#straight and gay are incompatible as tangent labels not because they’re like polar opposites or because they’re different species or smthn

[tiredyke]

i honestly feel like the cis vs. trans debate depends on how we’re defining the terms. “trans” as in “no association with your agab whatsoever”? probably excludes a good sum of trans people. “cis” as in “only expresses their gender through stereotypical presentation and/or never experiments with the concept of gender”? probably excludes a good chunk of cis people. but this doesn’t necessarily conflict with or negate the cultural significance of being cisgender or transgender and labeling those experiences as such. cis and trans people obviously receive very different treatments and privileges, so it’s less about strictly defining what it means to be cis or trans and more about how these terms (as broad groupings) help us understand and identify where we stand. they’re communication devices first and foremost, not diagnoses. i hope that makes sense

#which is why i bagged on that post. the point of cis/trans/gay/straight/allo/ace is that they’re labels created to express a part of us and #describe experiences that impact our social power and how we are treated #straight and gay are incompatible as tangent labels not because they’re like polar opposites or because they’re different species or smthn #but because they are two different social classes at an institutional level #and because the words were created to identify this inequality. ‘straight’ literally means ‘exclusive opposite gender attraction’ which obvs #conflicts with the definition of gay. like to say you can be both is to say that these words are essentially meaningless and were invented #as borders that don’t actually exist. and there’s a sliver of a chance that in a different world this could be true #but right now in this political climate the distinction matters. abolishing and disregarding the meaning of these words literally helps #no one #having words and labels and language to express ourselves is very crucial so i’m really not interested in arguments that are essentially #‘i use words regardless of what they mean or the weight they carry because it doesn’t matter to me’’ #besides if you told a gay person irl that they could be straight also or that there’s no difference between them and their oppressor they’d #fucking punch you lol #neon talks