Does anyone else find certain lables uncomfortable

Plenty of people don't like "lesbian". I prefer "gay". It feels less old-fashioned, more androgynous, and less of a stereotype maybe. I don't know. It just feels more broad and more accurate at the same time.

I feel like maybe I think of lesbian as a butch/femme thing, and predominantly for attraction to other women? And gay is more open, especially in terms of the gender identities of potential partners?

Plus "gay" is happy and I am happy being gay. "Lesbian" is just a mouthful.

The biggest difference for me, semantically, is that "lesbian" is a noun, whereas gay is an adjective, so since I'm a person outside of my sexuality, being "a lesbian" seems more constricting than being "gay".

Sometimes (amongst queer-friendly people to whom I'm out), I refer to myself as a homo. It's tongue-in-cheek though; it's not meant to be a serious identity. But it's fun because it's so old-fashioned.

Does this cover all the bases?

 

I don't like the word "Queer". It sounds derogatory and just outright offensive to me. I'm happy that the LGBT community decided to take the word and own it, though, but I'm not used to it.

 

I don't like queer either. It was and kind of still is an insult, and while I agree with Steve that it's good the community decided to take it over, it still doesn't sound good to me at all.

 

I never like to be called queer, and it's really uncomfortable when other people decide to label me that or use it as an umbrella term.

 

This is totally how I feel. It just feels so much better to say "I am _______" rather than "I am a ______" which feels like I'm othering myself from myself, if that makes sense.
Not that gay doesn't get stuck in my throat, either. Queer feels so much easier but I understand why people both in and outside the LGBT community would be confused/offended by it.

 

i am a lesbian..but i hate using that term as well but it is accurate :/ gay does seem to be a lot better though

 

I really had a very hard time with "queer". This was a horrible word to use towards someone when I was young. But now that I've seen the positive takeback of the word by the community I've quickly grown to like it.

 

I'm fine with gay, lesbian, and queer. But I don't like dyke as much. And "homo" makes me cringe.

However, all of these terms can be used to both affirm and deride. It all depends on the person using the word.

 

I prefer the term gay. It sounds simpler, softer and doesn't make me feel like some alien from another planet.