as small as a world and as large as alone

11:04am December 27, 2013

madeofpatterns:

wackyshenanigans:

madeofpatterns:

spookymoony:

if you find terms for queer identities confusing, arbitrary or unimportant then you’ve probably never had to experience how terrifying it is to not understand your own identity, or the relief of finding a term that helps describe you

I find it damn-near impossible to talk about LGBTQ issues because the language keeps shifting dramatically and I can’t keep up with it and people shout you down for saying even slightly wrong words.

That problem is real.

If you think language-impaired people don’t exist, or are never lgbtqiap+, then you need to rethink things.

And it’s not just a general language thing, either. The LGBTQ community has particularly inaccessible language, and this is a recent development. It wasn’t like this 10 years ago.

Very much so.

I’m still using very outdated language because my last real contact with the LGBTQ community was roughly ten years ago myself, and I can’t keep up.

And I’m lesbian and nongendered.  (Yes, that’s possible.  Don’t ask me to explain.  The idea that it’s impossible is recent and incredibly, incredibly hostile to people who are vulnerable enough already.)  So don’t tell me I haven’t lived through this kind of confusion and pain, just because I’m using terminology (and concepts) from ten years ago.

23,679 notes