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Originally Posted by Gwen Goodwin
She states flatly that GLBT sounds like some sort of wierd sandwich and insists that 'categorizing' ourselves as part of a minority group compromises us. She insists that we must work for 'human rights for all' rather than fighting for the rights that are denied as lesbians, gays, bis and trans.
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This may not be the case with your friend, Gwen, but sometimes I think the issue is that we don't want to speak the word
gay or we don't want to use the word
lesbian,
bi, or
transgender while engaging folks we perceive as conservative. I feel that is telling of internal homophobia in our lives. I still believe internalized homophobia is one of the top problems in our community. Not too long ago, I was startled when something happened to make me realize that there was still some internal homophobia in me.
Anyway, here in Kentucky when we were out going door to door talking with voters last November about the constitutional amendment to ban same-gender marriage and civil unions, they specifically told us to use the word
gay in our conversations and not to be content with just using equality, fairness, human rights, etc. I think that was a good move.