It's definitely good to hear this from time to time. Even though I'm gay and trans, I often feel like I'm "not queer enough" to be part of the community. I do wonder if it's more of a "too old and not extrovert enough" thing, though. Not so much a problem online, but out there in the physical world, I've never met another LGBT+ person who wasn't decades younger than me, many decibels louder than me, or both.
@frog (just making sure you get a notification of this reply - some servers aren't great at that)
beg pardon for upcoming language where I try to tell you what to think, it comes from a positive place.
friend, don't ever let the attitudes of others make you feel like you're "lesser."
Let me tell you about one of the most wonderfully boring things I've ever seen. One of the most powerful displays of belonging was at my first Pride parade, oh wow this was ages ago. I didn't notice the name of the group, I'm sure they had a banner, but it just looked like a bunch of regular people walking in the middle of a parade. All I could think at the time was "where is the colourful clothing? why are they not dancing? Where is the outrage? where is the joy?" I didn't see anything that would make me judge them as being worthy of being in a pride parade. Fuck just writing it makes me realize how stupid I was :) Spoiler: They were in the pride parade because they were all queer. Pick a letter, that was them. And they all looked totally normal, and they didn't dance and sing and turn themselves about. Because that was the kind of queer they were.
if you're "too old" you still matter. If you're "too boring" you still matter. You are not unworthy.
As a poly and bisexual trans person, I really don't believe that poly people are or should be part of the LGBT community. The vast majority of poly people are straight and cisgender and are either unaffected by or apathetic towards the attacks on the rights of LGBT people.
I think that including other groups like poly people and furries (which you didn't mention, but I have seen others advocate for) into the larger community "umbrella" isn't appropriate and, in my opinion, distracts from the real violence and oppression that many of us still face. People who are in sexual minority groups absolutely deserve support and respect but I don't think that the best way to do that is to call them LGBT.
As a furry, I agree with this. While there are plenty of furries that are LGBT+ (Furscience did a survey a few years ago, with thousands of respondants, which revealed only 20% of furries are cishet), being a furry is a hobby, and not an identity/minority that needs support and respect. Living as one's gender and sexuality is essential for life; enjoying anthropomorphic animal characters is not.
Chiming in as another trans/bi/poly person. Poly also feels much more elective than trans or bi to me personally.
Living as my gender is essential to existing and romantic companionship makes life more worth living. Can live without being poly in practice without significant onus.
Thank you. I fully agree and was thinking the same thing. 💖
Also poly, bi and trans. Big agree.
Furries will never get respect from me. Being a furry is a choice. Lugbitiqua is not.
That furries are generally part of the LGBT community is interesting, but that doesn't somehow make being a furry a protected group. If you choose to stick your goody bits in a fursuit more power to you, but if people make fun of you for being a grown (and seemingly predominantly functional) adult in a fursuit, that's just the price of being a furry.
As a furry, you're right but actually no. Furries are not and should not be regarded as a minority or an identity. This doesn't change the fact that if you make fun of people just cause, you're an asshole. If you do have any particular reason for not liking the furry community I would love to hear them to clear any possible misunderstanding (it's way more common than you think) and try to understand your point of view a bit more.
