What terms can stand in for LGBTQIA+? It really is a mouthful (mindful?). I see #gay and #queer used as catch-alls, but I've also seen people take umbrage with that. Can someone help me out with more #words here?
@HumanServitor I don't think that "queer" is useful as a catch-all.
A lot of lgbtiqa+ people still see it as a slur and really don't like it's use, especially if it's being used to describe them by someone who isn't lgbtiqa+
Personally, I feel that there's something more to being queer than just being lgbtiqa+. There's a political element of "queering" to queerness that isn't just about who you fuck, love, or are attracted to.
I'd be asking myself why I need a "catch-all" phrase tbh, and I'd just stick with lgbtiqa+
The idea that it's too much to read is flawed.. it's 8 characters. Nobody is complaining about the length of the word "characters".
For variety's sake 🤷♂️ When ideas get discussed a lot new terms evolve and the meanings of old ones shift. I feel like my vocabulary is dated here so this is me checking in to see what words people are using (for others or themselves).
This isn't one of those "waaaa they keep adding letters" posts.
Not to me. It's writing about things at different levels of specificity. Zooming in and out.
I'm asking for basically stylistic purposes. Like, if I need to use "LGBTQIA+" ten times in a few pages, it would be nice if for a few of those I had a synonym to use instead. For sentence variety. Acronyms are clunky and stiff, that's not a judgement on the concepts the letters represent.
@HumanServitor@aby Sometimes I've seen phrases like 'the sexuality spectrum' being used.
Non-heterosexual, non-hetero and variants thereof can also work, as anyone who is LGBTQIA+ at least has some aspect of themselves who isn't heterosexual, which these terms are understood to address.
'Non-straight' is a loaded term. Indicates one type of sexuality the most normal and rest are 'deviations'. So that one isn't an equivalent synonym.
@HumanServitor@aby At least in terms of the potential for straight and non-straight as terms to become more dated in the future, if not necessarily now.
Obviously not everyone who is LGBTQIA+ would have a problem with such terms, as is the case for terms in general.
@Trajecient@HumanServitor - I agree with non-straight being problematic, and would add that non-het is the same. They set straight/het as a "norm" by just prefixing "non", and therefore otherises.
Obviously there are differences in the LGBTQIA+ community . One perspective among others sees non-heterosexual in the OP's context as equivalent to I'm not heterosexual, I'm bisexual' if someone misinterpreted one's sexuality.
Aby's response does highlight there are better alternatives.
In academic works there are phrases that point to back to use of LGBTQIA+ but avoid undue repetition editors do remove.
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