Thread by @UnicornMarch

If we emphasize the letters with the worst rates of poverty, abuse, assault, and suicidality, we can also... cheer ourselves up with some new acronyms! (Plus TGIQ.)

Cuties, unite!

PLZ NOTE that in the TGIQ+ pic, the T is not just metaphorically but literally centered. thaaanks

I originally came up with QTIPA+, but @vaspider made the extremely valid point that "bi" was coined well before "pan" and it didn't seem fair to only have the "p."

I figured there were bound to be people who needed it to center pan AND people who needed it to center bi, so I played with it and came up with QTBAI+ for the EXCEPTIONALLY BI among us.

(Also handy for puns. Your friend makes a bad joke? "Cutie, BYYYYYE!!!")

I don't know who came up with TGIQ+. It's been in my head since the 90s, but from where? I've seen it used a little bit, mostly in healthcare orgs like @radremedy. @newVoices_Choir has a TIGQ choir, for "trans, intersex, and genderqueer," which is similar.

I've always wished TGIQ+ were the main acronym.

It sounds like TGIF: like a positive, celebrated thing.

It includes everyone.

It centers gender as our main axis of oppression, which is accurate: we're oppressed for our orientations because we're not following the gender rules.

When people "tolerate" us by saying "love is love," or "I don't care what people do in the privacy of the bedroom," they're saying that it's not the sexual part that bothers them. Those people are not supportive of butch women or femme guys, much less anybody else.

That acceptance is basically the barest minimum. It's "I don't mind gay people as long as they act straight in public." (Fun fact: in 1994 I had this exact shirt.)

It's "if you conform to gender roles, you're fine by me."

Those people might vote for same-sex marriage. They won't vote for polyamorous marriage, or to universalize the rights and benefits that we only give to marriage. Or for trans healthcare and bathroom rights. Or to end intersex genital mutilation. (#StopIGM!) Just to name a few.

Because they're defending the gender binary. They're defending two genders, male and female, who are supposed to be attracted to each other and only each other, with manly butch bodies/presentations or soft feminine bodies/presentations, which correspond to their assigned sex.

ANYWAY

And yes, there will be people who don't like TGIQ+ because they don't want to be included under queer, just like there are people who don't like LGBT+ because they get excluded.

There will be people who don't like QTIPA/QTBAI/QTPAI because they think it's offensive to lump gay and lesbian in under the "+".

If you're offended by people being included in the plus, what do you do with LGBTQ+ or LGBTQIPA+?

If you're only offended by putting GL there, why?

But ultimately: these are just more options. We all have our preferred terms for ourselves and the community. We can use different ones. It doesn't hurt anybody. What's important is that we continue to advocate for each other, and especially, center the most marginalized people.

Y'ALL. Allies are listed because there are organizations and events out there that specifically include them. If they used this, that's where allies would go.

It's NOT a pronouncement that allies are oppressed/part of the community. They've always been the exception to the rule.

While I'm at it... putting groups together under the same letter is not an implication that those groups are the same.

Mostly, this is my attempt to come up with an acronym I can actually pronounce.

Partly, it's my reaction to the fact that LGBTQIPA+ is treated as if it's listed in order of importance. Very few of those groups have seen their rates of assault, suicidality, etc. get any better.