Is 'gay' as an identity being eroded?

The argument you're talking about is esoteric and almost entirely irrelevant to how the vast majority of people apply the label. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

In any case, trying to quantify sexuality with percentages or fractions is even less reflective of sexuality than language is. It's an attempt to throw new light on sexuality that merely makes it more confusing and certainly no more accurate.

 

Still secure in my homosexuality xD
Most of us gays don't give much thought to it and just answer 'nope' to that thread.

 

I'd have to agree with this. Only you yourself can truly know yourself, so if you want to call yourself "gay", "queer", or whatever label you feel most comfortable using, that's fine. People who go and question your labels and attempting to invalidate you aren't the type of people you'd want in your life, either.

And no, I don't think the identifier "gay" is being eroded at all.

 

I think it is more about personal preference. If you feel happy calling yourself gay/lesbian/bisexual/queer umm whatever, then just do it. I personally started noticing how for some reason being bisexual is a thing now, I hate being trendy or whatever. So I started to say I am queer, let people call me whatever they want to. Some days I want to try and fit myself into a category, and some days I don't want anything to do with fit in a box mentality.

 

Nah. I think what you're seeing here is people that are still trying to figure themselves out, so they're overthinking it.

 

Why does gay need to be an identity? Why does it matter so much in the first place? I don't understand this view so much.

 

It has varying importance for different people, and I think that each person's view on identifying as whatever is just as legitimate as someone who doesn't identify as something other than just an individual. Part of individualism is allowing people to have their own identities, and for some people, being a part of a group or movement that is larger than themselves is important socially, culturally, and so on. You've seen this in religious context, geographical context, so it isn't much of a stretch to think of someone identifying as culturally gay or queer as well. Like I said before, different people will have varying levels of interest in this, and that's fine. What isn't fine is for people on either side trying to invalidate the other's identity.

In essence, as long as you aren't trying to be the stick figure on the right in this comic, you're probably okay.

Spoiler

 

I don't think it's being eroded. On the contrary, I think a lot of people are choosing to take on more flexible identities because they feel that 1) It more accurately describes their sexuality and 2) There's less pressure to identify with only a couple of terms.

You also have to keep in mind that a lot of people are also figuring out their sexuality too so they may take on several different labels before they adopt the one that fits the best.

 

To me it's as much a part of my identity as being left handed. I will never see that being gay or straight has anything to do with your character one way or another but it's fine if other people feel that way. To the op I'd assure you that my words are not erasing anyones identity because that simply isnt possible at all unless I personally went around killing everyone who ever claimed that they were gay. Even then I'm sure I'd miss a few of the closeted ones.. I'll take it as a compliment that you thought I could do that with a single post, though!~

 

Yeah I don't like it that much, I think it makes things more confusing. I mean, in some cases when you're trying to figure out your identity it can be great to try out different things and maybe something more specific like that does fit you the best. But it also raises the standard and makes people put more pressure on themselves to figure out exactly down to the tee how to define the wide confusing range of attractions they may feel.
On the other hand though I think it also helps people see that there are a lot of people with all different types of sexual orientations so they don't feel like if their own personal attractions don't line up with the standard definition of a certain orientation like gay, they don't feel alone or wrong. So that's definitely a good thing, and actually helped me a lot I think. That takes some pressure away of trying to think of your feelings as lining up with a very specific definition.
So I guess it's just when it gets to a point where it makes it more difficult, where people feel they need to define things down to a tee to be correct. I think that also comes from a world that has so much criticism for people who don't exactly fit what society thinks their labels mean. Like "Oh you're a gay guy, so you can't think a girl's hot sometimes". Trying to over-define ourselves comes from the fear of that criticism, like we need to explain ourselves to everybody because truth is, a lot of people make it there business, as they do with many other things. But it's important to ignore that and remember that you're your own person and you don't need to explain yourself to anyone.

 

I don't really see it that way. Granted, I consider myself "mostly gay", but I've never felt my identity as gay has been eroded. I'm sure many straight people know that can be even slightly attracted to the same sex, so I can assume they would know many gay people can be slightly attracted to the opposite sex.

Also, I've never understood the romantic part of the spectrum. I could be biromantic and not know it, but I've never really understood it to begin with since I know for a fact that I'm not "mostly" attracted to girls.

 

I agree with what many have said above, also, keep in mind that the stuff you read on Internet forums often doesn't have a whole lot to do with how things work in the real world and viewpoints vary greatly from one forum to another anyway.

A lot of the stuff people obsess over on the Internet doesn't amount to much more tha philosowanking. Don't get too caught up in it.

 

Being Gay or Lesbian is a gift. And knowing it when you are young and are not bullied by heterosexism is even better. I think as the future years come, there will be more gold star lesbians and gold star gay boys. This does not make them better but often a straight experience can be traumatizing and so best not to have them. I am a gay boy and years ago i have had girls try to push me into intercourse. I am glad I got away but it could be upsetting for months, having someone so pushy.

 

There are good things and bad things about the rise of mass social consciousness surrounding sexual fluidity. I think its good in the way that it really allows people to explore ALL of their attractions. Many people who now identify as queer(bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, ect) in the past would of been largely confined to heterosexual relations because their varying levels of attraction to the opposite sex would of implicitly defined them as *straight*. I think this phenomena of fluidity explains the jump in the percentage of people who identify as lgbt because so many (maybe even the majority) experience some form of attraction to someone other than the opposite gender. I think this growth in population and in the notion of fluid sexual identities has greatly helped integrate the queer community into the rest of society. All the way up to very recent history the LGBT community has been extremely separated from the larger straight cisgender society and in many ways still is. Now this integration of cultures can be negative in the way that it can rob us of a uniquely queer identity and it can take away our sense of community but without it would we have ever made the legislative strides we have? I'm not so sure.
Though I will admit that with all these labels it can get extremely complicated trying to define one's preferences but I don't know if it was ever easy. It's just now we have words for just a fraction of our many varied feelings, kinks, desires, and orientations that were once unnamed.