Views
Q & A?
Things Change,
Sometimes for the Better
Q & A?
by Jason Whipple
When I first came out in college,
I made sure to say,
when asked about my sexuality,
“I have no interest in being a woman.”
I never wanted to be included in a community
that included drag queens and effeminate men.
The best way to handle
“those kinds of people”
was to use oven mitts.
I never wanted to be associated
with the B’s, the T’s, the L’s, and most of the G’s.
I was worried about how the “outside world”
might perceive me,
as if their perceptions determined who I was.
When I had no footing in myself,
perceptions that others had of me
easily became who I was at the time.
Where are the boundaries of the GLBT community?
When are we being inclusive,
and when are we being exclusive?
These questions arose during a discussion
about the list of different groups
in the banner on the front page of Out in the Mountains.
Flip to the front page
to see what is listed there now.
Currently,
the different sub-groups with the groups listed are:
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered.
If you read the paper last month,
you will remember
that the Replay section had a display
of the various banners
that this publication has had over the past 15 years.
Bisexual was added in the early 90’s.
Transgendered was added most recently.
What letter, or group, do we add next?
Are we comfortable with including just the G, L, B, and T
below the title of this paper?
What about a Q for questioning, an A for Ally?
What about those who strictly identify with Dyke?
Should we add a D?
What about those who only identify with the word Faggot?
Should we add an F?
Is there one word that can include everyone?
It has been suggested
that we just call it an Alphabet Soup community.
Or maybe the A-Z community.
I want to open up a conversation
around these questions.
I encourage everyone to share their thoughts
with the readers of OITM.
Are we afraid of losing our labels
because that is what identifies us?
Personally, I feel that we should eliminate all labels.
Joel Nichols begins the discussion
with his article, Why Queer?
on the next page.