Oops...someone didn't get the memo > Rexroad.com

Elisabeth Sherwin has an article this morning on the front page of the Enterprise about Gay Pride Month and the celebrations this month.

My favorite part of the article is when Supervisor Yamada says, "Pride Month is in common usage around the country....". Right.

Well I just got an invitation in the office for the ACLU event honoring Freddie Oakley with the 2007 Achievement Award. Guess what they are celebrating? "Gay Pride Month" is right at the top of the inside cover of the invitation. Someone forgot to tell them about the common usage of "Pride Month."

This whole thing of definitions and the use of words is interestng to me. These folks can't seem to determine what to call their month. they also can't seem to determine what to call the coalition they are defined as. In the same article by Elisabeth Sherwin the group is refered to as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trangender (LGBT). Later Yamada refers to them as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI).

Intersex? What in the world is that? Maybe this is a game of scrabble.

It is clear that this issue brings up some emotion on both sides. I just find it hard to belive that the LGBT or LGBTI advocates are going to be able to accomplish much of their agenda as long as they keep changing the language used to define their cause.

Comments

By Billy Bob @ Sunday, June 10, 2007 10:18 PM

You have some very good points there Matt, very funny too!

By JK @ Tuesday, June 12, 2007 11:23 AM

I really have to disagree on your stance about pride month. Events like "Gay Pride" and "Breast Cancer Awareness" and "Black History Month" aren't terribly meaningful to people like you and me, and seem to emphasize a small group, much like affirmative action.

What these events do however is raise awareness that these issues of inequality do exist. As an example, I read an article a couple years back (I would provide a link, but can't find it) about a lesbian couple who had been living together for 10 years, much to the disapproval of their parents. One of the women was severely injured in a drunk driving accident, leaving her partially mentally incapacitated. Because the women we unable to marry legally, her partner had absolutely no legal rights. The injured woman's parents immediately took custody of their incapacitated daughter and refused any visitation from her partner. Homosexuals do not have the same rights as heterosexuals, and that injustice often leads to cruel and unfortunate situations.

As far as the whole naming and LBGT and LBGTI thing goes, yes, it's a silly neo-liberal issue with terminology, exclusively used by womens' studies professors, students, and public figures striving to be as politically correct as possible. My girlfriend is still at UCD in the womens' studies major, and the ammount of BS she hears in her classes is astounding.

And to answer your question, intersex is a word for people in a grey area, like men who want to be women and women who want to be men. How this really differs from transexuals, I really don't know. It just sounds like more politcally correct BS.

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