Aphabet Soup

GLBT…no…LGBT…or, rather…LGBTQI…or should it be LGBTQIA!!

I have decided, amidst this plethora of letters, to indiscriminately add one additional letter. So…Lesbian, Gay. Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Ally, Whatever is my newly adopted interpretation of our community’s acronym: to wit, LGBTQIAW.

In the patriarchal world within which we reside, a case can be made for many different combinations and permutations. Well…the L should go first because, generally, women have historically been accorded second-class citizenship. But, gentlemen always open the door for ladies…is putting the L first merely another mode for patronizing women? Perhaps we should put the T first, since transgender is the new “untouchable” class of individuals. No…those “trannies” need to wait their turn…they don’t deserve to go first.

Is this a serious issue or just mental masturbation? No one knows the answer. Of course, we would like to think we are above such petty squabbles, but, like it or not, the community which comprises those who would embrace sexual and gender diversity is a microcosm of the world at large. We mirror all the petty infighting and dissension that one would find, for example, in a modern political party.

We modernists have a penchant for acronyms. Perhaps it’s a result of living in the age of computers; perhaps it comes from our predilection for multi tasking and the quest for economy of words and time. Or, maybe we have just been infected by the effect of the military in our lives. The armed forces are, perhaps, the all-time pros at acronymizing, and it boggles my mind to think that they can remember all of them…forget recollecting what those letters even stand for.

Or, maybe it’s a nomenclature thing and merely an extension of our need to label. In our patriarchal society, we don’t go for ambiguity or ambivalence. Everything needs to be neat and orderly and in its designated spot. Acronyms are just that…neat and easy…the ultimate in expedience. Not only that…they add substance to institutionalized elitism…you need to be “in the club” to know what the acronym means…and…not knowing is tantamount to displaying our ignorance!!

I guess modernity has a way of infecting all of its separate parts, like some kind of virus, and the coalition of lesbian, gay, transgender, et al, is certainly no exception.
Given the perception that we are stuck with the need to use SOME kind of abbreviated moniker, I think that my suggestion of LGBTQAIW is going to have to do…we don’t have enough vowels with which to create a word that would be apropos and would include all the constituent elements. And, we can squabble about the order until we are hoarse. But, we all know that we can’t please everyone, so I have decided to suit myself. And…anyone who chooses to may situate themselves right along side of me…