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What "LGB without the T" means
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this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
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The real fantasy here is that the lgbtqia+ community is something other than fractions of a percentage of the population with extremely niche interests. Voltron all you like, but you're still an extremely small percentage of the whole with an extremely overexposed media footprint. I'm glad yall are being celebrated again as my people once celebrated and venerated twinsouls, but we also need to refocus our outrage on the shit that affects all of us, like net neutrality and basic right to live shit. Gender affirming care is wonderful for the people who have ready access to food, water, and shelter. I am more worried about the people who don't have even those basic things. And the number of those people in this country grows every day.
Whether or not you meant it this way, your argument has been used to downplay important social issues for over 100 years, probably a lot longer.
I've heard "Why spend so much effort on X when people are dying out there?"
Where X is womens' voting rights, Black rights, sexual freedoms, political freedoms, and religious freedoms just off the top of my head in the US alone.
If you did mean it with good intentions and not as a debate tactic, know that we can work on two things at once. To use the US as an example again, most of those things I addressed were indeed improved and it's not like other things just fell by the wayside. We vastly improved food safety, workplace safety, hunger, infrastructure, etc. at the same time.
What I'm saying is that I'm tired of hearing about wants constantly on the news when our country is filled with so much need it hurts. You want to transition. That's good. I'm so happy for you that you've figured out who you want to be. You want a safe community for all your people to gather and share. Totally understandable, people have been doing that for thousands of years. What I am concerned about is what people NEED to live. People need shelter that doesn't make them unable to afford food. People need food that isn't so preserved with chemicals and colorants it gives them cancer 20 years down the line. People need water that isn't full of whatever runoff dupont feels like dumping in 10 miles up the river. None of the other issues become any less important, but we need to understand that needs are more important than wants on a fundamental level. And we are not meeting the needs of our people. Until that happens, I'm gonna be mad about people crying for their wants.
What a truly fascinating way to view the world.
If you actually believe that, surely you're not going far enough though? You can follow your logic to its conclusion:
Actually, some people have no water at all. We should literally expend no effort into cleaning up water until every single human on the planet has access to some form of water.
Actually, some people can afford neither food or shelter, and so we should not expend any effort in providing them with shelter until every single human on the planet has access to food.
It's almost like we're a complex society that can address more than one societal issue at a given point.
there's always a bigger fish, right?
the adage goes 'pick your fights' for a reason. while the needs that badadvice (fitting name, actually lol) mentions are vital and important, the scale of them is such that we would spend all of our energy on them and ignore the plethora of other issues being discussed in this post. while we need to be working on affordable housing, clean water, etc., we also need to be considering where we can do the most good. and people like badadvice get angry that the forest exists because it obscures the their particular tree and would burn the rest of the forest if they think it will help their tree. the reality is that the diminishing returns for fights like badadvice is advocating for puts us in a position that they are often untenable to try and tackle with the level of effort they want to put towards it. this isn't a matter of being cold-hearted toward those issues, it's a matter of triaging our problems as a society.
You are so completely full of shit.
"You don't understand, I have to hate the gays, it's the only way to stop cancer and poverty."
The whole reason the LGBTQ+ topic is so big is because of those other issues, specifically because solving those would take actual effort and money and if you don't want to expend that you just tie up people's attention and energy in useless culture wars, and then they're too tired and distracted to deal with all the other problems that need solving.
You're so very close. The LGBT+ is fighting for exactly that. They're on that front line. And if that front line breaks, they'll come for your half a twin soul next.
As an overwhelming majority, they arent. The ones with mental health issues might be, which are disproportionately common considering the extremely small percentage of the population we have been talking about to begin with. However, imo that's a larger mental health care issue than strictly a lgbtia+ issue anyways. The point I'm making here is that people truly struggling with basic right to live shit (ie food, water, shelter) arent worried about getting their next dose of hormones or what dive bar they can pick up some ass at. Look at the truly poor communities and tell me that a gay bar and some estrogen pills will do anything for them. You'll tell me next "oh no it's about identity and the right to be who they are!!1!" Lmfao imagine being so fucking free as to CHOOSE your own identity instead of having it branded on you at birth like a fucking animal. Hell, some of you even get to choose new parts if the factory didn't send you what you wanted. Meanwhile, on the actual rez, Sam the injun boy gets to play with arid dirt and hope the financial services check comes on time this month so mom and dad don't scream so much. You see the disparity here?
You think people choose their sexuality and gender?
Interesting.
When did you choose to be straight?
