Another example of how ludicrous and interrupting and contrary it is to try to talk about women or lesbians (or indeed men or gay men) by invoking the alphabet soup.
October is Women’s History Month in Canada. The government tells us:
October is Women’s History Month in Canada, a time to celebrate the women and girls from our past, and our present, who are contributing to a better, more inclusive Canada.
In 1992, the Government of Canada designated October as Women’s History Month, marking the beginning of an annual celebration of the outstanding achievements of women and girls throughout Canada’s history.
Ok. So far so good.
This year’s theme, Through Her Lens: Celebrating the Diversity of Women, emphasizes the importance of recognizing the achievements and contributions of women from diverse backgrounds. It focuses on the unique perspectives, experiences, and challenges faced by Indigenous women; women from 2SLGBTQI+ communities; and newcomer, racialized, and migrant women.
Not lesbians, you see, but women from 2SLGBTQI+ communities. Why not just say lesbians? Why translate “lesbian” to “from 2SLGBTQI+ communities”? Why erase the word “lesbian”??
What’s up, Canada? You’re not homophobic are you? Are you?
Comments
9 responses to “Women’s History Month minus lesbians”
No L without the T!
Holy fuckballs. Even in the absurd world of trans-ology, someone with half a brain should’ve blinked at the G. “Celebrate women from the homosexual male community” is just a wee bit mind-boggling.
Well you see it’s against the unwritten law to omit any of the initials.
It’s becoming common now to see individuals labelled with the entire thing:; ‘Smith, who is LGBTQA+….’ Hell of a trick if you can pull it off, I suppose.
I very much dislike “member of the xyz community” phrasing. It turns the relevant characteristic from being a personal characteristic into membership in a group. He’s not bald, he’s “a member of the hairless head community”; he didn’t realize he was gay, he realized he was “a member of the LGBTQXYZ community”. It makes no sense. Why women in the OP are described as “members of the [whatever] community” but not “members of the indigenous community”, I don’t know; the latter is more a community than the former is.
New Jeopardy question: What is homophobia spelled with a T?
Since when did 2S jump to the front of the line? It’d been towards the end (right before the “+”) up until now it seems.
It’s specific to Canada I think. It might be recent – I hadn’t noticed it until just the other day.
“More inclusive” these days warrants wariness, as there is a fair chance it means permissive of men in women’s spaces and hence an end to women’s spaces. “Diversity of women” even more so. And when 2SLGBTQI+ is brought into the mix, the jig is up. G is unrelated to women, T(women) likewise; 2S is a tool used give the alphabet soup a patina of racial awareness (and also as a way of claiming opponents are racist), and mostly or entirely applies to men anyway from what I’ve read; while B,Q, I, and + are merely non-specific.
Only L is relevant of those, the rest crowd out the message.