this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2024
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Your statement is correct in that demonizing pedos only makes them hide it rather than seeking help, but in the context of this meme and conversation, I'm getting the implication that you think they should be included in the LGBTQ+ group, and I promise that will cause more harm than good.
The LGB-dropt-the-T's are making the exact same point, just saying. I'm not convinced either way on this issue, but your point is a bad one.
Trans people are a hot button issue at the moment, but including them is helping spread acceptance in the same way gay people needed it to. Being anything under the umbrella should be normalized. Being a pedo should not. That's my distinction between the arguments.
Honestly I don't think I have any authority to speak on whether anyone should or shouldn't be included in LGBTQ+. I just think they face a lot of the same struggles that people in the LGTBQ+ group experience. So I wouldn't be surprised if they were included in the future.
Could you expand on that?
As others have pointed out, it's a pride group. It would imply acceptance of MAPs as they are. Republicans already demonize LGBTQ+ people as pedos and groomers, this would only legitimize their claims and galvanize their attempts to marginalize them. Not to mention the are vulnerable minors that have no support network outside of the LGBTQ+ movement. Giving pedos legitimacy and access to them would be a huge mistake.
Yes, the things they face do reflect prior and even current struggles of queer people, but the difference is they fought for eventually attained some level of acceptance as they are because being gay/trans/whatever is not harmful. MAPs should be treated with understanding and given help, but they should not be accepted as they are because of the actual harm it will cause to the movement and society.
Ultimately I think any conversation that boils down to who is or isn't LGBT+ is a bit reductive. It's not like every person in that broad grouping is completely valid as they are - there's lots of abusive and dangerous queer people, just like any other group. It's not like we endorse every LGBT+ person's behavior uncritically, nor are we asking for anyone else to do so.
That's kinda why I prefer "queer" as a broad label. It's less about whether what you are fits into the acronym and is therefore valid. If someone identifies as queer, the question becomes - how so? And if someone spews some obviously abusive nonsense in response, we don't have to support them, but if they experience attraction to people they know they can't safely engage with (and don't), my thinking would turn empathetic pretty quickly.
That danger isn't inherent to being gay or trans. It is inherent to being a pedo.