Why Getting It Is A Good Thing

Those who follow me enough may know that I am a supporter of LGBT rights and have been known to take an active part in the fight for equality. Even though I have not been "out" for as long as many people have, I still believe that the LGBT community has become stronger than ever over the past few years.

However, the LGBT community is still not always a cohesive unit. It may seem counter productive but a sizable chunk of the intolerance toward community members actually comes from inside the community itself, particularly when it comes to accepting those who identify as anything other than gay, lesbian, or transgendered. There are some in the community that believe that these other identities should not be included under the community's wing and many more feel the need to discredit these identities altogether. Bisexualism is even included in the community's generally accepted acronym, but many believe that bisexualism does not exist.

In these cases, it is important to realize that identity is subjective. That is to say that what you believe you are is a construct of your mind as well as any others minds who believe what you believe you are. That does not mean that identity is always a trivial matter. Identity is a very powerful tool for self-understanding and empowerment. That is something that the greater LGBT community desperately needs not only to foster cohesiveness but also to remain relevant in the face of opposition. When you discredit someone's identity, you are discrediting their sense of self-understanding and empowerment which can have a crippling effect on the person and the community.

I cannot state with a clear conscience that everyone should agree. However, I believe that showing the "others" in the community the same amount of tolerance and understanding that many in the community are hammering for should be of the most importance. The "other" terms that people use in the community are there for a reason. History has taught us that intolerance stems from a lack of understanding. Understanding these "other" terms and why they were created in the first place is therefor important in mitigating the divide from within the community as a whole.

I myself mostly identify with two terms that are not always identified by others as a legitimate orientation or identity. I mostly identify as a pansexual bigendered person. While these two terms are technically covered under bisexualism and trangenderism in the sense that those terms have come to be all inclusive in some circles of the community, they are still separate identities in that they are more specific.

More specific terms for things are found throughout the dictionary. They are nothing new. Just because most people use more all inclusive terms in everyday speech, it does not make more specific terms any less valid. More specific terms get more to the point. You wouldn't say that you live in New York and expect someone to find you. That's all these terms are. They were created to help people understand more fully what an individual identifies as, and that is a good thing.