Does "LGBT" reflect a kind of social pecking order within "the gay community"?

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livingwordunity

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If not, why is it not in alphabetical order? Lesbians appear to have the top billing which goes with how “gay rights” has always been a part of militant feminism.
 
nope.But LGBT is said to have feminist connotation[1] (GLBT is also valid). Loking throughout time the groups that were included have evolved a bit. “homosexual” seems to be the earliest phrase used, then “gay” then “gay and lesbian.” Later Bisexuals and then Transgenders were included in the group.

I think you may be reading too much into the ordering of the letters though.

[1] - Alexander, Jonathan; Karen Yescavage (2004). Bisexuality and Transgenderism: InterSEXions of The Others. Haworth Press. ISBN 1-56023-287-0.
 
Why does the order of letters in an acronym assert some kind of hierarchy? It’s a rather silly conclusion to surmise, if you ask me.
 
Regular_Atheist said:
Why does the order of letters in an acronym assert some kind of hierarchy? It’s a rather silly conclusion to surmise, if you ask me.
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Then why didn’t they use alphabetical order? Plus, the way they are defining so-called “marriage equality” shows a preference for the first two letters of “LGBT” and doesn’t, at the moment, accommodate bisexual interest in both sexes.
 
livingwordunity said:
Then why didn’t they use alphabetical order? Plus, the way they are defining so-called same-sex “marriage” doesn’t at the moment accommodate bisexual interest in both sexes.
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Well, obviously because bisexuals are inferior compared to lesbians and they didn’t want to put them as the first word in the acronym in case people thought they were at the top of the hierarchy. That’s also why they’re reluctant to give bisexuals polygamy.
 
They’re probably just observing the ‘ladies first’ tradition?
 
I’ve seen GLBT and LGBT (and seen it jokingly spelled out as “giblet,” which would imply GBLT.

It’s true that bi and trans folk have different sets of issues and sometimes face prejudice even within the LGBT community, but I don’t think the usual order of the initials is meant to symbolize anything.

You also seem to be confusing “bisexual” with “polyamorous,” which is an entirely different community. It’s entirely possible to be bisexual (attracted to men and women in some proportion) and also to be monogamously and faithfully married. Bisexual describes the pool of people you’re attracted to, not how many you want to get hitched to at the same time.

Usagi
 
I asked the same person I ask when your other “gay community” or “gay agenda” questions come up, who is more authoritative on the subject then I am 🙂 and they said no. He said to tell you, the only possible reason he could come up for the acronym being ordered the way it is, might be that it rhymes better.
 
Absolutely not. I’ve seen LGBT, GLBT, and I’ve even seen BLT (har har) in lesbian communities. I’ve also seen GLBTQQIA, and clearly there’s no hierarchy in that either.

Edit: by the way, I’m intensely curious. Why is “the gay community” in quotation marks in your OP?
 
“GLBT” is not uncommon as an acronym, either, nor is “GLBTQ” (adding the “Q” for “Questioning” and/or “Queer”). It doesn’t imply a conscious pecking order insofar as I am aware, and I minister to LGBT persons: very few of the G/L have a problem with the T, although sometimes the B are viewed (whether properly or not) in a lower light, especially for men, as G who are “halfway out of the closet”, or for women, who are “experimenting” (thus the addition of the “Q” for bisexuals and others who aren’t really, positively certain). But, in general, no, there’s no pecking order between different kinds of homosexuality/transsexualism/transgenderism.
 
SMGS127 said:
Edit: by the way, I’m intensely curious. Why is “the gay community” in quotation marks in your OP?
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Because “gay” is a political term like “Pro-Choice” is. “Same-sex attraction” is non-political since it describes the condition without any political spin.
 
livingwordunity said:
Because “gay” is a political term like “Pro-Choice” is. “Same-sex attraction” is non-political since it describes the condition without any political spin.
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Umm you’re missing what I’m asking LVU. Why did you say “the gay community” instead of the “gay” community then? Why the whole phrase in quotation marks?
 
SMGS127 said:
Umm you’re missing what I’m asking LVU. Why did you say “the gay community” instead of the “gay” community then? Why the whole phrase in quotation marks?
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Because “the gay community” is a common political phrase. Another common one is “the gay lifestyle”. Notice that I also put “Pro-Choice” in quotations.
 
/headdesk

No. Absolutely not. It’s just normally that way, I’m guessing, due to pronunciation easiness.

And please, for the last time, with all due respect, stop with the bloody questions and topics about the gay community. I mean, it’s good to have questions about it or anything you’re not familiar with. The problem is, it’s starting to border on insulting.
 
VanSensei said:
No. Absolutely not. It’s just normally that way, I’m guessing, due to pronunciation easiness.

And please, for the last time, with all due respect, stop with the bloody questions and topics about the gay community. I mean, it’s good to have questions about it or anything you’re not familiar with. The problem is, it’s starting to border on insulting.
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I will stop asking questions about the “gay” lobby when homosexuality is no longer a public “hot-button” issue.
 
livingwordunity said:
If not, why is it not in alphabetical order? Lesbians appear to have the top billing which goes with how “gay rights” has always been a part of militant feminism.
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Just the sound of it perhaps, but who knows? In either case, transgender comes last, and I suspect there is some bias toward transgendered people in the gay community, apart from the straight community. There is also some bias toward gay people of color as well as lesbians. After all, why should gay men be so different from straight men in this respect?
 
I think the order of the letters is just coincidental, but I have a couple of friends who are heavily involved in the LGBT community and they’ve told me there is a definite bias against bisexuals, and transgendered people are often seen as being on the fringe because it’s sort of a different issue.
 
VanSensei said:
/headdesk

No. Absolutely not. It’s just normally that way, I’m guessing, due to pronunciation easiness.

And please, for the last time, with all due respect, stop with the bloody questions and topics about the gay community. I mean, it’s good to have questions about it or anything you’re not familiar with. The problem is, it’s starting to border on insulting.
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I’m sure there wasn’t a hierarchical effort to shift the acronym to ‘LGBT’ for militant feminists reasons (there is no central command among the sexual community), although the only reason you think LGBT is better for pronunciation easiness is because that is the term you are more familiar with. “GLBT” is just as easy to roll off the tongue.It feels awkward to say because it’s not what you’re accustomed to.

The acronym has since began moving up to six letters: LGBTQA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Questioning, Ally), and I’m convinced that it is either going to get longer, or its going to stop being used as an acronym because of the long list included within it. ‘P’ is the next letter going on the list.
 
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