Hello!
I am new here, and new to the LGBT community in general. Around 6-7 weeks ago I realized I was trans(htf do you make it to 30 and not realize?)
In talking to my therapist, they said they(belonging to the community themselves) like to use queer as shorthand since it includes everyone and isn’t an unending acronym that is constantly getting new letters. I also like that and would use it, but being new, I’m not sure how others who’ve been here longer feel.
Are they equivalent?
I don’t like how the acronym keeps changing and accidentally leaving out a letter could be taken as an intentional slight.
I use queer when referring to a bunch of different sexual or gendered people (eg, some bi people, lesbians, an asexual person, etc etc). I use LGBT+ or simply LGBT when in contexts that include audiences of all orientations including straight, to not create confusion. LGBT+ includes everyone without being excessive imo. The only ones I see doing more than 4-5 chars anyways are usually straight or straight-facing entities (eg, groups, news stations, etc) referring to us as an entire collective. To me, going for 7+ chars in an article feels kinda like unintentional pinkwashing, but maybe that’s just me x3