Please say LGBTQI+. Say 'trans'.
The State Dept. shortened it to LGB. This is anti-trans hate speech. Don't validate it.
Allison Chapman reported to Bluesky today:
The State Department's page "LGBTQI+ Travelers" looked like this as of the last capture by Archive.org four days ago.
"LGBTQI+ travelers can face special challenges abroad," it began.
Under that, in an expandable section called "Other useful links," it described the Trevor Project as an organization "for LGBTQI+ young people."
And then what happened?
At some point over the last four days, the State Department did a simple "find and replace" on its website, turning every instance of "LGBTQI+" to just "LGB." They've even put a redirect on the former page name "lgbtqi.html" so that the URL now redirects to "lgb.html."
Here's the page today.
This is a straightforward instance of erasure. While this instance is relatively small, it can and will get worse.
If you need context, start by reading up on the LGB Alliance (Wikipedia), whose sole agenda since its founding in 2019 has been exhorting others to drop the T from LGBT. Today, the "LGB" initialism represents deliberate erasure.
Evidently the Trump administration hired people it knew would comply with orders like this.
You do not have to comply.
Hence, a request: If you're expected to say "LGB", please take the initiative to insert the "T" for trans, the "Q" for queer, the "I" for intersex, especially if any of those may be relevant to what you're saying. The initialism "LGBTQI+" is used at the United Nations. We don't need to add unnecessary syllables; we need not to collude with a deeply hostile, dangerous erasure. If weary of syllables, just say "trans," and it gets your point across. Or say: "Some people are intersex!" Find a way to interrupt the erasure campaign. It does matter.
