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Joe Fries
By Joe Fries
You’d think the gay community could do a better job of coming up with a clever acronym to describe itself.
With apologies to the generalization police, this is a group known for being flamboyant.
Imagine my surprise when I learned about the local university’s OutWeek, which is billed as a way to celebrate the LGBQTTI community.
WTF? What’s an LGBQTTI?
I thought the whole focus of the gay rights movement was to win the same freedoms for gay people that are enjoyed by straight people. So why would you use a handle that sounds not like a group of people, but rather a missile guidance system?
For the record, the OutWeek press release went on to explain that the rather unwieldy acronym means: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer/Questioning, Transsexual, Two-spirit and Intersex.
Near as I can tell, intersex is a nicer word for hermaphrodite, which is sort of like a two-spirit without dual equipment, which is different than a transexual, who has parts of one gender but lives as the other.
Now, gay and lesbian are pretty self-explanatory, bisexuals have the most options at last call, and questioning means a person hasn’t ruled out an interest in the opposite sex and is still willing to negotiate. I have no idea where queer fits into this equation, so I’m thinking it’s simply substituted for one of the other terms based on that individual’s preference.
Last I heard, and the Internet seems to back me on this point, the gay community – can I even call it that still? – used to self-identify as LGBT. Still not sexy, but much easier to say and remember.
My point in all this is that the gay community should be able to come up with a more user-friendly label for itself. The gay community does, after all, have a friggin’ rainbow flag as its official symbol and Elton John as its official icon.
No good could come of me providing any suggestions, but a co-worker did offer GLEE (Gay, Lesbian and Everything Else).
Gay community, you don’t have to re-invent the wheel here, but I know you can do better.
joe@kelowna.com
250-575-4303
18 Responses to “Joe Fries: Gay community does a terrible job labelling itself”
Tags: gay community, lgbqtti
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Joe, because you are confused, you demand that the Gay Community, the LGBQTTI people of society, make it easier for you? Perhaps you should go and actually converse with them and stop complaining! Although it has gotten much better over the last serveal decades, the rejection of the LGBQTTI has been profound, and unrelenting. Now, with your new found “understanding” you demand that they accommodate your lack of understanding? Bob, quiet complaining and actually find out something!
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don’t worry joe. the name will evolve again soon enough to include people with no equipment, plastic removable equipment, and equipment they wish they had. I think maybe a “name that group” contest or “find an acronym” contest might be a good way. i don’t think joe was demanding anything, but don’t expect a bunch of straight (is it still called that?) people to get on board with a cause that is pretty unclear. I’m on board with acceptance and individuality, no matter how un-interpretable the acronym is.
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Really?
And you wonder why Kelowna has a reputation of being homophobic and conservative.
“What is an LGBQTTI?” Really?
The LGBQTTI community shouldn’t change anything for someone who wants the name to change so its ’sexy.’
Hey Joe, the reason the the gay community changed to LBGT then to LGBQTTI is to be INCLUSIVE of EVERYONE.
maybe you should give it a try…
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UBCO doesn’t celebrate the “straight” community? Not very inclusive there I guess.
I’m a member (no pun intended) of an all inclusive group already. We call ourselves Human.
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Joe, I know Marshall’s told you guys to be “controversial,” but this is a new low. The acronym confuses you, so what did you do? You looked it up! That’s part of the point – education.
The other part – inclusion. The community wants to accept everyone.
As for Mark, its funny humans like you still exsist…”why is there no Straight Pride?” you fools ask…
Here’s the answer. Name a country where a person gets killed just for being straight. Tell me of a story where a straight guy was walking down the street, and a group of non-straight people attacked him for no other reason than his sexual orientation. Can straight people get married everywhere? Can straight people adopt children without problems?
As a woman in a same-sex relationship I see homophobia everyday. That’s why UBCO is celebrating OutWeek and good for them!
