[Tagging] Out of the bars and onto the map: An lgbtq:*=* tagging scheme?

[Rory McCann]

Hi all,

I'd like to improve the state of mapping/tagging for LGBTQ topics, and
I'd like feedback.

There is an existing "gay" tag[1], which is used 650 times[2]. But it's
a little restrictive. And it also suggested "gay:transgender=yes" which
is just plain wrong.

So to start off, I'm suggest a simple "lgbtq=yes" tag to
mean "this thing is a LGBTQ thing". I've intermittently used
"lgbt"/"lgbtq" tag in the past, but I think "lgbtq" ("lesbian gay
bi trans queer") would probably be a little better.

So "amenity=bar lgbtq=yes" is what is commonly called a "gay bar".
"shop=books lgbtq=yes" is a LGBTQ book shop, "leisure=sauna lgbtq=yes"
is a gay sauna, etc. We can expand the tagging later, or just use
"lgbtq:(men|women|trans|cis|bears|...)=(yes|no)" straight (😉) away.

For trans issues, there's the whole topic of toilet tagging (unisex,
etc), which is tagged separately, and maybe there's some good way to tag
"informed consent" for medical clinics?

*When* to add a lgbtq=yes tag can be hard to know. In some places a gay
bar can be easily identified by a prominent rainbow flag. Some cultures
are less accepting, so bars might not be so blatant (I've seen this in
the EU). Using the common OSM rules of "local knowledge", people within
the local LGBTQ community are probably the best place to make a final call.

Like many things in OSM, most of the work will be the actual mapping.
It's best to tag areas your familiar with, IME online directories can
often have lots of facilities that no longer exist. At some point I want
to create a custom map based on this data (a la the now dead OpenQueerMap).

Thoughts? Comments? Feedback?

--
Rory

[1] 
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposed_features/Visitors_orientation#for_gay.3D.2A
[2] https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/search?q=gay