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I recently attended a meeting during which someone raised the subject of diversity. LGBT people are all about diversity. The presenter concocted an ungainly acronym I’d never seen before: LGBTTQQIAAP. A seemingly logical extension of the familiar “LGBT,” it includes more riders on the already overcrowded gender-identity bandwagon.
For most, LGBT is clear enough. It stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. “Q” has become common usage, as in LGBTQ, but there was confusion about whether it stood for “Queer” or “Questioning”—as in, questioning if you're queer, presumably. Then came an “I” for “Intersex,” referring to those sexually equipped as both genders. Formerly known as Hermaphrodites, they switched from the Greek root to a Latinate one. Personally, I preferred the Greek. It sounded like they should have a temple. Nevertheless, “I” it is. Then came “A” for Allies. Easy enough—those are the straight people who support gay causes. So, for the politically correct, LGBTQIA became the acronym au courant.
Well, not so fast. Apparently there are still others beyond the gender binary clamoring for inclusion. There was also some consternation over the “T” for Transgender. Despite its umbrella shape, the “T” became insidious. There are, after all, lots of “T”s—transgenders, transsexuals, transvestites, Transsiberians, etc. So, the second “T” apparently recognizes there’s more than one “T” to be reckoned with. To make everybody happy, they also added another “Q.” Fair enough…
Now comes the other “A.” In certain circumstances, one would be happy with a pair of aces. Here however, maybe not. The new one, I’m told, stands for Asexual. Apparently, there was ambiguity about what the other “A” meant anyway. Now, I’m fine with Allies but I’m not too sure of Asexuals. Everyone else is bonded, however obliquely, by their sexual orientation, Asexuals, if I understand the term correctly, are devoid of sexual orientation. Maybe there should just be another “I” for Ironic. And don’t try to add another “A” for Androgyny.
“P” is for Pansexual. For fairness’ sake, I suppose it’s an etymological nod to the Greeks since they took away Hermaphrodite. And no, Pansexuals are not the ones with the flutes. They are, according to the Queer Dictionary (yes, there is one), attracted to anybody. But, they’re not to be confused with bisexuals, known in some circles as Ambisexuals. I shouldn’t have mentioned that for risk of adding yet another “A,” but apparently, depending on whom you ask, Ambi- or even Omnisexuals are not the same as bisexuals. Maybe there should be an “O.” Anyway, it would seem all of them are really “B”s but there’s a lot of gender theory hair-splitting involved that you really don’t want to get into.
Oddly absent are the “Rs,” the gay Republicans. If anyone suffers the indignity of marginalization for being different and seemingly deserve a letter, it would be gay Republicans. On the other hand, everyone else in the acronym was born that way. Being “R” is a choice. Mercifully, for now at least, there’ll be no “R.”