When I chose not to be anything else. Lmfao you're telling me that people who transition had no choice? People who are gay have no choice whatsoever than to express that tiny facet of their larger being? Clearly the gun they pressed to their own head was forcing them against their will to only want sexual relationships with their own gender or have no sexual relationships whatsoever whatever the case may be. That's how humans work. Can't choose anything about yourself at all except what your cells tell you that you must be. That's why transitioning is outlawed, as it violates this lack of choice for humanity.
Ok now this clearly shows you're a bigot before all else. You never came here to argue in good faith, did you? Just move goalpoasts and exploit the struggles of native american people as cover for your hatred.
If you're truly native american as you say, you're a terrible representative for your people. But thankfully, unlike you, we don't assume one individual is a representative for all.
You mean you could choose to be attracted to your own gender if you wanted to?
Because I know I couldn't.
Hi we can fight about other things too? like I'm also fucking super concerned about how religious institutions are infiltrating our government and other positions of power and how there are still so many mass shootings, and the opioid crisis, and mental health is still abysmal, and dental insurance is a joke even though bad teeth hurt your health.. oh and earth is basically fucking melting and people STILL deny global warming. Look see a person can be aware and care about a lot and consider all the things important! You're making the same type of argument that would come up with ANY progressive outcry of injustice, same fucking arguments happened with police brutality against people of color. Lawmakers don't have to focus on just ONE FUCKING THING and progress doesn't have to either.
And fuck this shit people still die from being LGBTQA. Fuck off with "you're too small to matter enough to protect" bullshit. I get it if you feel like it has too much media attention it's mostly because it became profitable to talk about it. That's capitalism at work but don't lessen and downplay a legitimate fight for equality because of that.
It's not a fight for equality. Nobody wants equality because equal for us sucks every ass. It's a fight to be at the front of the line for the money fountain, and every feel good story about an eleventy thousand dollar hormone treatment that got approved could have been a fucking well in a reservation that would have given clean water to hundreds of native people. I'm glad Suzy doesn't have to be Kevin any more, but Kevin still would have had food, water, and a place to sleep. Some of us don't even have that. So yeah, until all of us have the basic shit covered, I'm going to mad about the overexposure of a niche group who cry about their wants instead of recognizing all the need around them.
This is a terrible take. Given the high rate of suicide among trans individuals who have no social or medical support, this is a public health issue and not just a race to the "money fountain". Should we also cut funding for all mental health causes because the Flint water crisis isn't yet taken care of? Not every trans individual is even asking for or wants to transition surgically. And when they do, most are paying out if their own pocket. And even those that get any public funding represent a literal drop in the ocean. Are you also mad at women who get attention and funding for breast reconstruction surgery after cancer?
By your logic no other social issue should be dealt with or funded if we don't solve world hunger first. It's not marginalised communities that are standing between people in need and resources, and it's frankly not constructive to be mad at those marginalised communities for getting the attention they do. Better to use that energy to go after those who hoard resources and have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
It's not that no other social issue deserves attention, it's that the lgbtqia+ social issue is not as important as its media footprint would suggest. Give me ONE native American icon that has one tenth the visibility of Ezra Miller or Caitlin Jenner. The entire nation has heard of fucking Lizzo but not one person on the street can name a single Indian reservation or native actor. It's fucking infuriating when you people live on stolen land and don't even think about who you killed to take it and continue to oppress to keep it.
LGBTQIA are getting a lot more screen time because a small group of powerful people decided we're a good scapegoat to distract everyone else (including you) from the real reason the issues you so vehemently abhor are even happening in the first place. Maybe you should direct your ire at them, it's a hell of a lot more constructive.
Also what's this about "you people"? I'm not American. In fact I come from a former colony of a European country that's still getting royally fucked over decades after independence, and the majority of the population lives in abject poverty. Don't lecture me about who's getting enough attention. Most of the people in your country have barely even heard of the place I'm from, let alone give even an iota of a shit about the plight of the people there. And you don't hear me ranting that native americans are getting more "attention" and "resources" compared to my people who are dying of rampant AIDs, violent conflict, and fucking disease and starvation. We all deserve equality and justice - focus your efforts on tearing down the causes, not other groups fighting for themselves against the same fucking oppressors.
Imagine having the independence to fuck up your own country as you like lmao you're talking about comparing a genocide to intermittent cultural oppression like they're even remotely similar. I'm sorry the Europeons came to your country and made things worse for your people. Mine never left and have only recently agreed to stop sending us to mandatory death camps dressed up as houses of God. Do your people still have concentration camps? Mine are called reservations.
