Therapists Argue To Replace “LGBT” With More Inclusive “GSD”

London’s Pink Therapy finds “LGBT” to be an ineffective label and suggested “GSD” — Gender and Sexual Diversities — as a more inclusive term.

Pink Therapy director Dominic Davies and fellow therapist Pamela Gawler-Wright posted a video (see below) Wednesday on their Facebook page, in which they discussed their decision to move away from the LGBT label.

“LGBT became LGBTIQQA — adding Intersex, Queer, Questioning and their Allies — which was still very limiting,” Davies says in the video. “It still excluded a lot of groups. People who might be asexual, members of the BDSM/kink commnity, people who were in  non-traditional relationships that might be polyamorous or swingers. A whole batch of people who didn’t feel able to go to mainstream counseling organizations and also wouldn’t necessarily be welcome at LGBT counseling organizations.”

Gawler-Wright notes that “this listing has a kind of innate hierarchy to it,” before concluding: “A lot of people say to me ‘why this attention to labels, do they matter? Are they useful or are they in some way confining?’ We need to name ourselves in order to say that we exist, but then once that label has taken hold that kind of puts a static container over our identity and who we are. So I think language will constantly evolve around this.’”

“I think the labels do matter,” Davis adds, “but it would be nice if one day we could all be accepting of ourselves and each other with all those differences being celebrated.”

Pink Therapy’s Facebook page further elucidates on the matter:

The point we’re trying to make is not that our community shouldn’t be called LGBT, it’s that actually our community is SO much BIGGER than simply LGBT, that there many other identities, lifestyles, orientations, and relationship models which are between consenting adults and outside the heterosexual norm of monogamy for life, sex in the missionary position once or twice per week and church on Sunday!

Our recent research shows many of these other groups/identities have very poor experiences of approaching generalist counselling agencies especially those who are publicly funded in the public sector either as charities or funded by grants from the State.

You can check out the video of Davis and Gawler-Wright’s discusson below:

COURTESY OF PINK NEWS