#turning off reblogs bc i do not trust ppl to be civil

[zaxal]

that poll going around about what labels folks prefer for the queer community has some folks in the notes going "we CAN'T use mogai it has CONNOTATIONS now" and im like... you mean the ones invented by terfs, aphobes, and garden-variety homophobes in order to try and exclude trans and ace/aro ppl and sow discord in the community?

yall gotta stop taking bad-faith actors at face value; they're making you look intolerant.

it was "we can't use mogai bc it could conceivably be used by ppl with paraphilias and fetishes and then no one will take us seriously" and "we can't use lgbtqia+ bc it's too long and confusing and we'll have to add the whole alphabet eventually and then no one will take us seriously" (in order to eventually shorten it further) and now it's "we can't use quiltbag bc it's too cutesy and no one knows it and no one will take us seriously" and all of this began with "queer is a bad, dirty word and people could use it to mean Anything and then no one will take us seriously"

you cannot please these people. there is not a configuration of words that they will find acceptable, no umbrella term that they will not twist to extremes in order to invalidate it, no line they will not cross in order to paint their bigotry as reasonable and the rest of us as predators.

stop giving them ground. stop giving them legitimacy. stop worrying about winning them over. you can't.

#discourse #happy pride! #this isn't about what terms you use! #use whatever! i don't care! #but stop believing the bullshit made up to divide us #turning off reblogs bc i do not trust ppl to be civil