You're not gay. (Please read)

To me, this is the definition of gay pride is this: If being gay was a choice, would I still choose it?

The answer is yes. I love being gay, I love the way it has transformed my mind and outlook. If I wasn't gay; and hadn't had to go through this journey... I would be SO much less than I am. I have loved and lost and found love again. I couldn't be happier.

And I know so many of you can't see that yet, I know that your journeys have been hard, but it's worth it. SO worth it. It really does get better. So LIVE. Laugh. Love.

Yeah, there are labels, but you can love them. Love your label. Because dammit; you earned it.

 

I like the sentiment here!
But Im pansexual and proud!
And Im trans and internally proud but externally terrified to tell anyone!

 

I understand what you're saying. It comes up a lot among LGBT people. I understand the sentiment.

But it's just not true. Labels are helpful and necessary, just as all language is helpful and necessary. Language is all that labels are. Unless you seek to argue that language is fundamentally meaningless, I doubt you will be able to convince me that I am not gay. To define yourself as gay is not to say that no other elements of your identity exist or to overstate sexuality's importance. It is merely to give the most accurate description of your sexual-romantic leanings. We are not passively labelled. We actively engage in creating and refining language as individuals and as a society. To accept and control that process is extremely important in communicating how we perceive ourselves to be. We are no better stripped down to our 'core' (whatever that's supposed to mean) in a primitive or essentialist take on the self than we are with a sophisticated understanding of the various elements which define who we are in the context we live in.

Labels do not victimise us. They are desirable. They are how we express identity, they are the hallmark of an intellectually developed society and labels of gender and sexuality are no more nefarious than being able to distinguish other ideas through language.

If the alternative is to ignore that I am gay, then I'm happy to accept the supposed restrictive tyranny of labels. There isn't really much of a middle ground; you have descriptors or you don't.

 

While I agree with you in the sense that I don't like labels. In a world without labels, we wouldn't be able to define or describe what someone or something is.

 

It's a serious non-point.

 

Yep. I decided to add some yellow to all that black I have to wear. Makes me look fabulous. Makes me more of a target for those damn wildlings, though. I keep having to dodge arrows because I stick out. Still worth it.

 

Labels are awesome when you put them on yourself. Labels, like religion, give people a sense of belonging and community. Do I like labels? Not really, but they can be awesome if you place them on yourself and don't harm others with them. Do I like religion? No, but it can be awesome if you believe in it by yourself or with others like you, and don't try to convert the people who don't believe the same things as you. Honestly, I see where the thread-starter was going with this concept, but the concept is silly.

 

Labels exist for simplicity. If we didn't have them nobody would know wtf was going on or who anybody was.

I appreciate your effort but it will just never be.

 

Labels labels labels.
I think we shouldn't be forcing of enforcing labels on others that is wrong. But I enjoy having a label. It gives me something to be proud of. Connects me with others like me. I think if used on the right way labels can actually be beneficial. It's when stereotypes and prejudice occur that labels can be negatively impacted. And that in itself shouldn't happen.

---------- Post added 9th Jul 2016 at 03:01 PM ----------

Also just would like to say Aussie792 hit it on the head.

 

true :icon_bigg