Heyo! With pride month starting, here's a quick comic on pride Etiquette, a short guide / general tips on treating lgbt+ people, for the new, curious, and those who forgot!
1) Treat people's identities as the indisputable truth. Even if you don't think they fit the definition, even if you don't understand (the identity), even if you think they're lying, even if they're a bad person. It's not your job nor your business to tell people what to call themselves. Unless they ask for your opinion, only the individual can make that decision.
*There's very few times when an identity can actually be harmful. This includes predatory labels, labels that are bigoted by definition, or people identifying with culture-specific labels when they're not part of that culture. Otherwise, leave them be!
2) Respect and use people's pronouns, regardless of how you feel about them! If you don't know how they work, ask! If you accidentally misgender someone, correct yourself and move on! No need for lengthy or dramatic apologies. However, also make sure to ask when it's appropriate to use them! Someone may not be out to parents, certain friends, etc, and will ask you to purposefully misgender them for safety.
3) LGBT+ people are not responsible for someone else's anti-lgbt+ views! Strange, unbelievable or confusing identities do not cause bigots to be bigots- the lgbt+ community was made because we don't fit society's box, don't fall into the trap of forcing people into another one! If they're not actually hurting anyone, then leave them be!
4) You're not expected to learn every single lgbt+ term / identity. Nobody knows all of them, not even lgbt+ people, so don't worry about it! Simply learn and ask questions as you go!
5) If you're curious about someone's identity, ask if they're comfortable with questions first! There's no harm in educating yourself, but sometimes we get tired of being walking encyclopedias!
Thanks for reading, and happy Pride!!!
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