This past June, the Canadian Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (EFTO) asked teachers to attend a seminar on LGGBDTTTIQQAAPP Inclusiveness Training. An images of the flyer was recirculated recently on social media after being featured in an article in the Daily Mail, and the flyer has gained quite a bit of attention for the use of the lengthy acronym. According to the flyer, LGGBDTTTIQQAAPP stands for Lesbian, Gay, Genderqueer, Bisexual, Demisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Twospirit, Intersex, Queer, Questioning, Asexual, Allies, Pansexual, and Polyamorous.
Some of these terms in the acronym may require an explanation. According to the Daily Wire, “Genderqueer” refers to a person who “does not subscribe to conventional gender distinctions but identifies with neither, both, or a combination of male and female genders.” A “demisexual” is a person who requires a strong emotional connection with someone before feeling a sexual attraction to that person. “Two-spirited” identifies individuals who feel that they have both masculine and feminine spirits. “Intersex” is a birth defect once called hermaphrodite, in which a child is born with both sex organs of male and female. If you are an “ally,” you are apparently someone who makes your support for the LGBTQ community quite well known despite not being a member of that community. PJMedia.com describes this as someone who “virtue signal[s] constantly on Twitter” in order to “shield themselves from the gaystappo squads who come around looking for people who aren’t properly broadcasting their approval of the queer agenda.” “Pansexual” claims to be different than bisexual in that pansexuals are attracted to people of various “gender identities,” not just males or females.
Once the flyer circulated on social media, users could not help but poke fun at the sheer length of the acronym. “When the keyboard gets stuck and you just go with it,” one user joked. Another remarked, “Isn’t that a village in Wales?”
While many (understandably) thought the whole thing was hoax, the organizers of the event told Snopes, “Yes, the poster is genuine. The intent of the title was to draw workshop participants (teachers) by acknowledging that keeping track of diverse LGBTQ identities can be overwhelming, especially as our students are continuously identifying new ones. In our union, we use LGBTQ as an umbrella term for all marginalized sexual and gender identities.”
Note that point: The elementary school students are continuously identifying new “gender identities.”
The flyer stated, “Fewer than 1 percent of EFTO members are open with their identities, though some surveys suggest as much as half of the public secretly identifies as LGBT to some extent.” But there are other explanations for the survey results that are worth considering before jumping to the conclusion that half of the public “secretly” identifies as LGBTQ. The statistic comes from a knee-jerk reading of a YouGov study in which just 46 percent of 18- to 24-year olds rated themselves as “completely heterosexual.”
Is it possible that perhaps the young people surveyed had been misled by the seemingly unending array of words that have been created to describe sexual identity, best evidenced by the length of the acronym used on the flyer?
Another possible explanation for the results is that this generation has been brow-beaten into believing that sexuality is a spectrum and it is nearly impossible to be “completely” on one end of that spectrum or the other.
Perhaps the majority of the young people who were surveyed identify as “Allies” to the LGBTQ community and believed that by failing to identify as “completely heterosexual,” they were standing with their LGGBDTTTIQQAAPP friends by showcasing their open-mindedness to sexuality.
One thing that the study seems to underscore is that the notion of gender “fluidity” is really a cultural one. The younger the individuals surveyed were, the less likely they were to claim that they were “completely heterosexual.” This makes sense if one understands that gender and sexuality fluidity are quite trendy notions.
Nevertheless, the LGGBDTTTIQQAAPP seminar attempted to help attendees wade through the confusing alphabet soup.
It’s worth noting that the YouGov survey was based on a scale created by noted sexual scientist Alfred Kinsey, who utilized highly controversial methods, including child molestation, in the name of science and has been criticized for promoting promiscuity and the destruction of the family unit.
Image: screenshot from YouTube video about flyer
