Like. I'm not gonna stop someone from saying they're apart if the lgbt community. But like... with the creation of social media and the Internet people (especially young people who are more vulnerable) tend to see the community as a cool kids club of sorts (I was the same way for a while). When this community is full of history, and that history isn't fun parties and flags and parades. It's fighting for the right to exist without dying. It's fighting from the right to not be scared you'll be fired, kick out of your home, jumped, and so much worse because of who you are. It's scary. When you're on the Internet and watching shows with cool drag queens and lgbt people you forget sometimes just how SCARY it is being lgbt. You forget the pit in your stomach when you tell your family about your girlfriend. You forget the the world actively tried to kill us. That pride parades have the cops facing the lgbt community to FIGHT us if we rot. Not to protect us.
People kill themselves over this. It's bad. And it's even worse for disabled and black lgbt folks. So if you say you are apart of the community, I won't stop you, just know what you're coming into. Know your history. Know this isn't some fun party or cool kids club. This is our lives. And if you are coming up with a bunch of new terms just to include yourself into this group, you are actively putting a target on your back. And the people who don't have a choice about having a target won't stop you, but they'll be concerned for you. There's no need to push yourself into a group when you don't need to. It's not some amazing cool fad despite what it has come to seem like.
Be careful. Know what your getting yourself into. And know you're still valid if you're not apart of the lgbt community.