If you think a lot of African countries are truly independent and not still being fucked every day by the same imperialists that put them in that situation in the first place, you have a lot to learn. Your people aren't the only ones who suffered from genocide and literal slavery courtesy the same breed of colonialists you talk about. Again if you have an issue with the status quo take it up with your oppressors rather than shitting on other oppressed peoples. And while you've turned this into an oppression dick measuring contest you, have yet to tell me how the lack of attention to your cause is specifically the LGBT community's fault as you've alluded to time and again
You're complaining about someone getting to go to a buffet when you are starving while someone just flew halfway across a country on a private jet to eat a steak down the block from you.
If you want to complain about money not going to get everyone basic needs met, then team together with the people who more often than not are also struggling to get by and target who actually has the money and hoards it for power instead of using it to eliminate hunger from the world.
Oh, ok. So.... Caitlin Jenner? Ezra Miller? How about RuPaul? I can think of a half dozen filthy rich twinks off the top of my head. How about filthy rich natives? Here I'll give you an easy one: the owner of famous Dave's. Only reason I even know is because that guy is half my tribe, and the tribe talks. You find me one more with active connections to the native community. Go on. I'll wait right here.
And how is this the fault of the LGBT community? Are the LGBT community specifically responsible for native americans not getting enough attention? You have yet to make an argument why the LGBT community itself deserves your ire. Have they somehow -tricked- people into getting more attention? I really struggle to understand why you've picked on this group in particular. Are black people being given too much attention too? Women? Elderly people with dementia?
Let's look at all those groups as a percentage of the population and you tell me who should recieve the attention. Women? Half the population? Black people? Maybe 20-30% of the population around me? Elderly people with dementia? Now we have a very tiny group, except literally anyone could become a part of this group eventually. Now the LGBTQIA+. Not even 1 in 10, and that's in our VERY accepting society with legally protected status. You don't even get rounded up in concentration camps. Not here anyways. But could rupaul spare a shout out for my people on the rez? Nah. Better talk about lizzo some more. She needs the exposure.
Ho boy where do I start? You are aware LGBT individuals are everywhere, right? Including on your reservation? In every country in the world, in every social class, race, religion, etc? We are children, siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, colleagues, friends, etc etc. HOW are you surprised the LGBT community gets this kind of representation? The vast majority of people know or know of someone who is LGBT in their social circle. Can the same be said for native americans? Don't assume I don't feel for your people, but conflating LGBT representation as somehow a specific injustice to native americans is incredibly flimsy logic.
Using Rupaul as an example is a supremely poor choice given drag race has specifically given representation to native performers in the US and Canada, and created a platform for those performers to highlight issues their communities have faced:
https://dragsociety.com/blogs/the-tea/native-american-queens-who-rocked-rupauls-drag-race
And again why is it his or any other LGBT individual's responsibility to fight for your cause anymore than it should be anyone else's responsibility?
And you want to talk numbers, ok let's talk numbers. I'll use my country as an example. We're 32 million people, over 60% of that population lives in poverty. Not the deluxe American level of poverty, third world country levels of poverty. That's nearly 20 million people. Nearly half of those 32 million don't have access to clean water, that's over 16 million. Only one in five have access to adequate sanitation, that's 28 million people without adequate sanitation. How many native americans are there in the US? Around 7 million? That's a lot more people in a lot worse living conditions where I'm from than your entire population combined. Should I start complaining that you have more representation in famous movies than my people do? Should I concern troll about there being more native American millionaires than there are in my country? Should I expect native americans to fight for my people's cause too, to give us a shout-out? Using your logic I should go around dismissing any calls for justice for native american peoples simply by citing the fact that more than the equivalent of triple your entire population are living in abject poverty in my country.
Oh and another thing - this whole time you've been shitting in the LGBT community you've neglected the fact that the new pride flag was redesigned not only to give a specific shout out to trans individuals, but also people of colour AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, represented by the black and brown stripes:
https://dmh.lacounty.gov/blog/2022/06/a-brief-history-of-our-lgbtqia2-s-pride-flag/
But sure, it's the gays that are at fault for your community not getting enough airtime. Unbelievable.
Keep fighting the good fight ✊
It's not about the percentage of the minority, it's about how that minority is used politically against it's allies and supporters.
Imagine your people being politically valuable instead of being thrown into the worst badlands the government could find and forgotten.
I'm sorry your people are not valuable. That's how insane you are sounding.
I'm sorry your people are not valuable.