[JustLovelyJenn]

This subject interests me a lot. It is also one I have done a great deal of research on, and a great deal of thinking.

I am lucky enough to be part of a group that presents a LGTB sensitivity Safe Space training at a local community college. Years ago when I was a student there I was privileged to help develop this training for the campus and have continued to be asked to present with the group 3 times a year. One of the topics we touch on is LGTB Identity Development, looking at research done by Alfred Kinsey, Fritz Klein, and Vivianne Cass. As well as looking at a non LGTB Identity development model by Hardiman and Jackson.

With all of that said... Its given me a very different view of Identity and Labels then I had when I first started coming out.

Identity labels are a social construct, not limited to any one person or groups of people. Each person in any given society is subject to the need to identify themselves with those around them, or in some cases, make the decision that they do NOT identify with the "norm" and decide what it is they do identify with.

These societal views of identity can serve to both unite and divide a community. Just like the fact that I identify as a queer lesbian alienates me from my religious family, it also gives me common ground within the Butch Femme community.

The biggest thing that came to my mind with this thread, as I read through the original post, and the responses to follow is the idea of Multiple dimensions of Identity. The idea that around ones core self orbits all of the Identity labels that we choose to use. In this case, for myself, I may include Mother, Musician, Daughter, Teacher, Lesbian, Queer, Person with Anxiety, Sister, Caucasian... among others. Each of these pieces of my identity move continually around my Core (authentic) self, contributing to it, but not changing it. Depending on the situation that I am in I may choose to keep some of these Identities at the back, guarded and unseen. As a Teacher I may feel comfortable showing that I am also a mother, but find it unnecessary and maybe even scary to reveal that I am Queer. For me this does not lessen the importance of any part of myself. By seeing this way, I have been able to develop many different aspects of myself with very little inner turmoil. I have embraced my many identities and used them to enhance my authentic, or core, self.