Washington Post columnist Colbert I. King,
commenting on John Kerry's minority outreach efforts,
references an April 16 Kerry campaign press release:
"Asian Pacific Islanders have a senior outreach official of their own. So do the environmental crowd, women and LGBT, which the press release fails to spell out (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people)."
This tactical use of "LGBT" (or "GLBT") is an increasingly common tactic, allowing candidates to solicit gay and lesbian votes without tipping off the rubes -- or at least making it too obvious by using the word "Gay" in a headline. There's an online correlate as well. On Kerry's website, the high-profile "Issues" homepage, with links to information on the candidate's record and positions, lists "GLBT" along with "Native Americans," "Seniors," "Women's Issues," etc. But you have to click on "GLBT" to go to a page that uses the word "gay." Similarly, I've seen references to candidates' support for the vaguely titled Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that fail to say exactly who it is that would be protected from discrimination under this proposal.
Of course, many gay-not-so-friendly candidates -- including
President Bush -- don't mention gay issues at all except
to oppose same-sex marriage. Still, it's worth noting that the
supposed "inclusive" nature of the activist-created LGBT (or GLBT,
or LGBTQ for "questioning and/or "queer") formulation, far from
increasing our visibility, often makes gay references invisible to
casual readers who aren't "in the know" -- or who might otherwise
take offense.
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