The politically correct alphabet soup devalues our cause.
By Manny de Freitas
Anyone who knows me will know that I am not politically correct, so be warned; this will not be a politically correct article and you may even be “triggered” and “offended” by some of the things I will opine about.
Have you noticed how, over the years, the acronym LGBT (which was commonplace in the past) is continuously growing, almost daily. The latest acronym is now LGBTQIA+ and according to literature about this topic, the acronym is “evolving”. So, one can expect this acronym to continue to grow, as indicated by the “+”.
In so doing, the implication is that we are all united in the same fights and interests. Initially gay rights and related issues gained traction internationally, particularly since Stonewall in 1969. Indeed lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender, or LGBT, issues were “aligned” and complimented each of the individual fights for recognition, acceptance and understanding. Today, in most parts of the world, and in the most important organisations, such as the United Nations, accept that not recognising LGBT persons is considered a violation of human rights.
However, over the years, and with increasing rapidity this acronym has, in my opinion, become bastardised.
Why do I say this? I’ll explain.
The original and noble LGBT movement has today been highjacked by the woke movement which has twisted the original intention of this movement. Suddenly, other issues, some of which are in themselves noble and worth fighting for, have been lumped with the LGBT movement whilst simultaneously cheapening and, even in some cases, reversing the struggle that previous LGBT generations fought for and won. Out of these struggles came cultural symbols and acts such as the international “gay flag” and pride events which started in America and rapidly spread throughout the globe. These were all representations of the victories that emanated from these struggles and what was achieved within the LGBT community.
The lesbian, gay and bi-sexual struggle aligned completely and overlapped perfectly. The struggle for dignity, respect and acceptance was one and the same. The exact thing can be said about trans persons.
Traditionally, trans persons were adult persons who transitioned their gender from the one that they were born. This was done after a long and intense process which included psychological assessments, thus ensuring that firstly, the person was 110% sure that they needed to (not just wished whimsically) transition. This made perfect sense as transitioning your gender is literally life-altering, personally and indeed dramatic in every way. As a result, trans persons became “normal” members of society and then were able to live their true authentic self, which meant that they then lived a happy and content life.
The struggles of the LGBT communities, although distinct from the other, were identical in struggle.
Since then, slowly but surely, new letters started being added onto our acronym. Struggles which have nothing to do with the LGBT community are being added onto the LGBT acronym.
Indeed, LGBT community members may well be interested and may wish to join in on those struggles. This is perfectly fine, but why increase the LGBT acronym when many of these struggles have nothing to do with LGBT persons and even may offend them.
Thanks to particularly American culture, the original pure and noble trans cause has become completely twisted. Now trans rights have been transformed into allowing children as young as three or four to be given hormone blockers (often without the knowledge and consent of the parents), for example. Suddenly an effeminate male child has “gender dysphoria” – what happened to allowing that child to grow and develop and discover his or her sexuality? Research indicates that such children usually are gay when they grow up. Nothing wrong with that!
Being awkward and insecure during teenage years is part of growing up – we’ve all been there, yet this is inferred as something else. As a result, some children are being harmed to such an extent that irreversible damage is done to some of these young people. The LGBT community, in particular need to speak out against this.
Here are some of the ever-growing variants of the LGBTQIA+ alphabet soup which now includes fights that have no connection to being LGBT, or related issues.
For example:
the Q stands for Queer (an umbrella term for all people that are not straight) or Questioning (the questioning of one’s sexual orientation),
the I represents Intersex (a general term where a person is born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that cannot be described as male or female), and
the A stands for Asexual (the lack of sexual attraction to any gender), Aromantic (having little or no romantic feeling towards others) or Agender (those who identify as having no gender or gender identity),
In all of the examples above reflect either an attitude to sexuality or a biological instance – these do not fit into the same category as LGBT. Being LGBT is not an attitude or a biological issue.
From there, the alphabet soup becomes ridiculous.
Now one finds “2S” which represents “two spirit” which is an American term used by indigenous North Americans. The term two spirit was created to distinguish and distance Native American people from non-Native American peoples. This has nothing to do with LGBT!
There is a plethora of other examples of letters that have nothing to do with our struggle, excepting for the sole aim of placing a variety of issues, and even political ideologies, under one umbrella so that everyone is “included”.
I personally don’t want to be included in issues with which I have little or no interest. It’s time for more of us to speak out against the ever-growing alphabet soup.
LGBTQQIP2SAA. The term stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit, asexual, and ally. The + stands for all others that are not mentioned.
(A new term has recently been coined with 22 letters. We won’t go into that here – Ed.)