At some point or another all of us involved in the LGBTQ community has heard the term “alphabet soup” thrown around to refer to the extended acronym. We have Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender as the traditional four-letter acronym. Then we extend that to LGBTQ with the addition of Queer, which helps us fit in those who prefer more fluidity in their gender or sexual orientation. Now we get into the extra letters, used occasionally by more politically correct types to include everyone under the sun, for fear of offending someone. Typically following the first “Q” is Questioning . Then we move forward with Intersex, which refers to an individual whose sex can not be identified as clearly male or female. Following that we have 2-spirited, a somewhat archaic term referring to a Native American religious concept that posits that some individuals are born with both a masculine and female soul, which to me sounds like it would fit nicely under “queer”. Then we have Allies, which typically refers to a heterosexual person who is supportive of the LGBTQQI2A community.

Am I the only person who thinks that we’ve gone overboard with this?

What has our overly politically correct community done to us? Do we take ourselves so damn seriously that every instance of “not heterosexual” throughout human history needs to be recorded in our acronym? And at what point do we stop being the LGBTQ community and start being the “Everyone But Homophobes” community? The simple fact of the matter is that in order to have a cohesive LGBTQ rights movement we can’t confuse the fuck out of everyone. The list of basic human rights we want is stacked so high that we as a community can’t agree upon what we want more. Some say gay marriage, as that entails a slew of other rights such as equal partner rights, tax benefits, etc… Some are more interested in anti-hate crime legislation. These are all legitimate concerns but as a community we lack a solid base with no definitive leader or movement to speak of.

I understand being inclusive, I really do, but can we cut the shit? We’re playing a dangerous game here including everyone in our acronym who identifies as not straight. What happened to “Queer” being our convenient umbrella term? I like the term queer. It’s hard to define, sounds sexy, and can be used by a large number of people. Glorious! I worry about living in a world where every time I go to a conference I have to explain to people that I’m going to the “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, ally, asexual, androgyne, two-spirit, intersex, pansexual, polysexual,not a homophobic asshole community conference”, or the LGBTQQAAA2IPP-NHA CC.

Like a gay man’s experience at the Soho gym, that was a mouthful.

I’m truly sorry about that pun