What's In a Name?

GLBT. You see this acronym often; it stands for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual. It refers to the community of people that we homosexuals identify ourselves with. In short, it is the community of sexual "deviants", we who flow against the norm in our choice of sexual partner or sexual identification. But maybe you haven't seen this acroonym that often. Maybe you've seen LGBT. Or maybe LBGT. Or, my personally favorite, GLBTQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, queer...just in case we left anything out).

What's in a name? Maybe not much, but it would be kinda nice if we could at least have a set name to start off with. You may ask: why the change in letter arrangement? Well, generally, if it's a gay man writing an article or piece, it's referred to as GLBT. If it's a lesbian, it's LGBT. Maybe someone who hasn't decided writes GLBTQ. Now you may ask: why does it matter? Sure, the chosen acronym reflects the writer and, maybe, his or her subconscious priority list, but big deal. Really, there are more important things to worry about than to raise a fuss over the proper name for the gay community.

The acronym's variability isn't a problem; it's a symptom of a much bigger problem. As a community, we all agree that it would be kind of nice to be given the same rights as our fellow straight countrymen and, in general, just be left to our own devices the same as any other red-blooded American. But our personal civil rights movements has had its up and downs, one reason because of a lack of support within our own community.

The Nation of Queeria has a weak collective conscience. What that means is, we all don't think the same way, share the same values, behave in the same pattern. We are a hodgepodge of different people, spanning multiple races and ethnicities and backgrounds. We share a common enemy, true, but our enemy really isn't so much an evil dictator as it is a parent that doesn't understand. We may be queer, and we may be here, but we're not all on board. We were raised in different ways, we are of different political parties (yes, as amazing as it sounds not all gay people are Democrats). We're not all for one, nor one for all. So it's no wonder that it seems like our movement takes two steps forward and one step back. It can't be easy with the inherent divisiveness of our community tugging at our backs.

So we stand, not necessarily divided, but not necessarily united either. As my good friend Delbert McClinton might stay, we're standing on shaky ground. So throw me a life preserver, 'cause I'm about to drown in my own tears.

Sincerely,
Your Spy