LABELS - We all use them, why do we need them.

"Labels put people in boxes, and those boxes are shaped like coffins." Because labeling as Butch or Femme means what?

Some say "Labels don't matter"

"If you are unlabeled, how do you defind yourself? 

Your label is no-label, "Normal". If you are gay and say, "I don't believe in labels how do you introduce yourself.

How could we do away with labels and include all the members of the community and our allies who support us, no matter how they identify themselves on the gender and gender-identity spectra?

Our community has come a long way since we first marched over 40 years ago. More and more people in the United States and elsewhere are comfortable expressing pride in who they are, which is encouraging. However, daily headlines, both from far away in the world and closer to home, are a cruel reminder that many still face discrimination, ostracism, even threats of bodily harm and death, merely because of who they are and whom they love. Do labels help us as a community or do they just keep us in a box?