Dude, exact same as when I found out I was ASD. I didn't really know how important a label was until it explained so much and gave me a starting frame of reference to talk about with others.

I think I knew this with my head and heart, but it was at this point when I knew it with my gut. It has, frankly, been exhilarating, and I hope it's an accurate enough analogue for what my LGTBTQ+ family feel that I can better empathize with them.

edit: sometimes words are hard. like at least 85% of the time.

It's all about balance. A few sign posts help people not to get lost, but too much sign posts would make people become disoriented.

Yeah I agree, orange shirt in the comic is being needlessly dismissive. Like of course queer people are often obsessed with labels, we've typically been deprived of models and community so finding that in a label is going to be exciting. And for some other queer people, labels can feel restrictive, reminding them of the rigidity of the cisheteronormative mold they're trying to escape in the first place.

Labels can be empowering for some and restrictive for others and that's fine, as long as we all respect each other. Like I've had people try to prescribe specific gender labels onto me when I'm more comfortable leaving it at non-binary, that's not cool, just like it would be lame of me not to respect when someone says they're genderfluid or any other more specific label under the non-binary umbrella.

I think that I don’t want people calling me cis and I don’t want to talk about it. I also think that if labels help someone else out I will use whatever pronouns they prefer.

I disagree; I think there's a huge middle ground you're ignoring.

"Everyone should be treated equally" is a pretty simple concept that a lot of (maybe even a majority of) people agree with. It's possible to fully subscribe to that ideology while also thinking that the explosion of labels that gen z is infatuated with is silly.

Appreciate the transcription! I'll try to remember to add these to my posts from now on :)

Because you actually need to organize together to achieve political power, and you can’t do that without choosing something to organize around.

It’s pretty easy to say “well just abandon labels” when no one is using your labels against you to strip your rights away. But when they are, you need to find other queer folk and create power with them, and the words are how to do it.

Also it seems exactly backwards to demand we reject labels, when the problem is the people using them against us.

Not gen z but a bit older than that... I'm only just beginning to understand and accept my queerness and it is very frustrating and mentally/emotionally exhausting at times not having the vocab to express how I feel.

Labels do help with that... provide some basis of common lingo. Somewhere to start with actually being able to speak about how one is feeling.

I'm a millennial / gen z edge case (born in 96) so I encounter both those perspectives with my friends.

It helps me feel calm to find out there are categories of gender and sexual identity I can identify with bc it means there are more people like me and it's easier to communicate my identity to others using those labels. It's sometimes nice to have something to adhere to because it makes you feel understood and valid as opposed to just internal chaos and insecurity. And labels can always change, they're not something to fix your identity in place. They can enable you to be confident in some situations.

On the other hand I comepletely understand no wanting to be defined by the labels you choose for yourself. I think with some people it's nice to have them (e.g. because my friends already know me as a person and don't use the labels to define me instead) and in others it may not (e.g. anti-lgbtq discrimination online, in public or in the workplace, being misunderstood by uneducated or ignorant people).

Not gen z, millenial who loves labels

my identity was stolen from my by abusers. I was who they wanted me to be and nothing else. I knew I was different from my peers, I could tell just as much as they could, and they did not let me forget for even a split second. I was never given the language or space to explore and figure out what was so different about me (turns out it was that I am autistic and trans and a bunch of other things, go figure)

Not knowing was agonizing. Seeing notcable differences. Between yourself and your peers yet not understanding why or what or how left me so isolated. Labels can bring understanding, peace of mind, self acceptance and community

Now I label and microlabel everything and I will not stop

other than that, labels can open doors: In this society you wont get your needs acknowledged unless you have a particular label. Should that be different? Yes! Does that make labels obsolete? no IMO

That said you dont have to understand, just, please as a fellow millenial, don't do the unhelpful, unproductive and frankly dismissve "stop labeling yourself, labels belong on products not people". That's someone's understanding of themselves you are dismissing by doing that

It helps you find a like minded group. In my case knowing there are other people on the spectrum helps me find other people and groups who are similar to me in that way and have similar struggles. They can give more targeted and therefore potentially more helpful advice than someone who doesn't have and can't fully empathize with those issues.

This is one of my favourite parts of being non-binary; it's such a great filter for weeding out people who lack empathy.

People who immediately go "OMG that is SO COMPLICATED sorry but I can't do that I won't even try" when they learn that I use they/them pronouns immediately reveal to me that they're not worth my time, and that they'll never truly see me and respect me as I am.

no way I am remembering your pronoun.

they are readily accessible and guessable.

So you can remember peoples’ pronouns, then?

why don't you just use "they" if you don't know