No weird hyphenated crap of two real words, like the mutated “Accenture” or “Verizon.” No misspellings, just to be different. (Hello “SyFy”? Are you listening? Because you’re clearly not spelling.) “ValuJet,” because that one more “e” was clearly too expensive to paint on their planes.(1)
IBM was all about acronyms that said what they did, whether in their title or in the hundreds of teeny, tiny, micro-IBM groups and divisions inside the company. You will never find a “VeriFyzure” division in that company, (though that would be a good name for an erectile dysfunction pill).
Indeed, inside the company IBM’s acronyms have become a language unto themselves, which is good. For I’m not sure even their employees know what all those acronyms mean -- and they don’t have to.
Just as long as they know that Bill works for the GPD in tangent with the OPD and -- assuming he doesn’t corrupt the IPD -- he won’t be investigated by the NYPD. Or something like that.
Even when my dad was on vacation he’d talk this way with IBMers. To this day I have no idea what he was talking about. But it made sense to him, and I guess that’s what mattered.
I was thinking about all of this as I began to ponder the number of groups out there working for the rights of LGBT people. Researching and writing these “Unbroken Raina Thoughts” as I do, I come across a lot of them -- and they all seem to have acronyms.
It made me curious about who the major ones all are and what they do. For like IBM, their acronyms might mean something to those inside the LGBT movement. But to those of us still working our way in, it’s a whole lot of alphabet soup.
The first place I went was, as always, Wikipedia.
Bad idea.
Under the heading of “LGBT political advocacy groups in the U.S.”, there are more than 100 different links. The first third or so by state, the rest by name.(2) A wonderful list I’m sure. But it reminds me of the time I asked a student to make a list of what all the nations of Asia have in common -- besides Asians -- and he put down: “Vowels.” Correct, but a bit too broad to be helpful.
So I did a Google search, trying to find a list of those LGBT groups considered the most important. Jackpot!
From the Huffington Post: “GLAAD, HRC And Other LGBT Advocacy Groups Are An 'Evil Conspiracy… Wikipedia lists no less than 72 groups in the United States alone whose mission is to normalize the ‘infamous crime against nature,’” writes Bryan Fischer from the American Family Association.(3)
I must say I found this disturbing. To think that Mr. Fischer and I ever read the same things online almost makes me want to go back to using a typewriter.
Upon further reflection, however, anyone who makes people like Mr. Fischer this crazy must be doing something right. Indeed, one group working for LGBT people has been making all kinds of people nuts for nearly a century: The ACLU.
Founded in 1920, they fought their first LGBT-related case in 1936 when they defended “The Children’s Hour,” a play banned in 1936 for a suggested lesbian relationship.(4) (Depicting life in an all-girl boarding school, I am amazed this story has never become a show on the WB Network.)
Certainly, you don’t have to make someone’s hate list to prove you’re effective. In that initial Google search I also found, “20 LGBT Organizations You Need to Know.”(5) From this I learned two things:
1) The word “About” is insanely popular on LGBT websites when it comes to explaining what they do. Google the name of any LGBT organization and that word, and it will take you right where you want to go. I would like to think it’s because the word “out” is the second syllable.(6)
2) There are a lot of even major LGBT organizations I have never heard of.
To that end, I decided to provide this briefer list:
“Five LGBT organizations I run into all the time while doing my research so they must be important.” Naturally, these are very quick explanations, and if you want to know more about any of them you should do that “ab-out” thing I told you about.
1) GLAAD: This national organization keeps an eye on the media landscape, seeking to provide information and challenge disinformation and hate wherever it occurs.(7)
2) GLSEN: The largest organization in the country that works together with parents, teachers and students to end LGBT discrimination in schools.(8)
3) The Human Rights Campaign (HRC): The country’s largest advocacy organization for LGBT people, they lobby Congress and support political candidates that support LGBT causes.(9)
4) Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG): A local-level grassroots organization with locally organized chapters across the country, they’re a great resource for people looking to come out, people already out, and those looking to understand either one.(10)
5) The Williams Institute: A think-tank dedicated to independent research on sexual orientation, gender identity and how they affect public policy, this group is so amazing I had to write an entire column about them.(11)(12)
And there you go.
This is not to say my list is perfect. Other groups, like Lambda Legal and The Gill Foundation are huge, as well. My list simply reflects the groups that seem to pop up in my daily discussions. That, and five is just one of those very convenient numbers everyone likes to use.
References:
1) TIME: Top 10 Worst Corporate Name Changes
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1914815_1914808_1914804,00.html
2) Wikipedia: LGBT political advocacy groups in the United States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_political_advocacy_groups_in_the_United_States
3) Huffington Post: GLAAD, HRC And Other LGBT Advocacy Groups Are An 'Evil Conspiracy,' Bryan Fischer Claims
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/23/bryan-fischer-glaad_n_4151335.html
4) ACLU: LGBT Rights
https://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights
5) Diversity Best Practices: 20 LGBT Organizations You Need to Know
http://www.diversitybestpractices.com/news-articles/20-lgbt-organizations-you-need-know
6) No, I am not really this dumb. But in a world where internet addresses often make NO sense whatsoever, I did find this wonderfully similar and self-eaffirming.
7) GLAAD: About
http://www.glaad.org/about
8) GLSEN: Who we are
http://glsen.org/learn/about-glsen
9) Human Rights Campaign: THE HRC Story
http://www.hrc.org/the-hrc-story/about-us
10) PFLAG: About PFLAG
http://community.pflag.org/page.aspx?pid=191
11) The Williams Institute: Mission
http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/mission/
12) Raina Bowe: Holding out for a hero? For your consideration: Chuck Williams
http://rainabowe.weebly.com/2/post/2013/12/holding-out-for-a-hero-for-your-consideration-chuck-williams.html