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Joe doesn’t seem to be bashing or against the LGBQTTI. I think the lot of you just don’t get his humor and i think are getting a little over-sensitive. This seems to be one of those stories that are suppose to get people talking and have some fun with the acronyms. And as a straight person with an open mind and with friends of all different orientations I do find it hard to support my LGBQTTI friends because i find the acronym hard to remember and don’t want to offend any of them by forgetting it. I thinks Joes point was to give us something easier to remember and have fun with. Here are some organizations that come to mind because their acronyms are easy to remember, example: M.A.D.D Mothers against Drunk Driving, W.W.F. World Wildlife Federation.
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Boe, I would agree with you…if he didn’t call his comment “Gay community does terrible job of labelling itself.”
He already found a more “user-friendly” term….GAY. The GAY community has GAY pride, which is a celebration for LGBQTTI community and their family and friends, etc.
Personally, I think its cowardly to try to create controversy (or write a column) by picking on a group of people that much of society thinks its OKAY to discriminate against.
What’s your topic next week Joe? Black History Month?
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Matty & Tam – First off, LGBQTTI is NOT exactly trying too hard to be inclusive of everyone, they’re ignoring the biggest group out there… STRAIGHT.
Secondly, the way I read the article, Joe has done exactly what you want, bring attention to this event, and he was doing it in a funny way, pointing out that the well known creative talents of the gay community should have come up with something better… This acronym is ridiculous and clearly it could only have been chosen by either:
a) Some committee that couldn’t agree on anything so they all chipped in a letter and came up with this
b) A brilliant marketing company that said, lets give it a name so ridiculous that reporters everywhere will pick up our stories, just to poke fun at it
Lighten up people!
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Robski,
Is that why he ridicules the community by calling “Elton John its official icon,” and pokes fun at his lack of understanding of “intersex” “two-spirit” and “transsexual”?
I think all Joe’s article has done is highlight the ignorance of most Kelowna residents….
Joe is the first “reporter” (I’m going to use that term lightly, because I’ve seen other stories he’s written on things like the Geoff Meisner disapearance) to poke fun at it.
I have yet to see Joe do a story on the prejudice many gay people face in their daily lives here in the Okanagan.
And of course, you have to complain about the acronym NOT including STRAIGHT people…that’s the whole point, hunny. Straight people aren’t persecuted.
I dunno, maybe I just have a problem with straight, white guys who shave their heads making fun of minority groups. Enough said.
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Thanks for sticking up for us Tam, Kelowna is so shallow!
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Hey,Joe
Relax you are no gift to woman either. No homos in Kelowna just the good old downlow or perhaps just a phase.
Thank you for promoting your ignorance.
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Joe,
I suspect a whole lot of people are sighing when they read this. In Kelowna, they’re used to sighing, but I’m pretty sure they don’t want to.
You open with a quip about “flamboyant” gays which is… stale at best – many gay men in this city are quite the opposite because they perceive – correctly or not – that this city is narrow minded and homophobic.
And then quips about intersex people (and no, it’s not a nicer word for hermaphrodites). You want to laugh about people who have one of hundreds of different conditions that can affect fertility and people’s daily lives?
Yeah, that’s some funny stuff.
Or maybe you’ll get us to all stand in a circle and laugh at people who had “ambigious genitalia” at birth – people who were “normalized” by doctors who decided to pick a gender and surgically altering them with a series of invasive surgeries that continues through childhood.
Hillarious. Especially when the doc picks wrong.
Let’s get a dig in on the two-spirit people too! Can’t leave the Native Americans out, can we?
Transsexuals, those are some funny folk right there!
You got it wrong by the way, many transsexuals do get surgery to change their “parts” to what matches their gender identity – some don’t because they can’t afford it, some have medical problems preventing surgery, some aren’t satisfied with the current surgical outcomes and some don’t feel invasive surgery is needed to validate their identity and because day to day interractions don’t usually involve the examination of one’s genitals. And the medical community won’t give you permission to have surgery unless you’ve lived in the target gender for at least 1 year.
Moving on. And getting a bit more serious.
The “gay community” is made up of different people from different groups, each with their own identity and I don’t think anyone identifies as LGBT, but as a subset of that.
