citizens. My question in essence, is, when will people not have to continually fight and advocate for basic human rights?

We're not talking about a strictly social community, like model train enthusiasts or knitters; the activism is mandated to avoid their being crushed by the fundiewing GOP types.

[GrumpyGreg]

25. The groups I had in mind were the Knights of Columbus,

The Sons of Italy,The Hibernian Club,etc.

Many of these groups were started for the same reason but they are still going strong.

Many people like their "groups" even when the cause is over.

[MADem]

26. Yeah, but you don't see thread after thread about the K of C nowadays

They aren't under attack for their socializing, parties, and fundraisers.

This isn't fun for these folks, it's survival.

[GrumpyGreg]

30. Of course you don't ---ridiculous statement.

The K of C is over100 years old.

I doubt the GLBT issue will be much discussed 100 years from now.

They will survive.

[MADem]

31. I certainly hope that is the case, but you have to ask yourself, why

in this day and age, people still have to fight so hard for basic, simple rights?

[GrumpyGreg]

32. Human nature being what it is,I'm afraid there will always be one

group of people trying to hold other people back.

Sad,isn't it?

[davsand]

29. Self Identity is important.

I have no real issues with anyone trying to self identify. It is part of the human condition, I think.

I also am longing for a day when GLBTQ is a self descriptive rather than something that divides people. I really want to live in a time and world where sexuality carries no more social or political significance than eye or hair color.

Imagine how much better off we'll ALL be if everybody stops giving a shit about who we sleep with or if we are sleeping with anyone at all...


Regards,


Laura

[Deja Q]

33. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning (or Queer), & A = Allies

How many more letters need to be squeezed in anyway?

And those who are "B" or "Q", they often get pegged against their will as being one or the other, you can take as many guesses as you'd like as to where they are pegged.

It's hard to be one's self when everyone else doesn't want you.