Need ALL your votes & comments in "Advocate" magazine poll: LGBT vs Gay & Lesbian

[nyabn_webmaster]

The Advocate magazine has an online survey in progress asking if more "inclusive" language should be used to describe our community. They are asking: "Do you think an abbreviation like LGBT or GLBTQ, etc., should replace use of the phrase gay and lesbian?"

. . . and "No" is beating "Yes" by more than three to one, so far. :eek:

We would like to ask all of you to please help us change that ratio.

Sadly, some voters have also chosen to make viciously anti-bi & anti-trans (even a couple of anti-lesbian) comments. We urge you to post pro-inclusive comments along with your vote.

You might want to take a look at some of the more 'interesting' comments here: http://www.advocate.com/poll_results.asp about who some people think should (or should NOT) be counted as members of our Community.

:flag3: So let YOUR voice be heard too! Please vote in this poll: http://www.advocate.com/poll.asp

---------------------------------
PS for those of you who favour the word "Queer" as an all inclusive descriptor, it currently doesn't seem to be on the Advocate's radar. Letters to the editor on that point can be posted here: http://www.advocate.com/submit_letter.asp

[JohnnyV]

Yay! I just voted in it.

J

[bigregory]

I too just voted.. NO
Im not LGBT im just BI.
The diffrences between these groups can be so
outrageous and other times very close.
But to put us all in the same pot and stir is a step back
in time.
Let the gays be gay, the lesbians be lesbains,the trans be trans
But please know well i want to be separate and distinct and
like to see the term BISEXUAL elevated on its own and not dragged
behind in such a vast group of somewhat very diffrent people.
:2cents:

[arana]

I put my :2cents: in also.

[JohnnyV]

Bigreg,

LoL! I saw your comments on the forum there. So funny.

After reading the tone of comments on the Advocate forums, I am so happy we have this site. Compared to those discussion groups (as well as gay.com), we're actually fairly civilized and respectful.

Yay us.

J

[Lorcan]

I voted.


In the cosmic sense of things, we're all just gerbils. :rotate:

[wanderingrichard]

just voted.. can't believe the editorial staff there is so damn lunk headed.. nor that suddenly everyone voting isn't gay or lesbian... but represtative of all the rest of us.. lets hope that by voting on this we can wake them up and reverse the trend of ignornance and non inclusivity

[BI BOYTOY]

well i just voted the people that run that place have got to be straight. :bibounce: :bibounce: who wants to be put in a big pot just to make it easyier to discriminate everybody in one big abriveation. :bibounce: :bibounce:

[Driver 8]

Im not LGBT im just BI.
Admittedly the poll wording is unclear, but I don't think that's what they meant. (A lot of gays and lesbians seemed to read it the same way, I admit.)

This isn't about gays and lesbians, or bisexuals and transgender people for that matter, calling themselves something different. It's not about someone saying "Greg is GLBT, you know." It's about the term to use when you're talking about people collectively.

The Advocate is always writing things like "Passing the non-discrimination bill will prevent employers from firing people for being gay and lesbian ..." or "Gays, lesbians, and their supporters rallied against the constitutional amendment ..." or whatever. These sentences are simply not accurate as written.

Changing the terminology won't automatically make people less biphobic, I realize, but I think it does have some effect. For people who aren't already dead-set against bisexuals, it's a quiet reminder that we're out there; for bisexuals looking to the larger community, it's a reminder that we aren't being given the cold shoulder.

Especially in recent years, now that most groups have gotten the message about inclusive language, I've found that it's a bad sign if someone is still using "gay and lesbian" instead of GLBT in all their materials, and that if you contact them as a bisexual, they're very likely to give you the old routine that you used to get everywhere - "that's not who we're for." At this point in history, using "gay and lesbian" as a general term makes a statement.

[Rhuth]

Wow. No is still winning. And some of those comments... ouch.

[littlerayofsunshine]

I voted and donated 2 cents.

[JohnnyV]

Wow. No is still winning. And some of those comments... ouch.

Rhuth, those are nothing compared to the bile you read on gay.com forums. If you gather enough men together who share one trait, and you give them a sense that they're the ones in charge of the discourse, the sexism and xenophobia starts to flow. I think this forum is better because we have both men and women, and there is more diversity. Another reason why bisexuality can help the gay movement improve itself, and why they should be more inclusive.

J

[Rhuth]

...If you gather enough men together who share one trait, and you give them a sense that they're the ones in charge of the discourse, the sexism and xenophobia starts to flow...

Even if that is true, I am just going to stubornly refuse to believe most men are like that. Maybe it's just the noisy ones who feel they are in control and take over the stage. I still think the overwhelming majority of guys out there are... well... like you! Maybe a little less outspoken, but much kinder and more considerate than the loud obnoxious people who take it upon themselves to speak for their sex.

But your point was that being more inclusive would temper such behavior, and I completely agree with that. It is always a shocking slap in the face to hear people in the gay and lesbian community say bigoted and prejudiced things about a smaller group. I always thought going through hardships make you more sensitive to the hardships of others. Again, maybe it's just the loud ones. Maybe the majority of the gay and lesbian community are not voting in that pole. Maybe the majority of them would not dream of denying our exsistance.

Dangit, lemme have my cheery optomisim about the human race! :banghead:

Love the new avatar, by the way. ;)

[citystyleguy]

JUST VOTED! unfortunately, for undediced, but posted my explanation. dont much care for labels, but if i am going to have to pick, it wont be limited to the another's finite selection. as i said in my comments, I AM A BISEXUAL, and that is that.

as another says in other commentary, this rapidly expanding label "...an abbreviation like LGBT or GLBTQ, etc., ..." is getting unwieldly, and burying my identifying label in a dust bin of letters, etc.

well, that is my :2cents: worth!

be what ever you are, and be proud of it!

[anne27]

I consider myself 'queer', which in the way I look at things emcompasses us bisexuals. There is no pleasing everyone, no matter what terms used *shrugs*. Oh, and we are easy targets for the radical hate mongers. If you think some of those comments are bad, you should hang out on some of the lesbian boards. Ouch.
:2cents:

[Avocado]

I voted we should be included but at the same time I'm not really arsed (no pun intended). Even if gays 100% accept us there will always be a problem from the straight community towards us even if this community accepts gays. We have a choice, we should know better. Also (remember, gays are 100% responsible for HIV, don't want to contradict the lies from the straight community now do we) gays (who apparently have STD's) keep their STD's to themselves, whereas we (who apparently pick them up) pass them onto straight people (who apparently can't have STD's without us queers in the world). So in short, we need our own movement because of biphobia from the straight community, no matter how the gay community were to see us.

[qiangqiang]

I just voted yes here (https://fondlove.com/)

[SilkyHoseLover]

I just voted yes here (https://fondlove.com/)

This poll is still active after nearly 15 years?! :confused:

[tenni]

It is interesting to read the views of bisexuals in the early days of this website.

I notice the words "bi erasure or bi invisibility" being used. Rarely, do we see such significant references to bisexuality on the site any more. Then there is "Biphobia". All important to living as a bisexual.

Silky
I could not open this specific poll.

[SilkyHoseLover]

Silky
I could not open this specific poll.

Not surprising. The jackass who posted the link is a sly spammer. He posted the same link in several other threads a few days ago. At first glance, the posts appeared to be responsive to a thread's topic, but it was always a link to that same sex toys website. I didn't follow the links, but I did hover over them to verify that they were all the 'fondlove.com' site. Marlin Perkins used to sneak in commercials that way in the middle of Wild Kingdom shows... (Showing my age here...)