What LGBTQ+ topic do you wish more people knew about? This could be a queer icon, a piece of history, knowledge about certain labels, specific philosophy topics (or notable philosopher), art, or anything else. Also if there are topics that you wish specific sub populations had greater access to or knowledge of, feel free to qualify (for example, you might wish there was greater knowledge about a specific cultural gender to all cultures which don’t have exposure to this gender, or a desire for your local gay community to be more educated on a topic important to you).
It’s getting better, but I really don’t appreciate how many people seem to think that “drag queen” and “being a transgender person” is interchangeable and exactly the same.
For clarity for anyone who isn’t sure, drag queens are performers who often (but not always) identify as gay men in their day to day lives. A drag queen is a caricature of a woman, a massive exaggeration for entertainment purposes. Drag queens are like clowns, and clowns don’t go around in their day to day life identifying as a clown. It’s a job, a gig, a temporary identity for entertainment purposes.
Transgender people have gender dysphoria that is so unbearable that they have no choice but to bear all of the negative things that come with coming out as transgender in order for them to have some tiny speck of hope at being happy and comfortable in their own bodies. Transgender people, unlike drag queens, always do identify with their chosen gender representation.
I’m really glad you said this. There’s a large amount of the general population who think trans and drag are the same, even people who are allies. I respect those who do drag and I can understand why they do it, but as someone who is trying to present as myself authentically instead of performatively it’s almost detrimental to the cause when those who are outside looking in automatically equate the two.
When I came out to my family as trans, my dad’s first thought was I was going to be “parading myself around like a drag queen” (his words). He voiced his concern about it, because he had no understanding that they are not the same thing. Typically when I come out to people as trans one of the first things they talk about is how I must love Ru Paul’s and assume that I watch it. I’ve never watched a full episode in my life, and truthfully it’s kind of difficult for me to watch it knowing mentally that’s how people would perceive me if I come out to them.
And while I acknowledge that there can be overlap in the community it’s not who I am, nor is it how I want to be perceived. I don’t have the luxury of “taking off” who I am, nor am I trying to be a caricature of a woman. I’m just trying to be myself and I wish more people understood that.
I have such a mess of opinions about Drag Race. I’m glad that it brought the idea of drag to the mainstream so that people understand that drag performers aren’t the kind of monsters that right wingers make them out to be. But in a lot of ways, I feel like it’s done more harm than good to the trans community. With the constant conflation between trans and drag, and also the fact that Ru Paul is a fucking asshole who’s not at all supportive of the trans community, it’s hard to see it in a positive light.
I also just hate reality competition shows, especially in a scene that should be so much more supportive and uplifting and cooperative, rather than competitive.
that a part of the reason why queer people seem to be a recent invention is that Nazis burned the archives of an institute containing literature on The Gay
And for many (mostly) gay men the AIDS epidemic was devastating. You don’t see a lot of old gay men for that reason.
This book actually does dive into some of the older years of queer history, the 20s-60s iirc. Mostly centers on the 1950s, but it’s actually a very interesting book. Some of the landmarks are still around! None have placards indicating their importance to gay history IRL, which is a bit bittersweet when you look at all the other placards of other historic moments in history at the same location.
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/L/bo193960577.html
You can also buy it online, this is just a free PDF.
Ace people are queer too :)
And really, some of us have 0 interest in sex please stop asking us. Believe it or not, romance isn’t sexual in and of itself, so it’s not impossible for us to crave romance and have no desire for sex.
And, many of us are this way without ever having experienced trauma. It’s necessary to ask someone about trauma in a relationship, but don’t assume it’s the reason for the lack of sexual interest. (In many cases it is a or the reason, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that a person doesn’t want to engage in sex)
I think it’s also important for people to understand the mental effects of dating an ace person as someone who isn’t ace. I got caught up in that and it took a long while for me to stop thinking I was undesirable and gross.
I think the amount of transphobes in the world would be waaay smaller if everyone knew what gender dysphoria is
And people don’t even realize that cis people have it too! My BiL was recently talking about taking Cialis and Testosterone. I have a niece that just got breast implants and other cosmetic procedures. People going through menopause take hormones. Cis children with precocious puberty take puberty blockers so they don’t have to go through that at 8 or 9 years old. And cis people don’t have the self-reflection to realize that these are all gender-affirming care.
