Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash.
(For how i crafted these quotes, see What i changed in survey-takers' responses and What i didn't change.)
Labels are helpful.
"all the new terms for genders and sexuality's isn't a bad thing. Yes labels aren't for everyone but for some people they are important, so having those words to describe themself can be comforting."
A young queer or trans person's "journey probably won't be the same as yours and that's okay. There's also a lot more terms now and that's not hurting anyone - if a young person feels the most themselves using a term you may not use that's their choice."
"we have outlets to create our own safe places and micro labels that really help some people. if labels aren't your thing? cool! we don't care! but for a lot of us micro labels help give us more of an understanding of ourselves. especially with autistic/neurodivergent people."
"We aren't 'ruining the community' by having new labels and identities. It's ok if people find new ways to describe their experience."
Labels are unhelpful/ irrelevant.
"although labels may be important to some people, increasingly our generation is forgoing labels either (1) as we are still figuring ourselves out or (2) forever because we don't really identify or take comfort in labels that already exist."
There's nothing wrong with labels shifting over time — they already have.
"Every generation is different, so everyone's experience of being queer and/or trans is different."
"Queer identities seemingly change with eras. 'New' terms are created for old ideas."
"How I understand things like gender, transness, and queerness is likely going to be different from the way older LGBTQ generations do."
"nonbinary lesbian is not a contradictory label."
"I can be nonbinary and like my boobs. I can be trans without feeling body dysphoria."
"It's possible to be trans and queer and one doesn't take away from the other."
"makeup and long hair doesn't discredit my gender."
Other differences
"A lot of not-trans queer people group us into the LGBTQA+ as a whole, but we have different problems. We are all one community, but we still have different experiences that make it important to differentiate."
"My experiences may be different from theirs because I grew up in a different country and culture, where trans and queer people were and are treated differently than they are in the United States."
"I'm not the 'common' queer story of having been in the closet your entire life and having to explicitly hide your queerness; I didn't even consider that I might be queer until I was 17 and by then I had a lot of growing as a cishet man that was embedded into my personality, mannerisms, and philosophies. I've never been that into drag or anything along those lines. I don't subscribe to the stereotypical ‘gay man’ culture of acrylic nails and 'saying 'yaaassss' to everything, and I feel like that has sort of become the poster child for all of queer culture when it's much more diverse than that. In other words, I feel sort of underrepresented in the queer community as a whole. Not every AMAB queer person wants to do drag or slay the house down or be ✨️fabulous✨️. This isn't to say that the queer community is toxic, that's not the case at all. I'm just saying that not everyone subscribes to that culture, even though it's basically the only one previous generations had growing up."
"I don't want to medically transition all at once. My choices to take testosterone or get top surgery are on my own time."
