UniSA's Rainbow Club communications director Daniel Zander discusses the issues surrounding the acronym LGBT. Words ▶ Daniel Zander | Image ▶ Danny Jarrat The current LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) acronym commonly used to refer to the queer community is growing out-dated and isn’t inclusive, as it no longer encapsulates the community’s collective identity. The need for more inclusive language is growing with the broadening of gender and sexual differences on the sexuality spectrum rather than the four groups that form the current commonly used acronym. To encapsulate the entire community at present some suggest the acronym would need to extend to LGBTTQQFAGPBDSM (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, flexural, asexual, genderfuck, polyamorous, bondage/discipline, dominance/ submission, and sadism/masochism), creating what critics call an ‘alphabet soup’. The acronym also creates
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a hierarchy where everyone is labeled and categorised rather than accepting that sexual and gender identities are fluid. While ‘Queer’, as a shorter, more effective and inclusive term has long been shunned by older members of the queer community due to its historical use, it has since been embraced as an umbrella term by young people in a postmodern way. The broadening of the sexuality spectrum has highlighted the limitations in restricting individuals who identify as queer to LGBT. Attempts to make the acronym more inclusive stretch to LGBTIQA and even LGBTIQAAP, creating the aforementioned ‘alphabet soup’. Remembering every letter in the acronym is exhausting and it continues to grow. There are also debates about which letters should be placed first resulting in the