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Navigating Language Regarding LGBTQ+ Identities
Continuing on with the theme of Pride Month, we figured it would be helpful to share some resources regarding language around queer identities. Language within the LGBTQ+ community is incredibly important and a sensitive topic.
Using the appropriate language to describe someone is respectful whether they're queer or not, but language holds a particularly sensitive space in LGBTQ+ history. Terms and slurs have historically been weaponized against the community as a way of othering and ostracizing people.
The broadest piece of advice is to use the language the people you're discussing want you to use. Asking questions and doing research before you talk or write about a person is the best way to avoid making mistakes or being offensive. For example, using the pronouns a person asks you to use is more important than using the pronouns you feel reflect their gender expression.
Some terms may be able to be used interchangeably, and in this case, it's up to you to decide. Writing "LGBTQ+ community" and "queer community" will likely get the same message across, whereas "gay community" may have as well in the past, but now feels more specific to gay, cisgender men. On the other hand, LGBT, LGBTQ+, and LGBTQIA are all modifications of the same acronym, and you may see one more than the others, though none have fallen out of usage.
Here are a few resources to help you navigate language regarding queer identities:
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