And sure, I think the acronym is horribly awkward, but even so, scrunching it all down into some word or abbreviation that poorly describes the whole isn’t done because this kludgy thing is a way to acknowledge the existence and validity of each of those groups within the spectrum – and also to let people know that they’re welcome, regardless of where they fall upon it.
It wasn’t all that long ago that many of the civil rights organizations weren’t all that inclusive to transpeople, bisexuals and if you go back a bit further, even lesbians.
Oh… since you mentioned it, “doing better”
I think they’re doing pretty ok with what they’ve got. A recent article in the capital news stated that out of 6000 students, only 2 people who identify as being within the LGBQTTI spectrum actually go to the pride centre.
From what I understand, one person who is there fairly regularly is a Lutheran pastor who is the unoffical chaplain of the campus.
From the outside, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of support – there isn’t any way to contact the pride office and I know the email address for the pride center at UBCO hasn’t worked for months.
So, in light of all that, I really think they’re doing ok.
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Very well said, Catherine. I am usually a fan Joe, but this one missed the mark. I hope you will take this as an opportunity to learn – and not become just another white male Kelownian writing stories pandering to the conservative Kelowna public, like Castanet.
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Perhaps the confusion about this column comes from a basic lack of understanding of English. An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters or groups of letters of words on a set phrase or series of words. Lgbqtti is lacking the structure that constitutes a word and that’s not a political observation.
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No Jane,
That part was understood.
Joe just made the mistake of trying to poke fun at a minority group, in his bid to make conversation about the acronym.
He could have discussed his topic without thinly veiled homophobia (ignorance, Elton John references, etc.)
Maybe your confused about the definition of homophobia or intolerance.
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Humour is not what I found in this article. Disrespect, yes. Humour, no.
For those looking for ’straight’ pride – you have it the other 51 weeks of the year (and really, during OutWeek too). You have it in, as Tam noted, knowing that you can get married in every country, you will not risk persecution for the type of sex and relationships you engage in, and do not have to fear (for your life) that someone might find out you are either a) in a relationship with someone of the same sex as you, and/or b) a trans-person who ‘passes’ (ie: that no one recognizes as being ‘trans’, but who lives everyday being recognized as a different sex/gender from that assigned/perceived at birth).
Issues of gender identity and sexuality are not funny when people fear for their lives, and those of their loved ones.
I encourage those who did find humour in Joe’s article to talk to someone who identifies as one or more of the identities covered by: LGBQTTI. And while certainly it is an awkward acronym, and does not include ’straight’, it is one that fits who we are.
Moreover, queer folks who are ‘flamboyant’ are extremely limited in Kelowna, cause most spend their time just trying to fit in and not be noticed and not creating to much of a fuss, so that everyone will just ‘accept’ (or ‘tolerate’) us. I’d appreciate it if we (queers) were more noticeable, as then I’d actually feel we had a community here. ;-)
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Joe, the gay community needs to continue evolving as the people in and surrounding it evolve. LGBT was a wonderful acronym, about 5 years ago. We have continued changing in the last 5 years, adding more spectrums to wonderful acronym, making sure we inlude EVERYONE. Thank you so much for your concern about we portray ourselves, but I think we’re doing a wonderful job.
It’s unfortunate that the rest of Kelowna is NOT evolving with us.
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although i find the article highly offensive (regardless of my heterosexual orientation), i do find it interesting that there is a lot of upset comments regarding the validity of Joes technicalities. Now i am no grammar expert as you can see by the fact that i havent used a single punctuation aside from commas and periods, however i do own a dictionary. A phobia(coming from someone who has one) is a fear of something that interferes with your daily life and inhibits you from proceding in your life as a mentally stable person would. having little regard for something or someone despite how highly offensive and discriminative it is, is not a phobia, and the word homophobia being thrown around loosly in order to acheive a higher amount of validity in ones own statement is a disregard for the definition all together. just thought id bring that to the table.
Please continue discussion on the forum: link