What does LGBTQ mean?

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LGBTQ

LGBTQ is an acronym, a group of letters that represent a group of words.

You may have heard it from friends, coworkers, media, daily conversations, or readings, etc. LGBTQ is an acronym with a lot of meaning, a lot of interpretations, and a lot of
history.

LGBTQ is often used to refer to all of the communities of people who identify
themselves by this term. Each letter represents the following:

Lesbian
Gay
Bisexual
Transgender
Queer or Questioning

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Lesbian
A female homosexual; a female who feels romantic love or sexual
attraction to other females.

Gay
A homosexual person; commonly referring to homosexual males but can also
include lesbians.

Bisexual
A romantic/sexual attraction or sexual behavior toward both males and
females.

Transgender
Sometimes referred to as “trans”; people whose gender identity is
different from the gender they were assigned to at birth.

Queer
A broad or general term that refers to all people who do not identify as
heterosexual.

Originally a word that was used as insulting or derogatory, but was
reclaimed to be an empowering identity term by queer scholars and activists in the
late 1980s.

Questioning
To question one’s own gender, sexual identity/orientation, or all three;
exploring one’s own sexual orientation or not comfortable with being labeled by a
sexual identity/gender category.

LGBTQ is the most common term used to describe the community of people who
identify themselves by any of these labels or groups. Sometimes LGBTQ is
synonymous, or similar, to Queer Community or Rainbow Community.

LGBTQ itself is a fluid and evolving term, always changing with time, as it
encompasses more people and a greater diversity of humans, as well as how it
changes with social and political scenes.

So, the best thing you can do when referring to someone who falls under the term LGBTQ is just ask him or her how
they prefer to be identified.

For the reason that LGBTQ is a large and diverse term, encompassing a wide group
of people, below are other useful terms of identities that are connected to LGBTQ.

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Ally
Someone who is a friend or activist to the LGBTQ community.

Agender
Someone who does not identify by any gender(male or female), and
considers themselves to be genderless, gender-free, non-gendered, or ungendered.

Asexual
Someone who has no or low sexual attraction to anyone, or low interest in
sexual activity; nonsexual.

Bigender
Someone who moves between both a female and male gender identity; so
feeling they encompass both masculine and feminine identities and behaviors.

Gender Queer
Someone who has a gender identity that is not male or female.

Gender Variant
Someone whose behavior or gender actions/expression does not
fall into the category of either feminine or masculine norms.

Intersex
Someone whose sex/gender characteristics, such as chromosomes,
gonads, or genitals, do not strictly allow them to be identified as either male or
female.

Pangender
Someone who identifies as all genders.

Pansexual
Someone who has romantic love, sexual attraction, emotional attraction,
or acts on sexual behavior toward any gender.

Again, the term LGBTQ holds a lot of weight and responsibility because of how many
people and communities it encompasses. Therefore the best thing one can do is ask
whomever you are referring to how they choose to be identified.

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