my research<\/a>, people often said they experienced the \u201ccommunity\u201d part of the phrase as an actual physical space. This could be a particular geographical area such as Brighton or San Francisco, or could relate to places frequented by LGBT people \u2013 such as bars and clubs \u2013 often referred to as \u201cthe scene\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPeople I spoke to also reported experiencing this community aspect as part of a virtual space \u2013 such as online, or even in an imagined sense \u2013 in that LGBT people were thought to share \u201csomething\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People revealed how they often had fears or negative expectations of wider society. And that this is in part why they invest in the idea of an LGBT community \u2013 as somewhere where they could feel safe and understood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the term does not capture differences and complexities of experience. It can also wrongly suggest some form of shared experience, which for some people can be frustrating because it seems to ignore their experiences of inequality or discrimination within \u2013 or exclusion from \u2013 so-called \u201cLGBT community\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LGBT and beyond<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Then there is also the issue of the acronym \u201cLGBT\u201d itself, as it excludes a lot of people \u2013 such as those who identify as queer or intersex. And it was clear in my research that some people feel less welcomed within this acronym. Even those who do feature within these four letters \u2013 notably bisexual and trans people \u2013 can often feel marginalised by lesbian and gay people, and like that they don\u2019t really belong to such a \u201ccommunity\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
People also spoke about their quest to find this \u201ccommunity\u201d \u2013 with many trying and failing to discover such a thing. The idea of an LGBT community suggests that people who identify in this way should feel part of something. If they don\u2019t it can compound negative experiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\nNot everyone\u2019s experience of sexuality or gender is the same. Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nMany participants in my research also talked about experiencing discrimination from other LGBT people relating to their age, body, disability, ethnicity, faith, HIV status, or perceived social class. So although the phrase implies that LGBT people somehow automatically belong to a ready made community \u2013 this is simply not the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A group of people<\/h2>\n\n\n\n It is clear then that community belonging is not a given just because people share a gender or sexual identity. And this is why the notion of \u201cLGBT community\u201d is problematic. As someone I interviewed argued:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The idea doesn\u2019t exist, it\u2019s a kind of big myth \u2013 a bit like saying there\u2019s a brown-eyed community or a blonde community.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
In this way, then, the use of the term \u201cLGBT community\u201d could alienate some people and even risks deterring LGBT (and other) people from engaging with services aimed specifically at them. As another participant said: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I find anyone who uses this language dubious and with doubtful intention. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
This is not to say that we should abandon the phrase altogether, but often using \u201cLGBT people\u201d would be more accurate \u2013 and would not risk alienation felt by an already (at times) marginalised group of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Source: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/why-you-should-think-twice-before-you-talk-about-the-lgbt-community-81711<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Comment:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By:Beth Daley Date: August 8, 2017 Publisher: The Conversation What does the phrase \u201cLGBT community\u201d mean to you? Chances are if you don\u2019t identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans yourself, you might think about what you\u2019ve seen on TV \u2013 so Queer as Folk, Orange is the New Black, or The L Word , to name a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":7104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-focus"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7099"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7139,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7099\/revisions\/7139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desis.osu.edu\/seniorthesis\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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