OK, we messed up

CL’s use of “sexual preference” raises LGBT eyebrows

Here at CL, were not too proud to admit when we’ve made a mistake (‘specially when we get called on it online, and have no choice BUT to admit it — kidding, kidding).

Our friends over at local LGBT website Project Q Atlanta pointed out in a blog post yesterday that we’d been insensitive — inadvertently, of course — in a recent editorial about Atlanta’s appearance and/or absence on a slew of those irksome and questionably reliable “Top 10” and “Top 20” lists.

One of the lists we mentioned (and mocked) was The Advocate’s annual ranking of the Gayest U.S. Cities. Here’s what we said:
Because a city’s gayness is a thing that’s literally impossible to calculate — even the U.S. Census doesn’t account for sexual preference — the Advocate gets creative. Its admittedly unscientific methodology takes into account the number of local gay elected officials, as well as Gay.com profiles, listed officiants for gay weddings, lesbian bars, gay-friendly religious congregations and — get this — the number of times lesbian indie-pop act Tegan and Sara has performed during the past five years.

Yup. We said “sexual preference,” which, as Project Q points out, has become a really shitty buzz phrase used in the anti-gay rights movement to imply that being gay is a lifestyle choice. It’s even one of GLAAD’s “Offensive Terms to Avoid.” Eesh. So, what we meant to say was “orientation” or “sexual orientation.” Our apologies, seriously.

And, yes, at least we do know better than to use the term “transvestite.”