Why I Hate The Term “LGBT Community”
Yesterday, I was talking to my Dad about politics, the news, and whatever else was on our minds, and I dropped the phrase “LGBT Community” at one point. I even made a joke about it, saying that all LGBT people know each other and have meetups every other weekend.
But this conversation got me thinking, the idea of an “LGBT community” is actually kind of dumb. Upon doing a Google or Twitter search, you can find many people talking about the “LGBT Community” and how they need to do this or that. Here are just some of the recent news on our community that I found by typing the phrase “LGBT Community” into Google and then clicking on the “news” tag.
- “‘Debated But No Counted’: Measuring The LGBT Community” — Gallup
- “Sacramento LGBT Advocates Say Biden’s Recognition Of Transgender Day Of Visibility Has Major Impact On Community” — Fox 40
- “Vaccine Clinic Offers Safe Space For Members Of Wilmington’s LGBTQIA+ Community To Get Their Shot” — WECT.com
- “Allentown Mayoral Candidates Polled On LGBTQ Community” — WFMZ
- “Arkansas Governor Targets Queer Community With Anti-LGBT Bills” — South Flordia Gay News
With all this talk of an “LGBT Community,” you’d think there’s some kind of bar that all the well-known LGBT people hang out in. Drinks would, of course, be named after icons like Dr. Frank-N-Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Scar from The Lion King, who are basically the same character anyway.
However, that is far from the case. In truth, the “LGBT Community,” is far from some kind of hivemind like the media often shows them to be. It’s a loose collection of people who, in theory, advocate for the rights of one another. And even then, that is much harder to come across than most people think.
There’s an old stereotype that lesbians hate and distrust bisexual women, a stereotype that is based on much truth. To quote them.us on 7/18/2018:
Bisexual women, in particular, have it hard — at least when it comes to desirability within the LGBTQ+ community. Lesbian women and communities are notorious for rejecting bisexual women as potential friends and as sexual and romantic partners due to stereotypes that bisexual women are untrustworthy, unreliable, incapable of monogamy, disease carriers, and “sleeping with the enemy.”
Once again, this shows the idea of an “LGBT Community” to be rather nonsensical. These are two groups within the acronym, and one letter hates and distrusts the other letter.
Or how about TERFs, or Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists, many of whom are lesbians? Once again, sounds a little weird to call them part of a “community” when they both hate each other. In order for them to be members of a “community,” you’d at least expect some amount of shared interest on both of their parts.
Do you want to see the destruction of the idea of an “LGBT Community” in one article? It’s an American Mind article with the headline “TERF Wars: How Radical Lesbians Are Braver Than You Are.” Here’s a snippet:
One of the biggest online refuges for these women — gay and straight — is Gender Critical on Reddit, with over 45 thousand members. Spend a few minutes on it and you start to wonder if you are at a conservative Christian message board, if conservative Christians had anything to say about the culture.
There is no “LGBT Community,” there are just LGBT people looking for rights. And, quite often, they have to fight other LGBT people as well as non-LGBT people.
