Lets just make up?

[bigbadmax]

Whats with all the acronyms????? are they there to just confuse or are they created to try and make a name for the creator?

I just looked up an article ref LGBTQ never heard of the Q before......As if life aint too confusing already!

Any other acronyms that fox you and do they really need to be created?

bbm

[Brian]

The "Q" was new to me too... and it seems to mean "Questioning". I first came across it in the thread on teen suicides (http://www.bisexual.com/forum/showthread.php?12630-9-LGBTQ-Suicides-In-ONE-School) and the "It Gets Better" Project (http://www.itgetsbetter.org/). It seems to me to be a good idea when discussing issues of teen sexual orientation - because "Questioning" pretty well sums up the way a lot of teens would describe their sexual orientation I think. Hell, "Questioning" sums up a lot of how teens view themselves and the world and good for them in looking at it that way.

But, yes, the acronym is starting to get long... GLBTQ. :) I predict a Onion headline on it in the future, "GLBTQIJBFRSDEXMW Community Speaks Out"

- Drew :paw:

[Herculoid Poirot]

The Q for me has always been queer, my preferred term, but I've heard questioning a well. I work with an organization that uses LGBTTTSIQQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transexual, Two-Spirited, Intersex, Queer and Questioning Communities).

So anything shorter that is a breeze!

[Jobelorocks]

Well if you only do LGBTQ the Q means queer. There is also LGBTQQIAA which is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, ally . I know it is long, but I think there is more to the community then just lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people.

[tenni]

It seems to me that it should be simpler. Maybe, NH ("non hetero") will cover every sexual orientation that all may fit with?

[Brian]

Well if you only do LGBTQ the Q means queer. I did not know that. Thanks. So what does "Queer" mean?

- Drew :paw:

[keladry]

I used to use LGBTQIXYZ on my profile here, but people didn't get the joke...

Honestly, I see it a consequence of being so inclusive. All the extra letters, I mean. I don't think that's a bad thing. : ]

[keladry]

queer to me means not your heteronormative oppressive bullshit. it can mean most anything you want it to...

it's my term of choice as well.

[Jobelorocks]

I did not know that. Thanks. So what does "Queer" mean?

- Drew :paw:
Well it actually can mean a multitude of things. I think they put it in there to cover what doesn't quite fit in LGBT. Queer can simply mean being homosexual, bisexual, trangendered, some use it to refer to those in the BDSM crowd, and basically those who go outside of the sexual norms generally. It is a very broad term.

[RavenEye]

Well I see you're talking about my thread. I intended for the Q to be questioning. I honestly never heard of Q being Queer. Honestly it doesn't make much sense because Queer isn't an orientation and it is normally a derogatory term. But *shrugs* different strokes for different folks I guess.

[Jobelorocks]

Well I see you're talking about my thread. I intended for the Q to be questioning. I honestly never heard of Q being Queer. Honestly it doesn't make much sense because Queer isn't an orientation and it is normally a derogatory term. But *shrugs* different strokes for different folks I guess.

Well quite a while ago the LGBT community decided to "take back" the word queer so to speak. It really isn't considered a derogatory term anymore in many circles. It was used widely in L.A. (which is where I am from) to refer to the whole LGBT community. I have only heard the questioning to being used for the second Q in LGBTQQIAA.

[Herculoid Poirot]

Well quite a while ago the LGBT community decided to "take back" the word queer so to speak. It really isn't considered a derogatory term anymore in many circles. It was used widely in L.A. (which is where I am from) to refer to the whole LGBT community. I have only heard the questioning to being used for the second Q in LGBTQQIAA.

Agreed. The distinction I always make when asked to decribe the differece comes down to intent. If someone were to drive down the street and say "Hey Queer! Where's the nearest McDonalds?" [paraphrasing Jello Biafra] then I would take it as an insult. But if someone were talking about queer music, queer politics, etc., then it's used as an expression of inclusion.

[Gearbox]

I don't get how "Queer" can be a non derogatory inclusive word, when it means the exact opposite. You wouldn't think of heterosexuality as 'queer', because it's viewed as the 'norm'.
IMO if there is to be ANY kind of 'inclusion' heterosexuality must be included too, but that would make the term 'queer' redundant as there'd be no sexuality to be 'queer' in regards to.

I (IMO) am not queer because I'm bi, as bisexuality is a Human sexuality just as 'normal' as all the others.:)

[tenni]

I am inclined to think unlike G&L, many if not most bisexuals would not accept the term "Queer" as reclaiming it from being derogatory.

This is an example on how bisexuals really do not fit under this umbrella community and I doubt that a lot of bisexuals were involved in attempting to create and make this political statement. If bisexuals do not accept "queer" then how can this GLBTQ be inclusive? I'm not sure that G&L have a majority that find this reclaiming of queer.

[_Joe_]

NVP.

Not Very Picky.

[Jobelorocks]

NVP.

Not Very Picky.
That doesn't work for me because I am a VERY picky bisexual. lol. I think growing up in L.A. has made me a little picky on what I consider attractive.

[bigbadmax]

I don't get how "Queer" can be a non derogatory inclusive word, when it means the exact opposite.:)

Say "queer" in southwest uk and it will be followed by "bum bandit, fudge packer,turd burgular,uphill gardener" etc. purely a derisory(?) term.

[Gearbox]

Say "queer" in southwest uk and it will be followed by "bum bandit, fudge packer,turd burgular,uphill gardener" etc. purely a derisory(?) term.

Next we'll hear how 'Mental Problem' is taken on by the LBGT as a self empowerment reference.:rolleyes:

I did some work for a local vicar fixing up his sequencer, and every time something didn't work (lots of times), he'd say "Oh that's queer!". I wondered if he knew I was bi or something.;) Cheeky feker!lol

[reddc513]

I heard they added An S for the supporters

[RavenEye]

I heard they added An S for the supporters

Did they really? That doesn't make any sense! That's like putting a WS at the end of NAACP for white supporters... It makes no sense!

[æonpax]

Our LGBT group in WI had a discussion and vote, a few years ago, regarding adding the letter "Q" to our name. There were both sound and rational reasons pro and con. We voted to remain the status quo. Among the more interesting discussions was that we feel, sooner or later, "LGBT" is going to splinter as even among ourselves, the canopy just cannot hope to satisfy everyone.

[darkeyes]

Are we queer? There are those both who love and hate the lgbt who would say so.. for me? Nope.. I am not queer.. queer to me is odd; strange; how I might feel on Saturday or Sunday morning after a night on the town... it is not being me.. woman of the world; human being... I am as normal as any straight person as is any bisexual person or transgendered person or cisgendered person... reclaim the word Queer? No ta.. will stick to being who and what I always have been.. woman of the world, human being.. I am neither odd or strange.. I am the same as any other.. and equally just as different... so in a sense I am queer.. just as everyone else is; heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, transgendered or cisgendered... and just as equally I am anything but.... what is normal? What is queer? Both exist yet equally neither does...