What do you think of when you hear LGBTQ+?

Intersex is a medical/developmental difference, not a sexuality

No one lost their job or were kicked out of their family for being asexual.

Edited to add: of course they’re valid, but including them in what started as LGB makes a mockery of what that stood for and the fight they had to be accepted.

Me too. Absolutely hate it. People can obviously refer to themselves however they want, but there's no way I'd use that word to describe someone.

It makes me cringe then feel very sad.
It’s become all about the TQ+ in a very bullying, force-feeding way.

LGB was such a force for good - fighting for people to safely love whoever they wanted (within reason!), and now we have the TQ+ that have taken over with hugely bullying and grooming tactics, and so-called child experts (like drs, teachers, social workers, mental health workers) have lost their minds and are validating notions that 5 minutes ago would rightly have been seen as bonkers and dangerous.

We’ve seen things that go against safeguarding - both for children and women - being relabelled as inclusive and progressive, and those who want to preserve or reinstate them are called far right bigots.

We now see men being held up as women, even though every part of their behaviour is male, from the way they expect women to give them a free pass to whatever they want, to the behaviour when they’re told “No”. But if we call this out we are the problem.

I’m a lesbian but currently want no part in the LGBTQ+. It’s such a vile, men’s rights movement that too many have been groomed into supporting.

You don’t think intersex and asexual are valid?

Was it ever LGB? I only ever head the acronym when it was LGBT. Then the Q et al were added.

I can tell you that.

It was a brilliant PR stroke on the part of the trans movement, combined with Stonewall needing a new cause in order to keep going after achieving same-sex marriage.

OP you said
'I respect & understand that trans people have played an important role in the LGBT struggle historically'

Who would that be then?

The T was added to charities after gay marriage was won and they wanted to keep up the income stream, this history has been manufactured and inserted so I'd be interested to know who you think these people were.

lesbian or gay fine whatever. My daughter is a lesbian. I know lots of gays and lesbians who don’t shout about it.

white the rest of the alphabet are attention seeking rainbow wearing people i cannot be bothered with.

I think of my friends, mostly! I'm a lesbian and my friends are mostly a mix of bisexuals, other lesbians, and trans people. I also have other gay people in my family. So I think of them. I think of community, and how much love I felt at my first ever Pride.

Unfortunately I do also brace myself for homophobia or transphobia when I hear it, because such rhetoric seems to be on the rise again recently. It's only the last few years I've started to actively hide my sexuality in some situations.

I was lucky to grow up in a very accepting environment, but outside of my relatively-safe hometown I'm wary of appearing visibly queer these days.

I think trans ideology has stamped all over LGB pride.
I still support all my LGB friends, but struggle to support trans ideologists.

To quote Julie Bindel

Everything after the B is a haircut

Woke, trans activism.

All the gay/lesbian friends and family I know actively distance from this.

We are.

Ditto. That rainbow used to remind you simply about joy and love, at its core. But now, it brings with it such a strong vibe of coercion and of strong-arm tactics, and all its original message of equality and respect as a way of life for everyone has been appropriated by the forces of patriarchal oppression, where men are out to claim every inch of personal territory and freedom women fought for over the past century.
We are never left in peace merely to exist in our own space, as equals with men. If we enjoy it, they will soon decide to grab it for themselves.
That rainbow is fast becoming a symbol of reaction and intolerance, even though such attitudes aren’t typical of the majority it represents.

I don't necessarily think only of trans people but I do think of quite young people who are "queer" and activist about it, putting their pronouns on Zoom, derailing sales meetings to talk about non-binary awareness day and yes literally having blue hair!

I have several gay and lesbian friends who just call themselves gay/lesbian and don't talk about any kind of rainbow family. But they do tend to be either more conservative or more radfem-adjacent.

I wouldn't wear a rainbow lanyard at work even if it just represented LGB even though. On principle.

I don’t know why the TQ+++ was ever added to the LGB. They are different things. Ones about sexuality/ sexual preferences and the other about a made up gender ideology. For those reasons I can’t support the LGbTQI+++ movement.

I’m a lesbian & I stay well away from anything labelled LGBTQetc.

My rule of thumb is that the more initials in the acronym, the less it has to do with lesbian rights.

Having the L at the front reminds me of a Yes, Minister episode where Humphrey Appleby talked about disposing of the difficult bit in the title.

Personally I think of diverse not hetero people. Not just one type of them.

There are people who strongly identify as hetero but then dabble in same sex relationships. They are kind of both LGBQxxxx+ and not LBGQTxxx+. TG I don't have the problem of giving them labels or needing to know what label the like.

It's like labels are just ideas not real things and you have to listen to the persons choosing whatever label for themselves to know what it means to them and why they use it for themselves.

Pretty much this.

I feel sorry for gays and lesbians that it’s been hijacked but the delusional and entitled attention seekers.

Ha! I love a bit of navel gazing, though! Stare out to sea to avoid all the heartfelt confessions!

Maybe the person from the previous post didn’t want to wear a badge because her employment place were pushing her to wear it, not because she’s homophobic or anti trans but because she didn’t want to wear a symbol that was pushed on her. It seems counterproductive to push an employee to have something pinned on her. It goes totally against freedom and liberty for someone to tell a person who they should support and advertise. The same applies to other charities and things one may feel strongly about. If it was acceptable we’d all be covered in badges and stickers. It’s taking away her autonomy and the work place shouldn’t be the place to try and enforce, as with religion and a billion other things . Doesn’t make her anti trans, just her saying I am me, have personal belief systems and don’t wish for it to be projected on me. It does the movement no favours ultimately. Stonewall have ultimately shot themselves in the foot with their bullying tactics, whereas most people would be accommodating and it’s such a shame.

LGB is same sex attracted.

Everything after that is separate imo.

I think I've no idea what that means nowadays, it's all got far too complicated.

I just heave a deep sigh, internally.

Just reading the new posts and realised I have put naval gazing and not navel! 😁 Too late to edit, the shame 🫣