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lmao, you don’t need to take this very general statement so personally.
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It was removed on purpose and you decided it was best to re-post it? congrats on catching a temp ban
If your content is removed, it violated the rules. That means you need to change your behavior.
This is like saying “not all men” when someone complains about the majority of men. It’s not bad communication. No one ever means every single man or in this case every single cis person with such a statement and it’s not trans people being bad communicators that’s the problem here.
To be honest, it comes across as bad communication to me. If you mean “some people” or even “some cis people”, then why not say that? The way you say it sounds like all, or almost all cis people don’t understand, which I think is presumptuous and untrue. Pretty much every cis person I know would understand those to be gender affirming care. Just because some people (especially those in power) don’t seem to understand that doesn’t justify making it a generalisation.
Thats probably not how you meant it, I just want to point out how it comes across to at least some people, which might imply it isn’t the best communication.
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Your lil gotcha doesn’t really work here. You did “not all cis” to an argument about the majority of cis people while then posting an argument about the majority of trans people to which i did a “not the majority of trans people reply”
I was about to add “and how science backs it up as a real thing and not something people make up”, but given the timeline we live in, I don’t think it would make that much of a change :/
Some of the pictures people see of the big book burning fests that happened in Germany in the 1930s weren’t generalized events. One of them was the Nazis specifically destroying the works of Magnus Hirschfeld, who ran the Institute for Sexual Research, that studied sexuality and gender issues and provided the earliest instances of gender affirming care. They sacked the institute, destroyed it, and burned all of the material there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Hirschfeld
This is to say: trans people have always been here. And nearly a century later, the destruction of this institute has been widely forgotten.
That there are divisions and prejudice within the community. It’s better for everyone involved to put on a united front, but unfortunately people get put down and marginalized even in supposedly queer-friendly spaces all the time. In my own circles, it happens a lot with bisexual men and non-binary/gender non-conforming persons in particular.
I’ve gotten worse treatment in the lesbian community than any other. Demanding tolerance from others doesn’t immediately mean that those people demanding tolerance are tolerant themselves.
Bi man in a hetero relationship, I feel “pushed out” of the community a lot of the time
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You aren’t messing it up. You are just you. She chose you for a reason ❤️
At the end of the day, love matters far more than what society thinks or what labels we identify as.
This is such a small thing which I have so few occasions to use, but I wish the term “QUILTBAG” had become more popularized when it was coined in 2006 (caps are for accuracy, not shouting). It’s just more fun to say, and I’m a sucker for a good acronym
That is an amazing acronym and I wish to see it everywhere!
Be the change you want to see in the world!
It’s SO much easier and quicker to say than L-G-B-T-Q-I-A+. When in company that I know its ok with it, I just say “queer community”, but I know not everyone has accepted the reclamation of that word. Which I get. I’m totally good with queer, but hearing the f-slur sets off my fight-or-flight responses
I usually ask how folks prefer to hear the community referenced to avoid those fight or flight responses. Het with some flex, if they get to know me that well, doesn’t mean I’m part of the community as they define it - some people have wider or narrower definitions and qualifiers than others and I’m fine with that - but either way, my comfort doesn’t mean others share that feeling and it’s on me to be conscientious and kind.
Also dating from that time, pronouncing LGBT as Legbutt. I love it because having a leg on your butt is extremely normal actually.
I’m late but I really wish more people knew what a “queer platonic partner” relationship was.
I usually just use “partner” for my QPP because it’s easier than to even briefly explain, but just because I’m asexual aromantic doesn’t mean I don’t want a relationship that “stands out” more than the others. and just because I do, doesn’t mean every ace/aro person does! there’s so much nuance to the LGBTQ+ community and I think people forget that a lot and choose to isolate to their spot in the acronym.
a QPP isn’t someone you’re dating, and I’m really tired of people talking about my “girlfriend” (because let’s also ignore that they’re non-binary!) alternative relationships exist to the typical “path” and assumptions plus choosing to not learn is really damaging. and that goes for every LGBTQ+ topic. or, hell, the nuance to every individual person.
I just want to drop a link to queer platonic relationships specifically, too.
